Tuesday, November 5, 2024

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Pakistan’s Ra’ad-II Missile: A Strategic Leap in South Asia’s Military Dynamics

This development marks the latest improvement in the South Asia military theater and showcases Pakistan’s Ra’ad-II air-launched cruise missile with an alarming 600-kilometer reach. According to the statement released by Pakistan’s Inter-Services Public Relations, this demonstrates yet another enriched capability towards the country’s strategic standoff against targets on land and at sea.

Compared to the earlier version, Ra’ad-I, which had a range of 350 km, the Ra’ad-II represents a more mature development. Advanced guidance and navigation systems have been fitted into this new version. All the improvisations will entail high precisions for the engagement of target factors considered critical in light of modernization in air defenses in the region following India’s acquisition of the Russian S-400 systems.

Since the missile was revealed for the first time as a mock-up model in 2017, there have been a series of notable changes in its design. The new “X” configuration of its tail fins, replacing the earlier “twin-tail” configuration, suggests a more compact form that may conceivably be accommodated on a wider range of platforms, including the fighter jets of the Pakistan Air Force, namely the JF-17s.

According to military analysts, including the retired Pakistan Air Force pilot Kaiser Tufail, with its low radar cross-section, this missile is capable of low-level flights and therefore can be a good answer to the S-400 air defense systems. Integration of Ra’ad-II with the JF-17 is expected, making the entire air strike capability of Pakistan even stronger.

Mansoor Ahmed, a senior fellow at the Center for International Strategic Studies in Islamabad, underlines that Ra’ad-II significantly enhances the operational flexibility of the strategic forces of Pakistan. That will enable precision strikes against critical targets from safer distances capability so far invested with ballistic missiles.

This development comes at a time when tensions have risen and an arms race is growing in the region, with India pushing ahead with its missile defense systems, including the indigenous Ballistic Missile Defence program. The BMD system, much like Israel’s Arrow defense, will try to intercept missiles both within and outside the earth’s atmosphere to add teeth to the defensive posture of India.

While both countries are involved in continuous FMS modernization, the Ra’ad-II test underlines the evolving strategic landscape of South Asia, where technological advances in missile systems are becoming central to national defense strategies.

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