BBC : Pakistan tests new cruise missile

Pakistan tests new cruise missile

August 25, 2007

Pakistan has successfully test-fired a new cruise missile capable of carrying nuclear weapons, its military said.

The missile, named Hatf-VIII (or Raad, "thunder" in Arabic), has a range of 350km (220 miles), and can carry all types of warheads, a statement said.

Pakistan and its neighbour India - both nuclear powers - routinely carry out missile tests.

Tension between Pakistan and India has decreased in recent months amid a series of bilateral overtures.

The missile "has been designed exclusively for launch from a variety of Pakistan's air platforms, providing these with a strategic stand-off capability on land and at sea," the Pakistani military said.

"The Raad can carry all types of warheads and has an accuracy comparable to Pakistan's longer Babar cruise missile," the statement said.

The Babar or Hatf-VII missile, which was tested in March, has a range of 700km (430 miles).

In February, Pakistan test-fired a nuclear-capable, surface-to-surface Hatf VI missile, with a much longer range of 2,000 km (1,250 miles).