Alwaght- Pakistan on Tuesday conducted successful flight test of indigenously developed Air Launched Cruise Missile (ALCM) “Ra’ad”.
According to a statement by the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR), the Ra’ad ALCM has a range of 350km, enabling the country to achieve air-delivered strategic standoff capability on land and at sea, with highly advanced guidance and navigation system, which ensures strong accuracy.
Terming it a major step towards complementing Pakistan’s deterrence capability, Director General Strategic Plan Division Lieutenant General Mazhar Jamil congratulated the team behind Ra’ad on achieving yet another milestone of historic significance, the statement added.
“Achievement of this milestone will surely enhance strategic stability and contribute to peace in the region,” he said.
The flight test of the cruise missile, which is also known as Hatf VIII, was the seventh since it was first tested in 2007.
It is essentially a flying bomb, generally designed to carry a large conventional or nuclear warhead many hundreds of miles with high accuracy. Modern cruise missiles can travel at supersonic or high subsonic speed.
These guided missiles are self-navigating and fly on a non-ballistic very low altitude trajectory in order to avoid radar detection.
The most common mission for cruise missiles is to attack relatively high value targets such as ships, command bunkers, bridges and dams. The modern guidance system permits precise attacks.
