| Hatf Program | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Commercial? | No |
| Type of project | Operational R&D |
| Founder | Ministry of Defense (MoD) |
| Country | Pakistan |
| Established | 1985 (1985) |
| Budget | Classified |
TheHatf Program (Urdu:حتف,romanized: ḥāṯaʿf,lit. 'Target')[1] was a classified program by theMinistry of Defence (MoD) of Pakistan for the comprehensive research and development ofguided missiles.[2][3] Initiatives began in 1986-87 and received support from Prime MinisterBenazir Bhutto in direct response to India'sequivalent program in 1989.[4][5]
TheHatf program was run by theMinistry of Defence, although policy guidance came directly from theJoint Staff Headquarters of thePakistan Armed Forces.[1]
In 1985–87, planning and initiatives for the program began in response to India's revealedmissile program.[1] GeneralM. A. Beg, then-army chief, hastily launched the program, intending it to be led bySUPARCO.[6]
The program's feasibility proved more challenging than the nuclear weapons program due to inadequate funding and a lack of focus oncontrol systems andaerodynamics education.[6] India, with existing knowledge based on Russian rockets, was already ahead in missile technology, developing its own independently.[6] Furthermore, theMissile Technology Control Regime (MTCR), formed in 1987, hindered Pakistan's efforts to acquire program components.[6][7]
The Ministry of Defense eventually took over theHatf program, delegating it to its weapons laboratories and agencies to collaborate with SUPARCO.[8] In 1989, India successfully test-fired its first variant of thePrithvi missile, which it had been developing independently since 1983.[6] That same year, the SUPARCO test-fired theHatf, which Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto immediately declared a success. However, the U.S. military dismissed the results, considering the missile an "inaccurate battlefield missile."[6]
Under Prime MinisterBenazir Bhutto, theHatf program was aggressively pursued to address the missile gap with India.[7][9] The Benazir Bhutto government negotiated engineering education and training on rockets with China and later North Korea.[10] Pakistani military officials documented that Pakistan made substantial cash payments to China and North Korea through itsState Bank to acquire practical knowledge in aerospace engineering, controls engineering, programming and space sciences.[6][11]
Despite constraints and limitations, theHatf program was madefeasible, and former Prime MinisterBenazir Bhutto is described as the "political architect of Pakistan's missile technology" by Emily MacFarquhar of theAlicia Patterson Foundation.[12] In 2014, former Prime MinisterYousaf Raza Gillani acknowledged Benazir Bhutto's contribution, stating, "Benazir Bhutto gave this country the much-needed missile technology."[13]
The program eventually expanded and diversified with the successful development of cruise missiles and other strategic-level arsenals in the early 2000s.[14]
According to a report published by Foreign Affairs magazine,Pakistan is advancing efforts to develop anuclear-capable intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) capable of reaching the continentalUnited States. If confirmed, such a development would represent a major leap inIslamabad’s strategic capabilities and could potentially alter its classification in U.S. strategic assessments, formally designatingPakistan as anuclear adversary. The report underscores growing international concern over the trajectory and scope of Pakistan’s missile research and development program.[15]
The Pakistani military issued a single military designation series,Hatf (Trans.Target), for all of its surface-to-surfaceguided ballistic missiles.[1] This designation was selected by the research and development committee at the Army GHQ of thePakistan Army, which provided policy guidance to the program.[1] In Turkish, "Hatf" means "Target" or "Aim point" and refers to thesword ofMuhammad, which was believed to never miss its target.[1]
The unofficial names, such asGhauri,Ghaznavi, andAbdali, were codenames for developing projects assigned to defense contractors. These names were derived from historical figures involved in theIslamic conquest ofSouth Asia.[16] The contractors were issued the project names after the Turkish nomads invaded India from the historical region of Greater Khorasan.[16]
| Military designation | Codename | Role | Deployment | Unit | Branch |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hatf-I | Hatf | SRBM[18] | 1992 | Army Strategic Forces Command |  Pakistan Army |
| Hatf-II | Abdali | SRBM | 2002 | Army Strategic Forces Command | Pakistan Army |
| Hatf-III | Ghaznavi | SRBM | 2004 | Army Strategic Forces Command | Pakistan Army |
| Hatf-IV | Shaheen | SRBM | 2003 | Army Strategic Forces Command | Pakistan Army |
| Hatf-V | Ghauri | MRBM | 2003 | Army Strategic Forces Command | Pakistan Army |
| Hatf-VI | Shaheen II | MRBM | 2011 | Army Strategic Forces Command | Pakistan Army |
| Hatf-VII | Babur | GLCM SLCM | 2011 2018 | Army Strategic Forces Command Naval Strategic Forces Command | Pakistan Army Pakistan Navy |
