Pakistan’s rapidly evolving missile arsenal forms an important part of its defense strategy for offsetting the significant conventional military advantages of its main rival, India. Pakistan’s arsenal consists primarily of mobile short and medium-range ballistic missiles, but it is also making significant strides in its cruise missile capability. Pakistan’s combined strategic forces allows it to target almost any point in India, and is now working more advanced technology such as multiple independent reentry vehicles (MIRV) to complicate developing Indian missile defense efforts. Pakistan has received significant technical assistance from China on its nuclear and missile programs, and evidence also strongly indicates close cooperation with both North Korea and Iran on the development and proliferation of these systems.
Here is a list of ballistic missiles currently operated by the Pakistan Armed Forces.
Hatf-1
SRBM (Short-Range Ballistic Missile)
Range: 10-100 km
Payload: 500 kg
Warhead: Conventional
Variations: Hatf 1A and Hatf 1B
Hatf-2 (Abdali)
SRBM (Short-Range Ballistic Missile)
Range: 180-200 km
Payload: 250-450 kg
Warhead: Conventional
Hatf-3 (Ghaznavi)
SRBM (Short-Range Ballistic Missile)
Range: 240 km
Payload: 700
Warhead: Conventional/ Nuclear
Hatf- 4 (Shaheen 1)
SRBM (Short-Range Ballistic Missile)
Range: 750km
Payload: 700kg
Warhead: Conventional/ Nuclear
Variation: Shaheen 1A
Hatf- 5 (Ghauri)
MRBM (Medium-Range Ballistic Missile)
Range: 1,250-1,500 km
Payload: 700 kg
Warhead: Conventional/Nuclear
Hatf-6 (Shaheen 2)
MRBM (Medium-Range Ballistic Missile)
Range: 1,500-2,000 km
Payload: 700kg
Warhead: Conventional/Nuclear
Hatf-7 (Babur)
Short-Range Cruise Missile
Range: 350-700 km
Payload: 450-500 kg
Warhead: Conventional/ Nuclear
Hatf-8 (Ra’ad)
Air-Launched Cruise Missile (ALCM)
Range: 350 km
Warhead: Nuclear/Conventional
Variations: Ra’ad 2.
Hatf-9 (Nasr)
SRBM (Short-range Ballistic Missile)
Range: 60 km
Payload: 400 kg
Warhead: Nuclear/ Conventional
Note: The Nasr is equipped with tactical nuclear weapons meant to be deployed on the battlefield.
Shaheen- 3
MRBM (Medium-Range Ballistic Missile)
Range: 2,750 km
Warhead: Nuclear/ Conventional
The Shaheen-3 was specifically designed to target India’s Nicobar and Andaman Islands in the Bay of Bengal. The Shaheen-3 also has the longest range among all missiles in Pakistan’s arsenal.
Ababeel
MRBM (Medium-Range Ballistic Missile)
Range: 2,200 km
Payload: MIRVs (Multiple Independently Targetable Re-entry Vehicles)
Warhead: Nuclear/ Conventional
The Ababeel is the first MIRV system missile in South Asia and was specifically designed to defeat Ballistic Missile Defence (BMD) systems deployed by India.
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