The Hatf Program ()
was a classified program by the
Ministry of Defence
A ministry of defence or defense (see American and British English spelling differences#-ce.2C -se, spelling differences), also known as a department of defence or defense, is the part of a government responsible for matters of defence and Mi ...
(MoD) of Pakistan for the comprehensive research and development of
guided missiles
A missile is an airborne ranged weapon capable of self-propelled flight aided usually by a propellant, jet engine or rocket motor.
Historically, 'missile' referred to any projectile that is thrown, shot or propelled towards a target; this u ...
.
Initiatives began in 1986-87 and received support from Prime Minister
Benazir Bhutto
Benazir Bhutto (21 June 1953 – 27 December 2007) was a Pakistani politician who served as the 11th prime minister of Pakistan from 1988 to 1990, and again from 1993 to 1996. She was also the first woman elected to head a democratic governmen ...
in direct response to India's
equivalent program in 1989.
The ''Hatf program'' was run by the
Ministry of Defence
A ministry of defence or defense (see American and British English spelling differences#-ce.2C -se, spelling differences), also known as a department of defence or defense, is the part of a government responsible for matters of defence and Mi ...
, although policy guidance came directly from the
Pakistan Armed Forces
The Pakistan Armed Forces (; ) are the military forces of Pakistan. It is the world's sixth-largest military measured by active military personnel and consists of three uniformed services—the Army, Navy, and the Air Force, which are backe ...
.
Program overview
In 1985–87, planning and initiatives for the program began in response to India's revealed
missile program.
General
M. A. Beg, then-
army chief, hastily launched the program, intending it to be led by
SUPARCO.
The program's feasibility proved more challenging than the nuclear weapons program due to inadequate funding and a lack of focus on
control system
A control system manages, commands, directs, or regulates the behavior of other devices or systems using control loops. It can range from a single home heating controller using a thermostat controlling a domestic boiler to large industrial ...
s and
aerodynamics
Aerodynamics () is the study of the motion of atmosphere of Earth, air, particularly when affected by a solid object, such as an airplane wing. It involves topics covered in the field of fluid dynamics and its subfield of gas dynamics, and is an ...
education.
India, with existing knowledge based on Russian rockets, was already ahead in missile technology, developing its own independently.
Furthermore, the
Missile Technology Control Regime
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 ...
(MTCR), formed in 1987, hindered Pakistan's efforts to acquire program components.
The Ministry of Defense eventually took over the ''Hatf'' program, delegating it to its weapons laboratories and agencies to collaborate with SUPARCO.
In 1989, India successfully test-fired its first variant of the
''Prithvi'' missile, which it had been developing independently since 1983.
That same year, the SUPARCO test-fired the
''Hatf'', which Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto immediately declared a success. However, the U.S. military dismissed the results, considering the missile an "inaccurate battlefield missile."
Under Prime Minister
Benazir Bhutto
Benazir Bhutto (21 June 1953 – 27 December 2007) was a Pakistani politician who served as the 11th prime minister of Pakistan from 1988 to 1990, and again from 1993 to 1996. She was also the first woman elected to head a democratic governmen ...
, the ''Hatf'' program was aggressively pursued to address the missile gap with India.
The Benazir Bhutto government negotiated engineering education and training on rockets with China and later North Korea.
Pakistani military officials documented that Pakistan made substantial cash payments to China and North Korea through its
State Bank
In Australia and the United States, a state bank in a federated state is usually a financial institution that is chartered by the government of that state, as opposed to one regulated at the federal or national level.
In British English, the ter ...
to acquire practical knowledge in aerospace engineering, controls engineering, programming and space sciences.
Despite constraints and limitations, the ''Hatf'' program was made feasible, and former Prime Minister
Benazir Bhutto
Benazir Bhutto (21 June 1953 – 27 December 2007) was a Pakistani politician who served as the 11th prime minister of Pakistan from 1988 to 1990, and again from 1993 to 1996. She was also the first woman elected to head a democratic governmen ...
is described as the "political architect of Pakistan's missile technology" by Emily MacFarquhar of the
Alicia Patterson Foundation The Alicia Patterson Foundation (APF) program was established in 1965 in memory of Alicia Patterson, who was the editor and publisher of ''Newsday
''Newsday'' is a daily newspaper in the United States primarily serving Nassau and Suffolk c ...
.
