The Pakistan Army on Wednesday successfully test-fired an enhanced version of an indigenously-designed cruise missile that can hit targets at 700 kms with all kinds of warheads, bringing many Indian cities within its range.
Called ‘Babur’ after Mughal invader and founder of the dynasty of same name, the missile is part of Babur Weapon System version- 2 and is an enhanced version of the earlier missile.
The army said in a statement that it incorporates advanced aerodynamics and avionics that can strike targets both at land and sea with high accuracy.
“It is a low flying, terrain hugging missile, which carries certain stealth features and is capable of carrying various types of warheads,” it said.
The missile is equipped with state-of-the-art navigational technologies of Terrain Contour Matching (TERCOM) and all time Digital Scene Matching & Area Co-relation (DSMAC), which enables it to engage various type of targets with pinpoint accuracy even in the absence of GPS navigation.
“Babur Weapon System is an important force multiplier for Pakistan’s strategic defence,” it said.
Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff committee, General Zubair Mahmood Hayat, senior officers from strategic plans division, strategic forces, scientists and engineers of strategic organisations were present at the launch.
Hayat congratulated the scientists and engineers on achieving yet another milestone of great value and significance. He appreciated the technical prowess, dedication and commitment of scientists who contributed to the success of this launch.
Expressing his full confidence over the strategic command and control system and the strategic forces’ operational preparedness, General Zubair said that this test further strengthens Pakistan’s deterrence capability.
The President and the Prime Minister of Pakistan also congratulated the scientists and engineers on successful conduct of the missile test.
Babur No-Match to India’s BrahMos and is copied from the U.S. Tomahawk Cruise Missile ::
However, the Babur is far inferior to India’s BrahMos, which travels at supersonic speeds of up to Mach 3 (as compared to Babur’s sub-sonic Mach 0.8). This gives it much better target penetration and it cannot be intercepted by most existing missile defence systems. Even though Babur’s range is longer than BrahMos’, its subsonic speed means it can be intercepted by anti-missile shields like Israel’s Iron Dome and India’s AAD.
Also, even though Pakistan claims that Babur is indigenously developed, weapons experts say that it is based on the Kh-55SM/Korshun LACM, whose detailed production engineering data packages were bought from Kiev by 2001. Babur’s design shows the influence of the USA’s BGM-109 Tomahawk cruise missile, which Pakistan is said to have reverse-engineered after six Tomahawks crash-landed on Pakistani territory in 2001 during US airstrikes on targets in Afghanistan.
Source:- Hindustan Times
The post Pak Successfully Tests 700km Range Babur Missile, But Is No Match For India’s BrahMos appeared first on Defence Update.
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