Thaindian News

New Delhi, Sep 1 (IANS) Pakistan has increased its nuclear warheads from 60 to around 70-90 and is enhancing its nuclear weapon capabilities across the board by developing and deploying new nuclear-capable missiles, say two experts in a report in the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists.
The report, entitled “Pakistani nuclear forces, 2009″, by Robert S. Norris of the Natural Resources Defense Council and Hans Kristensen of the Federation of American Scientists is published in the Nuclear Notebook section of the Bulletin.

It details how Pakistan is improving its weapons designs and is moving beyond the first-generation nuclear weapons that relied on highly enriched uranium.

The increase in the warhead estimate does not mean Pakistan is thought to be sprinting ahead of India, which is also increasing its stockpile, Kristensen writes in a condensed version of the report published on the website of the Federation of American Scientists.

India has taken note of the report and is viewing with concern the increasing Pakistani arsenal, especially as the disclosure comes close on the heels of a New York Times report quoting unnamed senior officials that Islamabad modified Harpoon anti-ship missiles purchased from the US to target India, official sources said here Tuesday.

Besides, Islamabad is adding more nuclear capable missiles to its arsenal.

“The new nuclear-capable ballistic missile is being readied for deployment, and two nuclear capable cruise missiles are under development. Two new plutonium production reactors and a second chemical separation facility also are under construction,” said the report.

“For at least a decade, Pakistan has been pursuing plutonium-based designs. Central to that effort is the 40-50-megawatt heavy water Khushab plutonium production reactor, which was completed in 1998 and is located at Joharabad in the Khushab district of Punjab,” they write.

The report goes on to add that Pakistan is building two additional heavy water reactors at the Khushab site, which will more than triple the country’s plutonium production.

Pakistan’s nuclear weapons stockpile may reach between 100 and 120 warheads within the next decade, or even sooner, the two nuclear experts said.

The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists is a non-technical online magazine that focuses on global security and public policy issues, especially related to the dangers posed by nuclear and other weapons of mass destruction. It has been published continuously since 1945, when it was founded by former Manhattan Project physicists after the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

The two experts added that Pakistan is keeping its missiles with nuclear warheads in a completely assembled form and can launch them at a very short notice.

According to them, a satellite picture shows that the Masroor Air Base near Karachi is where missiles like the medium range Shaheen maybe stored.

They also claim that Pakistan is developing two new cruise missiles - the ground-launched Babur and the air-launched Ra’ad.

The new cruise missiles will carry nuclear warheads miniaturised to fit onto them.