"We are a powerful nuclear country, having 150 million people. ... Pakistan is aware of its defence needs, and will never compromise on it. We have the missile capability, which enables us to meet any challenge from anywhere in the world," he said.

Musharraf said the probable acquisition of Patriot Missile System by India was not a concern for Pakistan as the Patriot system did not have a high accuracy kill-ratio or the capability to neutralize the effectiveness of Pakistan's missile inventory.

Musharraf said Pakistan had the technology to penetrate and hit Indian targets even if India acquired the Patriot system. He said the Patriots had a kill-probability of around 40 per cent, which implied 60 per cent of the fired missiles could sneak through. Musharraf said even far slower Scud missiles fired by Iraq evaded Patriots in the 1991 Gulf War.

The early Patriot System was developed during the Cold War. It had a response time of 15 to 18 minutes for locating and shooting down the incoming missile, a far longer period than India would need against Pakistani-launched missiles. Pakistan had a launch capability that required a response time from its opponents of not more than five to six minutes.

"And, to top it all, our capability, which we have tested and is no secret, goes in the atmosphere. And when it drops down, it sheds its body in the air. The remaining part is the warhead, which is as small as 10 feet, and hard to hit," Musharraf said.

Musharraf added that it would be "quite difficult for India to install such an expensive system for defending multiple targets. For defending say 20 targets, it would have to deploy 1,000-2,000 Patriot missiles. Even if that defense mechanism stopped five incoming missiles, another five would penetrate. "

Related Links
SpaceDaily
Search SpaceDaily
Subscribe To SpaceDaily Express