When did pakistan test nuclear weapons

Although Pakistan argues that its nuclear weapons are well-guarded, many experts are not so sure, pointing out that the Taliban and other militants have frequently struck at supposedly secure military bases with impunity. More worrisome, though, is Pakistan’s history of proliferation, which increases the chance that one day some element or the other in the Pakistani military will provide nuclear materials to an even more dangerous third party—or even to a stable country like Saudi Arabia, which could set off an arms race in the Middle East. ( Recommended: Also troubling is the steady radicalization of Pakistani’s military, which could at some point turn into the ideological equivalent of the Taliban. American lawmakers who constantly fret about the irrationality of the Iranian government should take note of the continuous Islamization of Pakistan’s military. Here are five things you need to know about the world’s most dangerous nuclear weapons program. At first glance, it may seem strange that Pakistan has nuclear weapons, as it maintains close relations with China and the United States, neither of which would allow it to be dismembered. Even its rival India does not wish to see it collapse, but that doesn’t stop Pakistan from having nuclear weapons largely for one reason—India. This is not only because India itself has nuclear weapons (ostensibly because China has them), but also to achieve parity with a rival that is many times larger than it in terms of size, population...

Pakistan tested its first nuclear weapon in 1998, becoming the world’s 7th state to officially test a nuclear weapon. The exact yields of the weapons in the country’s current arsenal are not known, but general estimates are between 5-12 kilotons (kt) for most weapons, with some longer-range ballistic missiles possibly reaching 40 kt. Pakistan is believed to have a stockpile of approximately 160 warheads, making it the 6th largest nuclear arsenal. Pakistan is actively developing nuclear weapons, and experts project that it may have the 5th largest arsenal by 2025 with 220-250 warheads. Aircraft Name Number of launchers Range (KM) Warhead x yield (kilotons) F-16A/B ~24 1,600 1 × bomb Mirage III/V ~12 2,100 1 × bomb Land-based Missiles Name Number of launchers Range (KM) Warhead x yield (kilotons) Abdali (Hatf-2) 10 200 1 x 5-12 Ghaznavi (Hatf-3) ~16 300 1 x 5-12 Shaheen-1 (Hatf-4) ~16 750 1 x 5-12 Shaheen-1A (Hatf-4) - 900 1 x 5-12 Shaheen-2 (Hatf-6) ~12 1,500 1 × 10-40 Shaheen-3 (Hatf-6) - 2,750 1 × 10-40 Ghauri (Hatf-5) ~24 1,250 1 × 10-40 NASR (Hatf-9) ~24 1,250 1 x 5-12 Ababeel (Hatf-?) - 2,200 MIRV or MRV Ground and air-launched cruise missiles Name Number of launchers Range (KM) Warhead x yield (kilotons) Babur GLCM (Hatf-7) ~12 350 1 x 5-12 Babur-2/1(B) GLCM (Hatf-?) - 700 1 x 5-12 Ra’ad ALCM (Hatf-8) - 350 1 x 5-12 Ra’ad-2 ALCM (Hatf-?) - >350 1 x 5-12 Sea-based cruise missiles Name Number of launchers Range (KM) Warhead x yield (kilotons) Babur-3 SLCM (Hatf-?) - 450...

Why did India and Pakistan test nuclear weapons in May 1998, and how did the United States and the international community respond? This SAV Explainer pieces together the details, aided by expert analysis from practitioners and scholars on What were the circumstances of the May 1998 nuclear tests carried out by India and Pakistan? On May 11 and 13 th, 1998, months after electing a Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government led by Atal Bihari Vajpayee, India conducted five nuclear tests in the Thar desert of Rajasthan. After a seventeen-day period of decisionmaking, Pakistan conducted five simultaneous nuclear explosions in western Balochistan on May 28, 1998, and a sixth test two days later at an underground test site known as Kharan. India’s How did the United States attempt to prevent Pakistan from testing nuclear devices after India’s nuclear tests? According to General Anthony Zinni, a former U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) commander, after India conducted its tests, the United States immediately went to meet with the Pakistani prime minister and many members of the cabinet to urge Pakistan to refrain from conducting nuclear tests in response to India. Zinni asserts that the trip was a “mission impossible,” as there was little the United States could do to persuade Pakistan into believing it was not in its own strategic interest to test nuclear devices in response to India. Why did Pakistan respond to India’s nuclear test with its own tests two weeks later? Feroz Khan, a r...

