Ra'ad (), military designation Hatf-VIII Ra'ad ('Target-8'), is a subsonic, standoff

air-launched cruise missile An air-launched cruise missile (ALCM) is a cruise missile that is launched from a military aircraft. Current versions are typically standoff weapons which are used to attack predetermined land and naval targets with conventional weapon, conventio ...

(ALCM) jointly designed and developed by the

National Engineering & Scientific Commission The National Engineering & Scientific Commission (NESCOM) () is a Pakistani government-funded defence contractor that develops, designs and sells defense hardware, including missile and weapon systems. It was funded and formed by the Government of ...

(NESCOM) and Air Weapons Complex. It is deployed in the military service of Pakistan Air Force as Hatf-VIII, and has provided Pakistan with aerial

nuclear deterrence Deterrence theory refers to the scholarship and practice of how threats of using force by one party can convince another party to refrain from initiating some other course of action. The topic gained increased prominence as a military strategy d ...

Development

Design and development of ''Ra'ad'' begins in 1998 with the program being delegated to

(NESCOM) that worked with Pakistan Air Force's engineering laboratory— Air Weapons Complex. Not much has been known about the development of the program since it was designed and engineered in secrecy with military leading the program. Pakistan's engineering feat on designing the cruise missiles attracted the Western sources leveled allegations on China on collaboration and later placing blame on

Apartheid Apartheid ( , especially South African English: , ; , ) was a system of institutionalised racial segregation that existed in South Africa and South West Africa (now Namibia) from 1948 to the early 1990s. It was characterised by an ...

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. Its Provinces of South Africa, nine provinces are bounded to the south by of coastline that stretches along the Atlantic O ...

, which was strongly refuted former program manager General Mirza Aslam Beg, crediting to scientists for achieving this feat.

Technical design

Codenamed as Ra'ad (lit. ''Thunder''), the design engineering and its

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 ...

is developed by the NESCOM while

weapon guidance Missile guidance refers to a variety of methods of guiding a missile or a guided bomb to its intended target. The missile's target accuracy is a critical factor for its effectiveness. Guidance systems improve missile accuracy by improving its P ...

, warhead design, and engine design was undertaken by the

Pakistan Air Force The Pakistan Air Force (PAF) (; ) is the aerial warfare branch of the Pakistan Armed Forces, tasked primarily with the aerial defence of Pakistan, with a secondary role of providing air support to the Pakistan Army and Pakistan Navy when re ...

's Air Weapons Complex. ''Ra'ad'' features uses principles of stealth to avoid enemy detection, and is verified to carry tactical NE warheads at . According to Pakistani military, ''Ra'ad'' flies with

subsonic speed The speed of sound is the distance travelled per unit of time by a sound wave as it propagates through an elastic medium. More simply, the speed of sound is how fast vibrations travel. At , the speed of sound in air is about , or in or one m ...

at low altitude and follows

terrain Terrain (), alternatively relief or topographical relief, is the dimension and shape of a given surface of land. In physical geography, terrain is the lay of the land. This is usually expressed in terms of the elevation, slope, and orientati ...

with high maneuverability. In Pakistani military deployment, ''Ra'ad'' has a unique military identification as ''Hatf-VIII'' (lit. ''Target-8'') with mission for precision attacks on high value targets including command centers, radars, surface-to-air missile launchers, ballistic missile launchers and stationary warships. The second derivative of ''Ra'ad'' is deployed as

Ra'ad-II The Ra'ad-II ( 'Thunder-2') is a standoff and an air-launched cruise missile (ALCM) derived from the Hatf-VIII Ra'ad. It was first publicly unveiled on the Pakistan Day Parade on 23 March 2017, The ''Ra'ad'' features extended range, changes ...

, which has an extended range of . The ''Ra'ad'' can carry ammunition load with estimated blast yield of —.

Operational history

Data acquisition and validation

On 25 August 2007, the

Inter-Services Public Relations The Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) () is the media and public relations wing of the Pakistan Armed Forces. It broadcasts and coordinates military news and information to the country's Media of Pakistan, civilian media and the Pakistani ...

(ISPR) announced the first test of ''Ra'ad''. On 8 May 2008, a second test for validation was conducted when a military footage showed that the ''Ra'ad'' being launched from the Pakistan Air Force's Mirage-IIIR. A third test was carried out on 29 April 2011, also from a Mirage-IIIR platform. The fourth test was carried out on 30 May 2012; a fifth test of the missile was carried out on 2 February 2015. A seventh test was carried out on 19 January 2016. The Pakistan Air Force chose the Mirage-IIIR as its platform as opposed to F-16A/B to avoid American objections despite it being widely understood that PAF's F-16A/B are also capable Ra'ad launch platforms. Though initial tests have been conducted from a PAF's Mirage IIIR, there is potential to integrate this missile with other platforms such as the

JF-17 The CAC/PAC JF-17 Thunder (), or FC-1 ''Xiaolong'' (), is a fourth-generation, lightweight, single-engine, multirole combat aircraft developed jointly by the Pakistan Aeronautical Complex (PAC) and Chengdu Aircraft Corporation (CAC) of China. ...

. With the development and deployment of ''Hatf-VIII Ra'ad'', it has provided Pakistan with aerial

to penetrate Indian Air Force defenses and its air force disparity.

Mark II

A Mark II version of the missile was revealed on Pakistan parade day in 2017, with increased range of 600 km.

References

External links

Jane's Air-Launched Weapons article – Ra'ad (Hatf-8) (Pakistan)

CSIS Missile Threat- Hatf 8
{{Pakistan_Missiles Cruise missiles of Pakistan Nuclear missiles of Pakistan Air-to-surface missiles of Pakistan Post–Cold War weapons of Pakistan Military equipment introduced in the 2000s Nuclear air-to-surface missiles