In 2014, former Prime Minister
Yousaf Raza Gillani
Yusuf Raza Gilani (born 9 June 1952) is a Pakistani politician who served as the 16th prime minister of Pakistan from 2008 to 2012. He is currently serving as the Chairman of the Senate of Pakistan since 2024. Chairman Gilani served as the acti ...
acknowledged Benazir Bhutto's contribution, stating, "Benazir Bhutto gave this country the much-needed missile technology."
The program eventually expanded and diversified with the successful development of cruise missiles and other strategic-level arsenals in the early 2000s.
Codenames
The Pakistani military issued a single military designation series, ''Hatf'' (
Trans. ''Target''), for all of its surface-to-surface
guided ballistic missiles.
This designation was selected by the research and development committee at the Army GHQ of the
Pakistan Army
The Pakistan Army (, ), commonly known as the Pak Army (), is the Land warfare, land service branch and the largest component of the Pakistan Armed Forces. The president of Pakistan is the Commander-in-chief, supreme commander of the army. The ...
, which provided policy guidance to the program.
In Turkish, "''Hatf''" means "Target" or "Aim point" and refers to the
sword
A sword is an edged and bladed weapons, edged, bladed weapon intended for manual cutting or thrusting. Its blade, longer than a knife or dagger, is attached to a hilt and can be straight or curved. A thrusting sword tends to have a straighter ...
of
Muhammad
Muhammad (8 June 632 CE) was an Arab religious and political leader and the founder of Islam. Muhammad in Islam, According to Islam, he was a prophet who was divinely inspired to preach and confirm the tawhid, monotheistic teachings of A ...
, which was believed to never miss its target.
The unofficial names, such as
Ghauri,
Ghaznavi, and
Abdali, were codenames for developing projects assigned to defense contractors. These names were derived from historical figures involved in the
Islamic conquest The Muslim conquests, Muslim invasions, Islamic conquests, including Arab conquests, Arab Islamic conquests, also Iranian Muslim conquests, Turkic Muslim conquests etc.
*Early Muslim conquests
** Ridda Wars
**Muslim conquest of Persia
*** Muslim co ...
of
South Asia
South Asia is the southern Subregion#Asia, subregion of Asia that is defined in both geographical and Ethnicity, ethnic-Culture, cultural terms. South Asia, with a population of 2.04 billion, contains a quarter (25%) of the world's populatio ...
.
The contractors were issued the project names after the Turkish nomads invaded India from the historical region of Greater Khorasan.
Tactical missile development
The
Hatf-I
The Hatf I (; Military designation: Hatf–I, Transliteration, ''Translit.'' ''Target-1'') is a Surface-to-surface missile, land-based Short-range ballistic missile, short-ranged ballistic missile, currently in service with the Army Strategic F ...
(
English tr.: "Target") was the first project developed under this program in 1987. Deployed by the Pakistan Army, the Hatf-I is a short-ranged ballistic missile system developed by
SUPARCO. The system was seen as direct competition with India’s
''Prithvi'' system.
Despite claims of success by the Pakistani administration, the Pakistani military admitted that the missile system’s inaccuracy led to the program’s shelving until 2000 when it finally entered military service.
Western assessments believed this system to be influenced directly by American and French space rockets studied by SUPARCO as part of its original civilian space program.
Lessons and experiences gained from the Hatf-I eventually led to the design and development of the
''Nasr'' in 2011, which is widely believed to be a delivery system for small
tactical nuclear weapon
A tactical nuclear weapon (TNW) or non-strategic nuclear weapon (NSNW) is a nuclear weapon that is designed to be used on a battlefield in military situations, mostly with friendly forces in proximity and perhaps even on contested friendly territ ...
s. The short-ranged system is exclusively designed and deployed for the Pakistan Army.
Short–medium range development

The
Zia administration acquired Soviet
Scud
A Scud missile is one of a series of tactical ballistic missiles developed by the Soviet Union during the Cold War. It was exported widely to both Second and Third World countries. The term comes from the NATO reporting name attached to the m ...
technology from the former
Afghan National Army
The Islamic National Army (, ), also referred to as the Islamic Emirate Army and the Afghan Army, is the army, land force branch of the Afghan Armed Forces. The roots of an army in Afghanistan can be traced back to the early 18th century when th ...
, but it provided little benefit to the country's scientists in understanding short-range missile systems.
