Key points
- The operation was initiated by firing the Fatah-I missiles: ISPR
- Multiple military targets were hit in India: Pakistan
- Fateh-I missile is Pakistan’s modern, short-range weapon
- It has a range of up to 140 kilometres
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan and India are on the verge of a full-scale war, with both sides launching airstrikes, missiles and artillery shells across their borders and the Line of Control (LoC), further escalating tensions in south Asia.
The tensions escalated on the between May 6-7 when India launched overnight strikes on what Pakistan called civilian populations under Operation Sindoor.
Pakistan Armed Forces began their counter-offensive codenamed “Operation Bunyan-un-Marsoos” on Saturday shortly after pre-dawn prayers.
According to the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR), the operation was initiated by firing the Fatah-I missiles.
What is Fatah-I missile?
The Fateh-I missile is Pakistan’s modern, short-range weapon with a range of up to 140 kilometres.
The indigenously developed Fateh-I Rocket System was tested on August 24, 2021, according to BBC News.
Fateh-I is a Pakistani-made surface-to-surface guided missile that is part of the Fatah series.
The series also includes another missile, Fateh-II.
According to the ISPR, this missile has a range of up to 400 kilometres and is capable of accurately hitting its target.
300-500 kg warhead
Fateh-I is also capable of carrying a 300-500 kg warhead, depending on the target.
According to Dr Mansoor Ahmed, a lecturer in strategic and defence studies at the National University of Canberra, the Fatah missiles are a modern addition to Pakistan’s long-range rocket artillery system.
They are used to strike with high precision against a variety of critical targets, including airbases, command and control centres, ammunition depots, logistical supply lines, and enemy forward supply tanks or artillery.
Extreme precision
Syed Muhammad Ali, an Islamabad-based defence expert, says that the speciality of the Fateh series missiles is their ability to hit targets with precision: “They hit the target with extreme precision, they are supersonic and they are manoeuvrable missiles in the terminal stage.”
Their most important feature is “manoeuvrability in the terminal stage, which means that no ballistic missile system can hit it.”
The advantage
The expert said that “the accuracy, speed and manoeuvrability of this missile in the terminal stage are capable of defeating all Indian defence systems and it is the first and smallest missile in Pakistan’s strategy to deter the enemy through full-spectrum deterrence or defence capability.”
According to Ali, the advantage of targeting a base with this missile is that it destroys the runway with a shower of hundreds of thousands of bomblets or small explosive shells and creates such craters that all the planes parked there cannot fly as long as the runway is destroyed.
