The co-operation between Chinese and Pakistanis is well-established fact and Chinese are well connected to North Korean too rather they are their only backers. Lot of papers from Qadeer Khan on centrifuge technology have appeared in the open press and technical journals moreover North Korean have supplied the Rodong missile basic design to Pakistan. Note this and you may make a connection to North Korean programme.. Mr. Pant wrote this yesterday << Islamabad's active nuclear capable missile programme and its constant updating through periodical tests coupled with threatening noises to use the nuclear weapons against India has assumed the form of state-sponsored nuclear terrorism. The Chinese had supplied Pakistan with complete missiles as well as major sub-systems, their production facilities and components. Islamabad had test-fired Ghauri II and Shaheen missiles in 1999 in response to India's Agni-II. Ghauri, which was first launched in April 1998, was nothing else but North Korean produced Rodong-I.
Reports had suggested that North Korea, a rogue nation in the US eyes, had shipped the engine of Rodong missile and fuel tanks to Pakistan in 1996.
After carrying out a series of missile tests in later half of May last, the military regime in Islamabad brazenly decided to repeat the performance once again this time of the year. Accordingly, the first test firing of the medium range Haft-IV also called Shaheen-1 was carried out on October 4. Close on the heels of this, our western neighbour followed it up with the second launch on October 8.
Shaheen-1, which was first tested in April 1999, is said to have a range of 700 kilometres and can carry a 1000 kg-warhead. After the first test of the Shaheen-I, Pakistan bragged that this programme had been initiated in 1995 by the National Defence Complex and was entirely indigenous. But experts believe it to be a Chinese supplied missile. Another medium range two-stage ballistic missile Shaheen-II claiming a range of 2000 kms is reported to be Pakistani version of the Chinese M-18.
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Since the Pakistani got the missile technology they may have been forced to share the uranium enrichment technology with the North Korean, a story that I don’t believe credible, if it was so they could have been a nuclear power by now the post enrichment route is pretty straight forward, North Koreans do not have a credible centrifuge based enrichment plant the true report is that U.S. special envoy James Kelly had presented the North Koreans with documentation about their nuclear activities during an October 3-5 visit to Pyongyang and that they had finally acknowledged a secret nuclear weapons programme.
Although the IAEA has been carrying out limited inspections in North Korea since the 1990s, it has never been able to conduct the kind of intrusive inspections under the Safeguards Agreement needed to flush out a clandestine weapons programme.
The RAND Corporation, a U.S. security think-tank, says a country which got hold of just five kg (11 lb) of plutonium could theoretically build a full-fledged nuclear bomb in just a few days.
North Koreans do not have this kind of enriched uranium nor a plant to make it through centrifuge process.
Pakistanis on this count are pretty hard and have been responsible, even rogue Libyans and Iraqis have not been allowed to hire Nuclear scientists at hugely inflated wages or Islamic bomb dream of many after Pakistan tests has fallen on deaf ears in and out of the country, the deterrence is only used against arch rival within the sub-continent, the nuclear brinkmanship that took everyone to the edge recently but definitely averted another conventional war. If nuclear weapons could peace between the evil empire and USA they have served a purpose of peace between Pakistan and India, and you could see in my earlier post that the war clouds have definitely receded.
Moreover, the South Korean had enough leverage and business interest with Nawaz Shariff that he could not have operated in 1996-1998 to double cross the South Koreans who were major suppliers and contractors for almost all the highways and programmes announced by the Nawaz government. The story you have posted is probably based on some facts but like other stories about Pakistan lacks credibility on simply one count unlike other technology the technology based on which Pakistani develop their nuclear programme is rarely utilised as it is quite cumbersome once someone can put it together the HEU uranium core is easy to make through internet bomb making ideas. I thought if North Koreans have enrichment facility they should have the bomb by now and I am not sure that enrichment technology was invented by a Pakistani he only stole it as the following story will tell you, let me be honest nuclear proliferation in this world is the result of greedy west, the magnets, the rotors special alloy steel all come from Europe, it is them who proliferated the world for few million $ to deprive humanity of possible threat of a nuclear exchange is the worst trade off, intelligent nations should stop proliferation and work on peaceful co-existence..
<<Kahuta is the site of the Khan Research Laboratories [KRL], Pakistan's main nuclear weapons laboratory as well as an emerging center for long-rnage missile development. The primary Pakistani fissile-material production facility is located at Kahuta, employing gas centrifuge enrichment technology to produce Highly Enriched Uranium [HEU]. This facility is not under International Atomic Energy Agency safeguards, but according the the governemnt of Pakistan the facility is physically secure and safe.
Dr. A.Q. Khan is a German-educated metallurgist who until 1975 was employed at the URENCO uranium enrichment facility in Almelo, Netherlands. A year after India's 1974 nuclear test, Dr. Khan departed URENCO with blueprints for the uranium centrifuge, and information on URENCO's key suppliers. A.Q. Khan initially worked under Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission (PAEC), headed by Munir Ahmad Khan, for a short period. But the pair fell out, and in July 1976, Bhutto gave A.Q. Khan autonomous control of the uranium enrichment project, reporting directly to the prime minister's office, which arrangement has continued since. A.Q. Khan founded the Engineering Research Laboratories (ERL) on 31 July 1976, with the exclusive task of indigenous development of Uranium Enrichment Plant. Within the next five years the target was achieved. On 01 May 1981 ERL was renamed as Dr. A.Q. Khan Research Laboratories (KRL). It was enrichment of Uranium in KRL that ultimately led to the successful detonation of Pakistan's first nuclear device on 28 May 1998.