In 1993, the Benazir Bhutto government began secretly procuring the
DF-11
The Dong-Feng 11 (a.k.a. M-11, CSS-7) is a short-range ballistic missile developed by the People's Republic of China.
History
The DF-11 is a road-mobile short-range ballistic missile (SRBM) which began development in 1984 as the M-11, of whi ...
from China.
While the Chinese short-range missile was not nuclear weapons delivery capable, attempts to reverse engineer its delivery mechanism failed.
In 1995, Pakistan initiated a program to develop short-range missiles based on a solid fuel platform, with China providing technological assistance and education in aerospace and controls engineering.
To address the deployment limitations of the M-11, the
Abdali program was designed and implemented by the SUPARCO in 1995, while the
Ghaznavi program was delegated to the
National Defence Complex, deriving from M-11 designs.
The Ghaznavi's rocket engine, tested in 1997, was a significant breakthrough.
DESTO designed five different warheads for the ''Ghaznavi'' and ''Abdali'', which could be delivered with a CEP of 0.1% at 600 km.
During this time, the
Shaheen program was pursued and developed by the
National Defence Complex (NDC). Despite facing technological setbacks the ''Shaheen'' program continued to evolve, producing its first prototype in 1999.
The program proved sustainable, producing improved variants.
The
Ababeel was developed with MIRV capability to counter India's missile defence.
The ''Hatf'' program diversified into liquid-fuel technology, with
KRL as its lead. The technology for this program came directly from North Korea, with support from the Benazir Bhutto administration. Pakistani military admissions confirm that the Finance ministry under Benazir Bhutto paid significant amounts of cash to North Korea to facilitate the transfer of North Korean scientists to Pakistani universities for teaching aerospace engineering.
Originally based entirely on the
Rodong-1
The Hwasong-7} () is a single- stage, mobile liquid propellant medium-range ballistic missile developed by North Korea. Developed in the mid-1980s, it is a scaled-up adaptation of the Soviet R-17 Elbrus missiles, more commonly known by its NATO ...
, the
''Ghauri program'', designed under the guidance of North Korean engineers, took its first flight in 1998 but failed due to engine failure and a flawed design.
After the first flight failure in 1998, North Korean engineers were removed from the program, forcing KRL to work on reverse engineering and redesign the entire weapon system. With assistance from the DESTO and NDC, the first missile, Ghauri-I, was made feasible for deployment in 2004.
Cruise missile technology

Development on understanding and developing cruise missile technology began in Pakistan when India initiated its
missile defense program in 1998. Amidst the tense environment between the
Sharif administration,
Vajpayee premiership and
Clinton administration
Bill Clinton's tenure as the 42nd president of the United States began with his first inauguration on January 20, 1993, and ended on January 20, 2001. Clinton, a Democrat from Arkansas, took office following his victory over Republican in ...
, Pakistan's development of cruise missiles was spurred by India's acquisition of the
S-300 Grumble from Russia and its attempts to negotiate with the United States for the
Patriot PAC-3. These developments negatively impacted Pakistan's land-based deterrence mechanism.
It took Pakistan several years to make its cruise missile program feasible. In 2005, the first
Babur
Babur (; 14 February 148326 December 1530; born Zahīr ud-Dīn Muhammad) was the founder of the Mughal Empire in the Indian subcontinent. He was a descendant of Timur and Genghis Khan through his father and mother respectively. He was also ...
(Pakistani military designation: Hatf-VII) was successfully test-fired by the army, surprising the United States. In 2007, Pakistan announced the development and test-firing of
Ra'ad (Pakistani military designation: Hatf-VIII), demonstrating its air-launched cruise missile capability.
In 2017, Pakistan conducted a successful launch of the ''Babur-III'' missile from an underwater mobile platform. This long-desired capability for the Navy effectively established Pakistan's
second-strike capability
In nuclear strategy, a retaliatory strike or second-strike capability is a country's assured ability to respond to a nuclear attack with powerful nuclear retaliation against the attacker. To have such an ability (and to convince an opponent of its ...
from sea.
See also
*
List of missiles of Pakistan
References
External links
{{DEFAULTSORT:Integrated Missile Research And Development Programme
1987 in Pakistan
Missile defense
Military projects of Pakistan
Secret military programs
Nuclear weapons programme of Pakistan
History of science and technology in Pakistan
Research and development in Pakistan
Research projects
Programs of the Ministry of Defence (Pakistan)
SUPARCO missions