Experts explained why Islamabad tested the Shaheen-3 ballistic missile
Pakistan has tested the Shaheen-3 ballistic missile (Shaheen-III). This happened after a vote of no confidence in the country's Prime Minister Imran Khan, who met with Vladimir Putin in Moscow on the day of the start of a special military operation in Ukraine. "Newspaper.Ru" figured out what was behind the tests.
Shaheen-3 is the development of Pakistan's short-range supersonic ballistic missiles. It is capable of hitting targets at 2.7 thousand km with a nuclear warhead weighing 500 kg. The rocket was created in the early 2000s and declassified in 2015. The launcher for the Shahin-3 is manufactured by China.
The press service of the Pakistani Armed Forces reported that the tests were completed successfully. It was also noted that the military, scientists and engineers who created the missile were congratulated by the President of Pakistan Arif Alvi, Acting Prime Minister Imran Khan and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Nadim Raza.
The tests took place almost immediately after the country's parliament expressed no confidence in Imran Khan. He is accused of corruption and inefficient management of the economy. Khan himself claims that there is a "conspiracy of several Western foreign powers led by the United States" behind the attempt to oust him. Until the confirmation of the successor, Khan continues to serve as prime minister.
"The tests took place at a very symbolic moment. It's hardly a coincidence. They are trying to remove Khan from power, which he accuses Washington of. There are many reasons for Americans not to like the Pakistani prime minister too much. He is eccentric and out of control. This is a Pakistani version on the theme of former US President Donald Trump. The main reason is that he met with Putin at the beginning of the special operation and has not yet condemned him. He launched the rocket not only after the vote, but also shortly before Joe Biden's talks with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Let me remind you that India is the main opponent of Pakistan. Among many other things, this is a signal from Khan to his military that they are the main guarantee of the country's independence. Therefore, he personally congratulated them," he told the newspaper.Ru" military political scientist Valery Volkov.
In turn, Konstantin Bogdanov, a senior researcher at the IMEMO Center for International Security of the Russian Academy of Sciences, does not associate the tests with the political situation inside Pakistan.
The expert noted that now the nuclear parity between India and Pakistan has been built, and, according to some estimates, Pakistan has more warheads, but most of them are tactical nuclear charges of low power. At the same time, India's missile technology surpasses Pakistan's capabilities.
"The samples that India has tested in recent years fly much further, their technologies are more advanced. Plus, India has a more diversified potential - they are developing both cruise missiles and supersonic. They have ballistic missiles for submarines, which Pakistan does not have. If we talk about the military-strategic balance as a whole, then India certainly surpasses Pakistan in general-purpose forces. From this comes the peculiarity of the Pakistani nuclear doctrine - it, by and large, is an attempt to defend itself from India in a cheap way in the event of a possible outbreak of war. They directly say that they will use tactical nuclear weapons in the event of an invasion by India," Bogdanov explained.
Academician of the Russian Academy of Sciences, head of the Center for International Security of the IMEMO RAS Alexey Arbatov, for his part, recalled that, although the main target of Pakistani missiles is India, hypothetically they can threaten not only her. "This missile also threatens Israel and us. Ballistic missiles are very difficult to shoot down, especially if it is a group launch," the expert noted.
Arbatov added that a rather paradoxical situation has developed in relations between Russia, Pakistan, India, China and the United States.
"For India, the main strategic opponent is China. For Russia, China is the main strategic partner. And for China, Pakistan is a strategic ally. The United States is China's main opponent, just as they are Russia's main opponent. But the United States is not an opponent of India, which, in turn, is a partner and even an ally of Russia. The modern world is much more complicated than it was during the Cold War," the expert concluded.
Political scientist Volkov believes that Pakistan today demonstrates to Moscow its readiness to cooperate in the defense industry against the background of negotiations between Washington and Delhi. "The US is persuading India to reduce military cooperation with Moscow, and at this moment the Prime Minister of Pakistan launches a rocket. So he showed that he wants to cooperate with Russia. A demonstration in such an oriental style," Volkov summed up.
Denis Telmanov
