Pakistan Test Fires Hatf-8 Cruise Missile
August 25, 2007 :: News
Pakistan today successfully test fired a new Air-Launched Cruise Missile (ALCM) termed the Hatf-8 (Ra'ad). The indigenously developed Ra'ad ("Thunder" in Arabic), is said to have a range of 350 kilometers, though there is speculation that this range might be extended. The missile is said to have a stealth design, to be as accurate as the Babur cruise missile, and have the capability to carry various types of warheads. The missile has been reportedly 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 Hatf-8 is a designation which has apparently not been previously used by Pakistan, and it seems uncertain if this is a genuinely new missile or a variation of the Hatf-7.
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» Cruise missile details: Hatf 7
China Could Develop Anti-Satellite Weapons within Three Years
August 14, 2007 :: News
Lieutenant General Kevin Campbell, head of the U.S. Army's Space and Missile Defense Command, on August 14 stated that China could be three years away from being able to disrupt U.S. military satellites in a regional conflict. Speaking at an annual missile defense conference in Huntsville, Alabama, Campbell said China's anti-satellite test in January was a clear demonstration of its ability to destroy an orbiting satellite.
The anti-satellite missiles, coupled with its satellite jamming and computer network attack skills provide China with, "multi-dimensional capabilities to attack various [U.S.] systems that are in orbit today." The Lieutenant General concluded that "guaranteed space superiority in all future conflicts as well as in peacetime" needed to permeate everything the U.S. military does. "One does not have to get caught up in arguments over whether or not to weaponize space, or whether this becomes an arms race... It is simply irresponsible for us not to plan for, and to think about and to assure that we can have freedom of action."
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