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Babur cruise missile: PAKISTAN

    WHY IN NEWS:

Pakistan has successfully test fired an enhanced version of indigenously-built Babur cruise missile.

Key facts:

‘Babur Weapon System-1 (B)’ is a low-flying, terrain-hugging missile, which carries certain stealth features and is capable of carrying various types of warheads. It can deliver conventional and non-conventional weapons with a range of 700 kilometres.

It incorporates…

Babur (named after the first Mughal Emperor Zahir ud-Din Babur), also designated Hatf VII, is the first land attack cruise missile to be developed byPakistan. 

Launched from ground-based transporter erector launchers, warships and submarines, the Babur can be armed with a conventional or nuclear warhead and has a reported range of 700 km (430 mi). The missile is designed to avoid radar detection and penetrate enemy air defences. Serial production of the Babur started in October 2005. 

Babur is believed to have been developed in response to reports that India was planning to acquire Patriot missiles from the US, in order to set up a ballistic missile defense system to counter Pakistan's arsenal of ballistic missiles. 

Design

The Babur's airframe is made up of a tubular fuselage, with a pair of folded wings attached to the middle section and the empennage at the rear along with the propulsion system. Propelled by a jet engine (either turbofan orturbojet), the Babur has a maximum speed of approximately 550 mph. On launch, a booster rocket provides additional thrust to accelerate the missile away from the launch vehicle. After the launch the wings unfold, the booster rocket is jettisoned and the jet engine started.

Guidance

The Babur's guidance system uses a combination of inertial navigation systems, terrain contour matching (TERCOM) and GPS satellite guidance. The guidance system reportedly gives the missile pinpoint accuracy. GPS access is not guaranteed under hostile conditions so the latest production models have also reportedly incorporated the Russian GLONASS. Future software and hardware updates could include the European Union'sGALILEO and China's Beidou navigation system. 

Features

The missile is stated to have a high degree of maneuverability, allowing it to "hug" the terrain, and "near-stealth" capabilities. Terrain hugging ability helps the missile avoid enemy radar detection by utilizing "terrain masking", giving Babur the capability to penetrate enemy air defence systems undetected and survive until reaching the target. The missile's design features can be compared with the American BGM-109 Tomahawkcruise missile. 

More advanced versions of the Babur are under development. Later versions are planned to have a range of 1000 km and be capable of being launched from Pakistan Navy submarines such as the Agosta 90BKhalid class. 

Operational history

On August 12, 2005, Pakistan publicly announced that it had successfully test fired a nuclear-capable cruise missile with a range of 500 km. The missile was launched from a land based transporter erector launcher(TEL). The unannounced launch on 11 August 2005 caught much of the international community by surprise due to the technically advanced nature of the missile, as well as the fact that Pakistan did not notify India of its test-firing as the existing notification agreement is limited to ballistic missile testing only.

On March 22, 2007, Pakistan test-fired an upgraded version of the Babur with an extended range of 700 km. Pakistan carried out two more tests of Babur on July 26, 2007 and December 11, 2007. 

On May 6, 2009, Pakistan conducted another test-firing but did not announce the event until 9 May 2009, citing political reasons. 

On October 28, 2011. Pakistan successfully test fire its Babur Cruise missile and has a range of 700 kilometer. The ISPR said Babur was capable of carrying conventional and atomic warheads. A special feature of this launch was the validation of a new multi tube Missile Launch Vehicle (MLV) during the test. The three tube MLV enhances manifold the targeting and deployment options in the conventional and nuclear modes. With its shoot-and-scoot capability, the MLV provides a major force multiplier effect for target employment and survivability.