Letters to the Editor
-
@norbit
How many years do you think it will take before they can?
Do you mean Iranian missles? As soon as they develop a space program. How far off do you think that is?
And the Pakistani Babur only has a range of 435 miles. I was confusing kilometers with miles. But the good news is, you can blame Clinton!
In 1998, six Tomahawk cruise missiles fired at Taliban bases in Afghanistan by US destroyers mis-fired and landed in Pakistan. It is speculated that Pakistan seized upon the opportunity to reverse-engineer the Tomahawk and develop its own prototype. The propulsion system appears to approximate that of Tomahawk according to video of its launch.[4] However, there is no confirmation of this, and the Pakistani missile development company, NESCOM has rejected this theory. Some members of NESCOM have come out saying, off the record, that Pakistan has been working on cruise missiles since 1995. Some analysts have noted that the Babur has benefited from Kh-55 technology.[5]. Babur is believed to be extremely accurate. It is steered by an inertial navigation system (INS). INS continuously measures the movement, speed and position of the missile. It is equipped with a precision guidance system that allows the missile to hit small targets. It is powered by a cruise turbo-fan engine which enables the missile to reach an approximate speed of 880 km/h (550 miles/h). The missile's design features can be compared with the American BGM-109 Tomahawk cruise missile...
The sudden test of the Babur missile surprised some. The United States gave a muted response. India which, though gave no official response, was criticized by its media for not knowing beforehand. Pakistani president Pervez Musharraf praised the Pakistani scientists and engineers by saying that they had once again done the country proud by mastering a rare technology.[7][8] By conducting a cruise missile test Pakistan has joined a select group of countries which have the capability to design and develop cruise missiles. Musharraf also said that Pakistan was not into an arms race with anyone but would never compromise on its strategy of defensive deterrence.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Babur_missile