| Hatf-VIII | Ra'ad | ALCM | 2012 | Air Force Strategic Forces Command |  Pakistan Air Force |
| Hatf-IX | Nasr | SRBM[19] | 2011 | Army Strategic Forces Command | Pakistan Army |
TheHatf-I (English tr.: "Target") was the first project developed under this program in 1987. Deployed by the Pakistan Army, the Hatf-I is ashort-ranged ballistic missile system developed bySUPARCO. The system was seen as direct competition with India’sPrithvi system.[20]
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.: 235–245 [6] 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.[21][22]
Lessons and experiences gained from the Hatf-I eventually led to the design and development of theNasr in 2011, which is widely believed to be a delivery system for smalltactical nuclear weapons. The short-ranged system is exclusively designed and deployed for the Pakistan Army.[16]
TheZia administration acquired SovietScud technology from the formerAfghan National Army, but it provided little benefit to the country's scientists in understanding short-range missile systems.: 235–244 [6] In 1993, the Benazir Bhutto government began secretly procuring theDF-11 from China.[23] While the Chinese short-range missile was not nuclear weapons delivery capable, attempts to reverse engineer its delivery mechanism failed.: 235–244 [6]
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.: 235–244 [6] To address the deployment limitations of theM-11, theAbdali program was designed and implemented by the SUPARCO in 1995, while theGhaznavi program was delegated to theNational Defence Complex, deriving from M-11 designs.: 235–244 [6][23] The Ghaznavi'srocket engine, tested in 1997, was a significant breakthrough.[23]
During this time, theShaheen program was pursued and developed by theNational Defence Complex (NDC). Despite facing technological setbacks theShaheen program continued to evolve, producing its first prototype in 1999.[24] The program proved sustainable, producing improved variants.[25] TheAbabeel was developed withMIRV capability to counter India's missile defence.[26]
TheHatf program diversified intoliquid-fuel technology, withKRL as its lead. The technology for this program came directly from North Korea, with support from the Benazir Bhutto administration.[27] 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.: 244 [6] Originally based entirely on theRodong-1, theGhauri 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.[28]
After the first flight failure in 1998, North Korean engineers were removed from the program, forcingKRL to work on reverse engineering and redesign the entire weapon system. With assistance from theDESTO andNDC, the first missile, Ghauri-I, was made for deployment in 2004.[28][29]
Development on understanding and developing cruise missile technology began in Pakistan when India initiated itsmissile defense program in 1998. Amidst the tense environment between theSharif administration,Vajpayee premiership andClinton administration, Pakistan's development of cruise missiles was spurred by India's acquisition of theS-300 Grumble from Russia and its attempts to negotiate with the United States for thePatriot PAC-3. These developments negatively impacted Pakistan's land-baseddeterrence mechanism.: 388 [6]
It took Pakistan several years to make its cruise missile program feasible. In 2005, the firstBabur (Pakistani military designation: Hatf-VII) was successfully test-fired by the army, surprising the United States.[30] In 2007, Pakistan announced the development and test-firing ofRa'ad (Pakistani military designation: Hatf-VIII), demonstrating its air-launched cruise missile capability.[31]
In 2017, Pakistan conducted a successful launch of theBabur-III missile from anunderwater mobile platform. This long-desired capability for the Navy effectively established Pakistan'ssecond-strike capability from sea.[32][33][34]
| Secretariats |  | |
|---|---|---|
| Formations | ||
| Institutions | ||
| Estates | ||
| Reservation | ||
| Industry | | |
|---|---|---|
| Organizations | ||
| Agencies | ||
| Defense |
|  | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Energy | ||||||||||
| Science |
| |||||||||
| Interior | ||||||||||
| Defense Production Agencies | ||||||||||
| Private | ||||||||||
| SEO | ||||||||||
| Projects | ||||||||||
| Surface-to-Surface (SSM) |
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Air-to-Surface (ASM) |
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Surface-to-Air (SAM) |
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Air-to-Air (AAM) |
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Transporters |
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
** = Includes all ship-to-ship, ship-to-sub, sub-to-ship and sub-to-sub torpedoes See also: | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
 Space program of Pakistan | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Organizations |
| ||||||||
| Space centres | |||||||||
| Satellites |
| ||||||||
| Space missions | |||||||||
| Launch vehicles | |||||||||
| Space observatories | |||||||||
| Spaceports | |||||||||
| People | |||||||||
| History and policy | |||||||||
