Islamabad: Pakistan is preparing its next generation nuclear-capable ballistic missiles for deployment, which will give it the ability to target facilities across most if not all of India, a prestigious organisation of American scientists has said.
A report by the Federation of American Scientists (FAS), which includes a satellite image taken on June five, 2005, of Pakistan's facilities showed a 15 Transporter Erector Launchers (TEL) for the medium-range Shaheen II being fitted at the National Defence Complex near Fatehjang, approximately 30 km southwest of Islamabad.
Authors of the report carried by local daily Dawn in Islamabad on Thursday said that they discovered the vehicles while preparing for the latest nuclear notebook on Pakistani nuclear forces published in the issue of the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists.
According to the report, at Pakistan's National Defence Complex the main facilities are spread over a 6x2 km area on a ridge, and include what appear to be administrative buildings, missile assembly halls and garages. At two locations, several large six-axle vehicles are clearly visible on the satellite image, as are several smaller four-axle vehicles.
Approximately 1.5km northwest from the main building is a cluster of what appears to be five recently-constructed garages.
Parked in front or partially inside the two largest garages to the west are 11 vehicles that, the authors claim, show the characteristic six-axle design of the Shaheen II TEL, indicating that the launcher itself has not yet been installed.
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