Pakistan:  Officials Test-Fire Shaheen Missile

Pakistan test-fired a Shaheen surface-to-surface missile today, government officials said.  The missile, also known as a Hatf 4, can carry nuclear or conventional warheads and has a range of 380 miles, according to officials.

Pakistani officials played down the significance of the tests and said its neighbor and rival India should not be alarmed (see GSN, June 19).  India was notified in advance of the tests, they said.

“This is a sort of routine test,” an army spokesman said (see GSN, May 28).

“It has nothing to do with anything but to test the technical aspects of the missile,” said a Foreign Ministry spokesman

The last missile test that Pakistan conducted was in May, according to the Associated Press (see GSN, May 21; Associated Press/New York Times, Oct. 4).

India dismissed today’s test as playing to elections next week in Pakistan.

“As we have said before, we are not particularly impressed with these missile antics of Pakistan,” an Indian government spokeswoman said (CNN, Oct. 4).

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Iran:  Shahab Missile Designed to Oppose Israeli Counterpart, Official Says

Iran developed its Shahab missile for the purpose of retaliating against possible Israeli strikes, the Jerusalem Post reported today (see GSN, July 10).

The Shahab was designed to hit Israel and counter the Israeli Jericho missile, Ahmed Wahid, head of Iran’s missile development said Thursday.  Wahid did not specify the version of the Shahab to which he was referring.

The comments may have been made in light of a possible U.S. conflict with Iraq, experts said.

“This could be seen as a warning to America and perhaps to Israel not to even consider trying to carry out any operations against Iran during a strike on Iraq,” professor Gabriel Ben-Dor, of the University of Haifa, said.

Iran is not trying to develop missiles that can reach the United States, Wahid said.

“American territory is not part of our strategic defense targets,” Wahid said.

Contrary to reports and U.S. assertions, Iran is not attempting to develop nuclear weapons, Wahid said, and Iran’s interest in missiles is only for retaliatory strikes.

“Israel has 200 nuclear warheads,” Wahid said.  “We have no nuclear weapons and we are not trying to obtain them.  If there is a strike against us, however, we will respond with all our abilities” (David Rudge, Jerusalem Post, Oct. 4).

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India:  United States Removes Payload Obstacles

The United States last month said it intends to stop opposing international customers who want to launch satellites on India’s space platforms, the Hindu reported yesterday (see GSN, April 16).

During bilateral talks on weapons of mass destruction, the United States said it will suspend political obstacles to launches that do not involve U.S. parts.  Many countries have expressed interest in using India’s relatively cost-effective Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle, according to the Hindu (see GSN, Aug. 13).

Meanwhile, U.S. Commerce Undersecretary Kenneth Juster is expected to travel to India in a few weeks to continue discussions aimed at relaxing controls on dual-use technologies and increasing high-technology trade (C. Raja Mohan, Hindu, Sept. 30).

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MTCR:  Members Meet in Warsaw

By Mike Nartker
Global Security Newswire

WASHINGTON — The Missile Technology Control Regime, an export control arrangement with more than 30 members, held its annual plenary meeting last week in Warsaw to review the regime’s activities and strengthen its efforts against missile proliferation (see GSN, Sept. 26).

Meeting participants agreed to continue to pursue contacts with nonmembers and to make several changes to the regime’s control list.  They issued a joint action calling for increased efforts to prevent terrorists groups from obtaining items on the control list.  The participants agreed to hold the 2004 plenary meeting in Seoul, while Argentina plans to chair the 2003 meeting in Buenos Aires, the MTCR said in a press release Friday.

Meanwhile, the signing ceremony for the International Code of Conduct Against Ballistic Missile Proliferation, a complementary agreement to the MTCR, is to be held Nov. 25-26 in The Hague, the MTCR said (see GSN, Aug. 23).

For further information, see:

U.S. State Department MTCR Summary

Draft International Code of Conduct (Stockholm International Peace Research Institute)

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Bulgaria:  Local Experts Suspicious of U.S. Missile Dismantlers

A U.S. contractor hired to help Bulgaria destroy stockpiles of Soviet-era SS-23 and other ballistic missiles has dismissed a team of Bulgarian missile experts who were to be involved in the project, a senior Bulgarian military officer said Sunday (see GSN, Sept. 12).

Controlled Demolitions Inc. dismissed the Bulgarian experts because of a conflict over the company’s apparent interest in the SS-23 control units, according to sources.  The firm wanted to disassemble the electronic systems before destroying them, a measure opposed by lead Bulgarian missile expert Lyubomir Balevski, who questioned the company’s motives in wanting to remove the equipment before destroying it. 

One country’s intellectual property should not be turned over to foreign experts for analysis without its consent, Balevski said.

The experts had been scheduled to sign a contract with the company last week.

Meanwhile, Zheko Ganev, an expert from the Bulgarian National Assembly’s Environment Commission, announced that fuel from the scrapped SS-23 missiles would be processed at a waste treatment facility in the town of Belozem.  The Bulgarian missile experts, however, said the facility would not be able to handle the SS-23 fuel.  Instead, special facilities owned by the Voinko consortium should be used, the experts said (Sofia 24 Chasa, Sept. 30 in FBIS-EEU, Sept. 30).

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India:  Officials Fault British Dossier for Reference to Firm

A British dossier designed to offer proof that Iraq possesses weapons of mass destruction should not have accused only one firm — NEC Engineers in India — of supplying illegal material, Indian government officials said yesterday (see GSN, Sept. 24).

If Iraq has rebuilt its weapons program it was with the help of many illicit procurements from a variety of countries, yet the firm from India was the only one identified, a spokeswoman for India’s Foreign Ministry said.

“Such a selective reference to an Indian firm is liable to create a totally wrong impression in the public mind,” she said.  “No detail of actual procurement from specific country or countries has been given except the reference to an Indian firm against whom India has already acted.”

Government officials had already suspended the company’s export license, the spokeswoman said (United Press International, Sept. 26).  Indian authorities arrested NEC Engineers’ chief executive and suspended the firm’s export license in June, the South China Morning Post reported today.

“We’re just a small trading company with a tiny office and about a dozen employees,” general manager of NEC Engineers C.P. Ahuja said.  “I have no idea what Britain is on about” (Amrit Dhillon, South China Morning Post, Sept. 27).

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Iran:  Defense Ministry Manufactures New Surface-to-Surface Missiles

Iran has begun to mass-produce new Fateh A-110 surface-to-surface missiles, Iranian newspapers reported today, according to Reuters (see GSN, Sept. 6).

Defense Minister Ali Shamkhani reportedly inaugurated a new production line for the Fateh A-110 and other armaments, according to Reuters.  The missile, which was successfully tested earlier this month, has a range of 130 miles.

“Iran’s deterrence policy in producing defensive equipment aims to bring maximum security to the Islamic Republic’s borders,” the Siyasat-e Rouz newspaper quoted Shamkhani as saying.

“Iran has no plan to increase the range of its missiles and Iran’s missile programs are fully in line with international principles,” Shamkhani said (Reuters/Washington Post, Sept. 25).

For further information, see:

Carnegie Endowment World Missile Chart

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