trefoil). Very few unknown tests are suspected at this time, the The following are considered nuclear tests: • single nuclear devices fired in deep horizontal tunnels (drifts) or in vertical shafts, in shallow shafts ("cratering"), underwater, on barges or vessels on the water, on land, in • Salvo tests in which several devices are fired simultaneously, as defined by international treaties: In conformity with treaties between the United States and the Soviet Union, ... For nuclear weapon tests, a salvo is defined as two or more underground nuclear explosions conducted at a test site within an area delineated by a circle having a diameter of two kilometers and conducted within a total period of time of 0.1 second. • The two nuclear bombs dropped in combat over Japan in 1945. While the primary purpose of these two detonations was military and not experimental, observations were made and the tables would be incomplete without them. • Nuclear • • Tests intended but not completed because of vehicle or other support failures that destroyed the device. • Tests that were emplaced and could not be fired for various reasons. Usually, the devices were ultimately destroyed by later conventional or nuclear explosions. Not included as nuclear tests: • Misfires which were corrected and later fired as intended. • Hydro-nuclear or Tests by country [ ] The table in this section summarizes all worldwide nuclear testing (including the two bombs dropped in combat which were not tests). The cou...

Editor ’s note: The Nuclear Notebook is researched and written by Hans M. Kristensen, director of the Nuclear Information Project with the Federation of American Scientists, and Matt Korda, a research associate with the project. The Nuclear Notebook column has been published in the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists since 1987. This issue’s column examines Pakistan’s nuclear arsenal, which may include approximately 165 warheads. The authors estimate that the country’s stockpile could realistically grow to around 200 by 2025, if the current trend continues. To download a free PDF of this article, click To see all previous Nuclear Notebook columns, click . Pakistan continues to expand its nuclear arsenal with more warheads, more delivery systems, and a growing fissile materials production industry. Analysis of a large number of commercial satellite images of Pakistani army garrisons and air force bases shows what appear to be launchers and facilities that might be related to the nuclear forces. We estimate that Pakistan now has a nuclear weapons stockpile of approximately 165 warheads (See Table 1). The US Defense Intelligence Agency projected in 1999 that Pakistan would have 60 to 80 warheads by 2020 (US Defense Intelligence Agency With several new delivery systems in development, four plutonium production reactors, and an expanding uranium enrichment infrastructure, however, Pakistan’s stockpile has the potential to increase further over the next 10 years. The size of this ...

Pakistan’s nuclear program goes back to the 1950s, during the early days of its rivalry with India. President Zulfikar Ali Bhutto The program became a higher priority after the country’s 1971 defeat at the hands of India, which caused East Pakistan to break away and become Bangladesh. Experts believe the humiliating loss of territory, Pakistan began the process of accumulating the necessary fuel for nuclear weapons, enriched uranium and plutonium. The country was particularly helped by one A. Q. Khan, a metallurgist working in the West who returned to his home country in 1975 with centrifuge designs and business contacts necessary to begin the enrichment process. Pakistan’s program was assisted by European countries and a clandestine equipment-acquisition program designed to do an end run on nonproliferation efforts. Outside countries eventually dropped out as the true purpose of the program became clear, but the clandestine effort continued. Exactly when Pakistan had completed its first nuclear device is murky. Former president Benazir Bhutto, Zulfikar Bhutto’s daughter, Benazir Bhutto later claimed that Pakistan’s bombs were stored disassembled until 1998, when India tested six bombs in a span of three days. Nearly three weeks later, Pakistan conducted a similar rapid-fire testing schedule, setting off five bombs in a single day and a sixth bomb three days later. The first device, estimated at twenty-five to thirty kilotons, may have been a boosted uranium device. The se...