Chinese assistance in the development of gas centrifuges at Kahuta was indicated by the presence of Chinese technicians at the facility in the early 1980s. The uranium enrichment facility began operating in 1984, but suffered serious start up problems. Kahuta began producing HEU in 1986, and Pakistan's fabrication of weapons may have begun soon thereafter, with the HEU hexafluoride being made into uranium metal which was machined into weapon pits. By the late 1980s Pakistan began advertising its nuclear potential by publishing technical articles on centrifuge design, including a 1987 article co-authored by A. Q. Khan on balancing sophisticated ultracentrifuge rotors.
Operating at full capacity, Kahuta is estimated to have the potential to produce enough weapon-grade uranium for as many as 3 to 6 weapons each year. But the gas centrifuge plant has been plagued by chronic delays. As of 1984 there were reportedly approximately 1,000 centrifuges operating at the facility. By 1991 about 3000 machines were thought to be operating with a production capacity of 30-50 kg U-235/year, enough for 2-3 implosion weapons a year.
In 1988 the US and Pakistan reached an informal understanding, which according to US officials went into effect in 1993, under which Pakistan agreed to freeze production of bomb-grade HEU indefinitely, and to refrain from enriching uranium to a level above 20% U-235. Prior to the 1998 nuclear tests, the US had reportedly obtained intelligence indicating that Pakistan had stopped production of bomb-grade uranium. However, following the tests A.Q. Khan claimed that Pakistan had never stopped making bomb-grade HEU during the 1980s and 1990s, and reportedly US officials said "we don't have enough information" to conclude that Pakistan was not making weapons-grade HEU. As of mid-1998 estimates of Pakistan's HEU inventory ranged between 100 and 500 kilograms. Assuming that Pakistan would need about 20 kilograms for a single weapon, Pakistan's stockpile might be estimated at between 5 and 25 weapons.
In early 1996 it was reported that the A.Q. Khan Research Laboratory received 5,000 ring magnets, which can be used in gas centrifuges, from the China National Nuclear Corporation, a subsidiary of the China National Nuclear Corporation, a state-owned corporation. The US intelligence community believed the magnets were for special suspension bearings at the top of the centrifuge rotating cylinders. The shipment was made between late 1994 and mid-1995 and was reportedly worth $70,000. The ring magnets would allow Pakistan to effectively double its capacity to enrich uranium for nuclear weapons production. Pakistan has operated the plant only intermittently, and little information is publicly available concerning annual or total production of weapon-grade uranium at Kahuta.
The Kahuta facility has also been a participant in Pakistan's missile development program. Pakistan operates a ballistic missile research center at Kahuta along with its uranium enrichment operation. KRL has successfully developed and tested Intermediate Range Ballistic Missiles based on liquid fuel technology and its associated sub systems. Saudi Prince Sultan Bin Abdul Aziz toured the Kahuta facility in May 1999, possibly in connection with purchases of the Ghauri missiles.
KRL has also undertaken many other defense projects of national importance to enable Pakistan to become self-reliant in various sophisticated weapon systems and to save valuable foreign exchange. These projects include:
Surface-to-Al-Anti-Aircraft Guided Missiles - Anza Mk 1, and Anza Mk-II.
'Baktar Shikan' Anti-Tank Guided Missile Weapon System.
Anti-personnel Mine Sweeping Line Charges.
Anti-Tank Mine Clearing Line Charge-Plofadder-195 AT.
Laser Range Finder.
Laser Threat Sensor
Laser Actuated Target
Laser Aiming Device
Add-On Reactive Armour Kit
Anti-Tank Ammunition-Armour Piercing Fin-Stabilized Discordin Sabot (APFSDS)
Remote Control Mine Exploder (RCME)
Digital Goniometer
Power Conditioners for Weapon Systems for TOW ATGM Weapon System, "Baktar Shikan" Weapon System, "ANZA" Training Missile System
Switched Mode Power Supplies for LAADS Radar, Skyguard Radar, Air Defense Automation System.
Tow Missile Modules
Sources and Resources
A.Q. Khan Laboratory Official Homepage
Ist INTERNATIONAL SYMPOSIUM ON MECHANICAL VIBRATIONS 21-23 September, 1998 ISLAMABAD
Pakistan's bomb: Out of the closet. By David Albright and Mark Hibbs. Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists July/August 1992.
U.S. Appears to be Losing Track of Pakistan's Nuclear Program By Mark Hibbs July 17, 1998
"Pak Fuel, Chinese Bomb" by Brahma Chellaney THE HINDUSTAN TIMES in English 1 May 95 p 12 [`Covert' PRC Nuclear Aid to Pakistan Outlined : FBIS-NES-95-086 : 1 May 1995]
China's Proliferation of Weapons of Mass Destruction Updated July 15, 1998 Wayne M. Morrison Economics Division, CRS
Pakistan Completes 'Trials' of Ghauri-III Missile Engine Islamabad The News 30 September 1999 page 10 -- Pakistan has successfully completed the trials of Ghauri-III missile's engine at Kahuta Research Laboratories. Ghauri-III would cover the range of over 3,000 kilometres.
pakistan completes trial of ballistic missile engine sept. 30, irna - Pakistan successfully completed the trial of the engine of the 3000-kilometer range "ghauri-111" missile.
Tracking Nuclear Proliferation 1998 Carneige Endowment for International Peace >> |
