Purchase includes free access to book updates online and a free trial membership in the publisher's book club where you can select from more than a million books without charge. Excerpt: The Shaheen-II (Urdu: ) is an medium range ballistic missile (MRBM) developed by NESCOM's National Defence Complex (NDC) of Pakistan. The Shaheen missile series is named after a white eagle that lives in the mountains of Pakistan. The Shaheen-II is an medium range ballistic missile (MRBM), a longer ranged variant of the Shaheen-I missile and currently the most advanced ballistic missile in service with the military of Pakistan. It uses a two-stage solid propellant rocket motor designed to carry conventional or nuclear payloads. The missile is stated to have a CEP of 50 m, achieved through the use of a post separation booster to provide terminal course correction. It is transported and launched by a 6-axle transporter erector launcher (TEL). According to U.S. based analysts, a satellite image of a Pakistani missile production facility taken on 5 June 2005 shows fifteen 6-axle TELs being fitted out for the Shaheen 2 missile. Shaheen-II was successfully test fired for the first time on March 9, 2004. At that time, the National Engineering and Science Commission (NESCOM) chairman Samar Mubarakmand stated that the missile was a two-stage rocket with diameter of 1.4 m, length of 17.5 m, weight of 25 tons and a range of 2,500km. In February 2001 it was reported by Pakistan's Jang newspaper that the range of Shaheen II had been increased from 2,500km to 3,500km, although this was considered unlikely, as of 2007. The re-entry vehicle carried by the Shaheen-II missile has a mass of 1050kg, which includes the mass of a nuclear warhead and a terminal guidance system. The terminal guidance system is most likely a radar correlation terminal seeker, which allows the warhead to achieve a CEP in the range of 30-50 m (similar to the Pershing II missile ). More:
| | Ballistic Missiles of Pakistan: Shaheen-Ii, Hatf-I, Abdali-I, Ghauri, Ghaznavi, Ghauri-Iii |  | 8.87 |  |