Pakistan tests Hatf-8 air launched cruise missile
29 Apr 2011
Islamabad: Pakistan's military said it had tested the Hatf-8 or Ra'ad cruise missile with a range of 350kms. The indigenously developed, low-flying, stealth-design missile was tested at an undisclosed location.
The missile apparently can carry both nuclear and conventional warheads.
The Ra'ad, meaning thunder in Arabic, was tested for the first time in August 2007 and is an air launched cruise missile.
Ra'ad
The Ra'ad (Hatf-8) was preceded by the Hatf-7 (Babur) ground launched cruise missile but is not an air-launched derivative of the Babur. According to the prestigious defence journal Jane's, the Hatf-8 is a new design, specially developed for the air-launched role with several foreign technology inputs.
Pakistan's entire missile programme is an aggregation of foreign missile designs and technologies.
