The Flight Test Range (FTR) at

Sonmiani Beach Somiani ( ur, ) is a coastal town in the southeast of Balochistan province in Pakistan, approximately 145 kilometres northwest of Karachi. The coast of Sonmiani is the northernmost point of the Arabian Sea. The Sonmiani Beach is one of the most po ...

is a primary rocket launch site in

Balochistan Balochistan ( ; bal, بلۏچستان; also romanised as Baluchistan and Baluchestan) is a historical region in Western and South Asia, located in the Iranian plateau's far southeast and bordering the Indian Plate and the Arabian Sea coastline. ...

, approximately west of

Karachi Karachi (; ur, ; ; ) is the most populous city in Pakistan and 12th most populous city in the world, with a population of over 20 million. It is situated at the southern tip of the country along the Arabian Sea coast. It is the former c ...

, Sindh,

Pakistan Pakistan ( ur, ), officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan ( ur, , label=none), is a country in South Asia. It is the world's fifth-most populous country, with a population of almost 243 million people, and has the world's second-lar ...

. The facility is operated by the Space Research Commission since 1961, initially focusing on supporting civilian space program involving the launch of sounding rockets but its present mission has now been moved towards national security programs managed by the

Pakistan Air Force , "Be it deserts or seas; all lie under our wings" (traditional) , colours = , colours_label = , march = , mascot = , anniversaries = ...

.Dinshaw, Mistry, Containing Missile Proliferation: Strategic Technology, Security Regimes, and International Cooperation in Arms Control (Seattle: University of Washington Press, 2003), p. 118

History

Initially established at Sonmiani Rocket Range in 1961, the Sonmiani Flight Test Range is the only rocket launch facility operated by the

Space & Upper Atmosphere Research Commission The Space & Upper Atmosphere Research Commission (SUPARCO) ( ur, ) is the executive and national space agency of Pakistan. It is headquartered at the capital city of Islamabad in the northern part of Pakistan with additional facilities at th ...

. It was the crucial contribution from the American National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) that established the facility in 1961 with Suparco launching the

Rehbar-I Rehbar is a series of sounding rocket launched into the upper atmosphere by Pakistan's Space and Upper Atmosphere Research Commission (SUPARCO). Rehbar-I was the first rocket launched by SUPARCO, on 7 June 1962. Rehbar-I was a two-staged solid fu ...

program that consisted of a

Nike-Cajun The Nike-Cajun was a two-stage sounding rocket built by combining a Nike base stage with a Cajun upper stage. The Nike-Cajun was known as a CAN for Cajun And Nike. The Cajun was developed from the Deacon rocket. It retained the external size, shap ...

combination on June 7, 1962. In 1989, the Sonmiani FTR mission was moved from supporting the civilian space program towards supporting the national security program when Hatf-I (lit. ''Target'') was launched from the facility. Since 1990, the Sonmiani FTR has been expanded and modernized that now includes the several rocket launch sites, a rocket assembly and a maintenance workshop; a payload assembly area; high-speed tracking radars with a control room and telemetry station; flight communications equipment and optical cameras. It is currently spread across and located approximately west of

. The Sonmani FTR, not a space center, now serves as a primary launch site for Pakistani military's missile testing program, namely launching the Hatf program (''Target''), including four tests of Hatf-II, two of Hatf-III, seven of Hatf-IV and five of Hatf-VI– a missile testing program managed by the Pakistan Air Force's Strategic Command.

References

External links

*
Astronautix.com page on Sonmiani
{{Lasbela-Union-Councils Science and technology in Pakistan Space programme of Pakistan Rocket launch sites in Pakistan SUPARCO facilities 1962 establishments in Pakistan Military installations in Balochistan, Pakistan Installations of the Pakistan Air Force

History

See also

References

External links