The Ghaznavi (

Urdu Urdu (;"Urdu"
''

), is a hypersonic Surface to surface short range

ballistic missile A ballistic missile is a type of missile that uses projectile motion to deliver warheads on a target. These weapons are guided only during relatively brief periods—most of the flight is unpowered. Short-range ballistic missiles stay within the ...

designed and developed by the

National Development Complex National Defence Complex (NDC), ( ur, ) also known as National Development Complex, National Development Centre, is a Pakistani state-owned defence and aerospace contractor which is a division under the National Engineering and Scientific Comm ...

, with the first version in service with the

Pakistan Army The Pakistan Army (, ) is the Army, land service branch of the Pakistan Armed Forces. The roots of its modern existence trace back to the British Indian Army that ceased to exist following the partition of India, Partition of British India, wh ...

's strategic command since 2004. With an optimal range of 290 km, it is named after the 11th century Muslim Turkic leader

Mahmud of Ghazni Yamīn-ud-Dawla Abul-Qāṣim Maḥmūd ibn Sebüktegīn ( fa, ; 2 November 971 – 30 April 1030), usually known as Mahmud of Ghazni or Mahmud Ghaznavi ( fa, ), was the founder of the Turkic Ghaznavid dynasty, ruling from 998 to 1030. At th ...

. The word ''Hatf'' means ''deadly'' or ''vengeance'' in Arabic. It entered service with the Pakistan Army in 2012 after a successful launch conducted by ASFC (Army Strategic Command Force) on May 10, 2012. The Hatf-III is a "Scud" type ballistic missile. The missile could carry nuclear and conventional warheads to a range of 290 km. It was the second nuclear-capable missile test-fired by the Pakistan army in less than two weeks, since India's launch of Agni-V. The missile has a length of 9.64m, diameter of 0.99 m, launch weight of 5256 kg and is powered by a single stage solid fuel rocket motor. It is believed influenced from a Chinese design, the M-11 (NATO reporting name: CSS-7).

Design history

Initially, the

Pakistan government The Government of Pakistan ( ur, , translit=hakúmat-e pákistán) abbreviated as GoP, is a federal government established by the Constitution of Pakistan as a constituted governing authority of the four provinces, two autonomous territories ...

was actively pushing for acquiring the M-11 missiles from

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...

with the intention of a quick deployment.Khan, PA, Brigadier Feroz (2012). Eating Grass: the making of Pakistan bomb. Sanford, ca, u.s: Stanford University Press. p. 552.

Prime Minister A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister is not ...

Benazir Bhutto Benazir Bhutto ( ur, بینظیر بُھٹو; sd, بينظير ڀُٽو; Urdu ; 21 June 1953 – 27 December 2007) was a Pakistani politician who served as the 11th and 13th prime minister of Pakistan from 1988 to 1990 and again from 1993 t ...

personally lobbied in

for the M-11 missiles, but was unable to do so due to intense pressure mounted by the United States and the

MTCR The Missile Technology Control Regime (MTCR) is a multilateral export control regime. It is an informal political understanding among 35 member states that seek to limit the proliferation of missiles and missile technology. The regime was formed ...

's strict monitoring of prevention of the

technology Technology is the application of knowledge to reach practical goals in a specifiable and reproducible way. The word ''technology'' may also mean the product of such an endeavor. The use of technology is widely prevalent in medicine, science, ...

transfers of the missiles.Rajain, Arpit (2005). Nuclear deterrence in Southern Asia China, India, and Pakistan. Thousand Oaks, Calif.: Sage Publications. . Development on ''Ghaznavi'' started in 1990s after the refusal of export of M-11 missiles from China to Pakistan. The ''Ghaznavi'' was pursued alongside the Abdali program, and its features are extremely close to those of the Chinese M-11. The Ghaznavi program contract was awarded to NDC. The

Pakistan military The Pakistan Armed Forces (; ) are the military forces of Pakistan. It is the world's sixth-largest military measured by active military personnel and consist of three formally uniformed services—the Army, Navy, and the Air Force, which are ...

officials consistently maintained that the Ghaznavi program is locally designed and indigenously built. In 1995, its

engine An engine or motor is a machine designed to convert one or more forms of energy into mechanical energy. Available energy sources include potential energy (e.g. energy of the Earth's gravitational field as exploited in hydroelectric power gen ...

was successfully tested and was said to be a "major break-through in missile development in Pakistan".

Tests and status

The ''Ghaznavi'' took its first

spaceflight Spaceflight (or space flight) is an application of astronautics to fly spacecraft into or through outer space, either with or without humans on board. Most spaceflight is uncrewed and conducted mainly with spacecraft such as satellites in or ...

on 26 May 2002, at the height of the military standoff between India and Pakistan. On 3 October 2003, the ''Ghaznavi'' was again successfully test fired from an undisclosed location, which was described by the

military A military, also known collectively as armed forces, is a heavily armed, highly organized force primarily intended for warfare. It is typically authorized and maintained by a sovereign state, with its members identifiable by their distinct ...

as "highly successful". The ''Ghaznavi'' successfully reached its target and has a range of 290 km (180 mi), making it capable of striking several key targets within neighboring nuclear rival, India. The ''Ghaznavi'' entered in the service in March 2004 and currently with the

. Its third test launched took place on 8 December 2004; subsequent tests were conducted on 9 December 2006 another on 13 February 2008 and 8 May 2010; the 2008 test was believed to have concluded a winter training exercise of Pakistan's Army Strategic Force Command (ASFC). In May 2012, one more successful test of the missile was conducted as part of a training exercise. Pakistan successfully carried out night training launch of Ghaznavi missile on August 28, 2019. During its development at the NDC, the program was named in the memory of

– the 10th century Turkic emperor who founded the

Ghaznavid Empire The Ghaznavid dynasty ( fa, غزنویان ''Ġaznaviyān'') was a culturally Persianate society, Persianate, Sunni Islam, Sunni Muslim dynasty of Turkic peoples, Turkic ''mamluk'' origin, ruling, at its greatest extent, large parts of Persia, ...

and frequently

invaded An invasion is a military offensive in which large numbers of combatants of one geopolitical entity aggressively enter territory owned by another such entity, generally with the objective of either: conquering; liberating or re-establishing con ...

India. The JS HQ, however, officially codenames the missile as "Hatf–III Ghaznavi".

References

External links

CSIS Missile Threat - Hatf 3
{{Use dmy dates, date=June 2017 Short-range ballistic missiles of Pakistan Military equipment introduced in the 2000s