On May 28 each year, Pakistan proudly celebrates “Youm-e-Takbir,” which translates as the “Day of Greatness,” to commemorate the country’s first successful detonation of nuclear devices. But the locals in Balochistan’s Chagai district, and citizens all across Balochistan, The locals still suffer as a result of the nuclear explosions the Pakistani government set off in the Ras Koh mountains 19 years ago. The new generation of Baloch inhabitants in the region is plagued with serious diseases stemming from those blasts. And all in Balochistan are constantly reminded of the promises made at the time by Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif (then serving his second of what would be three terms, spread out over 17 years) to invest in health, education, roads, and infrastructure in the province — promises that have yet to be fulfilled. And yet it seems more important to Pakistan that on May 28 it became a member of the club of nuclear powers when it conducted five nuclear tests (followed by a sixth on May 30) in response to India’s five tests two weeks earlier. “We have settled the score,” But how many remember the plane hijacking just a few days before by three Balochs protesting those planned nuclear tests? On May 24, 1998, PIA Flight 554 took off from Turbat, destined for Karachi. Dawn explained their motives in a report on May 25, 1998: “They [the hijackers] were opposed to any nuclear test in their native Balochistan province following the recent Indian blasts, official sources said.”...

Main article: Several historical and political events and personalities in the 1960s and early 1970s led Pakistan to gradually transition to a program of nuclear weapons development, that began in 1972. :182–183 :470–476 Chagai-I was the result of over two decades of planning and preparation, Pakistan becoming the :14–15 The timing of Chagai-I was a direct response to India's second nuclear tests, Operation Shakti, on 11 and 13 May 1998. :1–15 :191–198 Chagai-I was Pakistan's first of two public tests of In 2005, Location [ ] Safety and security required a remote, isolated and unpopulated mountainous area. :470–476 The :182 to select a "bone dry" mountain capable of withstanding a 20–40 Koh Kambaran located in the Throughout the 1980s, the Decision-making [ ] After India's The decision to conduct tests took place at a meeting that Sharif convened with the :101–102 In talks with Sharif, the :103–110 At the :103 :269–270 :300–325 Dr. :271–275 Concluding the final arguments, Ishfaq Ahmad said: "Mr. Prime Minister, take a decision and, :276–277 With the :104–105 Despite being under pressure by U.S. President Conduct the explosion!") :277 In May 1998, a C-130 aircraft with four escorting In 1999, in an interview given to Pakistani and Indian journalists in Islamabad, Sharif said: If India had not exploded the bomb, Pakistan would not have done so. Once New Delhi did so, We [Sharif Government] had no choice because of public pressure. Weapon yield [ ] The The observation post wa...

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Chagai-I Information Country Pakistan Test site Ras Koh, Pakistan Period 1998 Number of tests 1 (5 Devices fired) Test type Device type Max.yield 32 Map all coordinatesin "Chagai I" using: Download coordinates as: The nuclear weapons tests of Pakistan refers to a test programme directed towards the development of The first The Pakistan Government, under Prime Minister Testing series [ ] Chagai-I [ ] The Pakistan's Chagai-I nuclear test series was a single See also: Pakistan's Chagai I series tests and detonations These five devices constitute a single salvo test under the definition of "test" in Name Date time ( Local Delivery, Purpose References Notes 28 May 1998 10:16:15.8 PKT (+5hrs) Ras Koh, Pakistan 28°47′34″N 64°56′44″E / 28.79273°N 64.94565°E / 28.79273; 64.94565 ( Chagai 1 - 1) 1,298m (4,259ft) + tunnel, 32kt Boosted fission device. Notice debris from light rock band slumped downhill from shaking. No official word on what happened in the test. 28 May 1998 10:16:15.8 PKT (+5hrs) Ras Koh, Pakistan 28°47′34″N 64°56′44″E / 28.79273°N 64.94565°E / 28.79273; 64.94565 ( Chagai 1 - 2) 1,298m (4,259ft) + tunnel, 1kt Boosted fission device. Notice debris from light rock band slumped downhill from shaking. 28 May 1998 10:16:15.8 PKT (+5hrs) Ras Koh, Pakistan 28°47′34″N 64°56′44″E / 28.79273°N 64.94565°E / 28.79273; 64.94565 ( Chagai 1 - 3) 1,298m (4,259ft) + tunnel, 1kt Boosted fission device. 28 May 1998 10:16:15.8 PKT (+5hrs) Ras Koh, Pakistan 28°47′34″N 64°56′44″E / 28.792...