As the country’s News Agency reported at the end of last week, on Wednesday Pakistan conducted a successful test-firing of its latest domestically manufactured cruise missile, known as Babur (or Babar, Hatf VII), exactly at the time President Asif Zardari was in Washington and due to meet US President Barack Obama.

A source in the Foreign Office said the test was carried out without prior announcement and that Islamabad did not want to leave any negative impression regarding the Washington meeting.

Designed by the National Engineering and Scientific Commission (NESCOM), the Pakistani scientific and research organisation, Babur is believed to be based on the US BGM-109 Tomahawk design. The cruise missile has a reported range of 500 kilometres (310 miles). It can be fired from warships, submarines and aircraft and is capable of carrying both conventional and nuclear warheads. The Pakistani cruise missile is designed to hug the terrain and slip undetected through almost any protective radar system.

The Babur joins Pakistan’s existing arsenal of short-range, intermediate and long-range nuclear and conventional missiles, which includes the Shaheen-I with a range of 600 kilometres , the Shaheen-II with a range of 2,000 kilometres , the Ghauri-I and Ghauri-II with ranges of 1,500 kilometres and 2,300 kilometres respectively, and the short-range (100-290 kilometres) Hatf series.  [Defence Professionals]