The National Engineering & Scientific Commission (NESCOM) ( ur, ) is a Pakistani missile manufacturer and civilian research organization of

Pakistan Pakistan ( ur, ), officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan ( ur, , label=none), is a country in South Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of almost 24 ...

, under the administrative control of the

Strategic Plans Division Strategic Plans Division Force or (SPD Force) ( ur, ) is Pakistan's agency responsible for the protection of its tactical and strategic nuclear weapons stockpile and the strategic assets. It is the security branch of the National Command Author ...

of Pakistan's National Command Authority and is headquartered in

Islamabad Islamabad (; ur, , ) is the capital city of Pakistan. It is the country's ninth-most populous city, with a population of over 1.2 million people, and is federally administered by the Pakistani government as part of the Islamabad Capital ...

. In 2007, it was reported that NESCOM had exported military equipment worth approximately $40 million annually to various countries in the Middle East, South East Asia, and Africa. According to then-Chairman

Samar Mubarakmand Dr. Samar Mubarakmand (Urdu: ; b. 17 September 1942; ), is a Pakistani nuclear physicist known for his research in gamma spectroscopy and experimental development of the linear accelerator. He came to public attention as the director of the t ...

, NESCOM had developed various communication systems and

electronic counter-measures An electronic countermeasure (ECM) is an electrical or electronic device designed to trick or deceive radar, sonar, or other detection systems, like infrared (IR) or lasers. It may be used both offensively and defensively to deny targeting inf ...

systems for the

Pakistan Air Force , "Be it deserts or seas; all lie under our wings" (traditional) , colours = , colours_label = , march = , mascot = , anniversaries = ...

and

Pakistan Navy ur, ہمارے لیے اللّٰہ کافی ہے اور وہ بہترین کارساز ہے۔ English: Allah is Sufficient for us - and what an excellent (reliable) Trustee (of affairs) is He!(''Qur'an, 3:173'') , type ...

History

National Engineering & Scientific Commission (NESCOM) was formed in 2000 by amalgamating the

National Development Complex National Defence Complex (NDC), ( ur, ) also known as National Development Complex, National Development Centre, is a Pakistani state-owned defence and aerospace contractor which is a division under the National Engineering and Scientific Co ...

Air Weapons Complex The Air Weapons Complex (AWC) ( ur, ) is a scientific research and development military complex engage in explosive engineering, specifically in airborne system. The AWC is operated and controlled by the Pakistan Air Force as its military unit th ...

, Maritime Technologies Complex and the Project Management Organization. In the early 2000s, NESCOM rapidly achieved several firsts. Among them, was the development of the Shaheen family of missiles, the Babur ground-launched cruise missile and the Ra'ad air-launched cruise missile.

Organization

In 2004, it was revealed by then-Director

that NESCOM was organized into divisions, with each division being headed by a top scientist of international repute having around 600-1000 engineers and technicians under his supervision. The following organizations are grouped together under NESCOM: *

- responsible for the development of Pakistan's ground-based, solid-fueled ballistic missiles and cruise missile systems * PMO - responsible for the development of ground-launched cruise missiles and other surface-to-air and surface-to-surface ammunition *

- responsible for the development of air-launched cruise missiles and other air-to-air and air-to-surface ammunition * Maritime Technologies Complex - responsible for the development of maritime defense systems including ship design, radars, sonar equipment, weapon launch systems.

Research Divisions

Aerospace Aerospace is a term used to collectively refer to the atmosphere and outer space. Aerospace activity is very diverse, with a multitude of commercial, industrial and military applications. Aerospace engineering consists of aeronautics and ast ...

Missiles In military terminology, a missile is a guided airborne ranged weapon capable of self-propelled flight usually by a jet engine or rocket motor. Missiles are thus also called guided missiles or guided rockets (when a previously unguided rocket i ...

Rockets A rocket (from it, rocchetto, , bobbin/spool) is a vehicle that uses jet propulsion to accelerate without using the surrounding air. A rocket engine produces thrust by reaction to exhaust expelled at high speed. Rocket engines work entirely ...

Electronics The field of electronics is a branch of physics and electrical engineering that deals with the emission, behaviour and effects of electrons using electronic devices. Electronics uses active devices to control electron flow by amplification ...

Electro-optics Electro–optics is a branch of electrical engineering, electronic engineering, materials science, and material physics involving components, electronic devices such as lasers, laser diodes, LEDs, waveguides, etc. which operate by the propa ...

* C4ISR &

Navigation Navigation is a field of study that focuses on the process of monitoring and controlling the movement of a craft or vehicle from one place to another.Bowditch, 2003:799. The field of navigation includes four general categories: land navigation ...

Ammunition Ammunition (informally ammo) is the material fired, scattered, dropped, or detonated from any weapon or weapon system. Ammunition is both expendable weapons (e.g., bombs, missiles, grenades, land mines) and the component parts of other we ...

* Land systems * Naval systems *

Materials Material is a substance or mixture of substances that constitutes an object. Materials can be pure or impure, living or non-living matter. Materials can be classified on the basis of their physical and chemical properties, or on their geolog ...

& Chemical systems * Cyber securities

Notable Products & Projects

Ballistic Missile Systems

* Nasr - solid-fueled hypersonic

Tactical ballistic missile A tactical ballistic missile (TBM), or battlefield range ballistic missile (BRBM), is a ballistic missile designed for short-range battlefield use. Typically, range is less than . Tactical ballistic missiles are usually mobile to ensure sur ...

system with a range of 70-90 kilometres (km). *

Abdali Abdali may refer to: * An alternate name for the Durrani, one of the largest Pashtun tribes of Afghanistan and western Pakistan ** Ahmed Shah Durrani, also known as Ahmad Shah Abdali, founder of the Durrani Empire in Afghanistan * Al-Abdali, a dist ...

- solid-fueled short-range ballistic missile (SRBM) system with a range of 200 km. * Ghaznavi -

short-range ballistic missile A short-range ballistic missile (SRBM) is a ballistic missile with a range of about or less. In past and potential regional conflicts, these missiles have been and would be used because of the short distances between some countries and their rela ...

system with a range of 320 km. * Shaheen-I - solid-fueled ballistic missile system with a reported range of 900 km. The Shaheen was Pakistan's first solid-fueled missile. The missile project began in 1995 and the development and design was carried out by NESCOM's predecessor, the National Development Complex (NDC). * Shaheen-IA - an upgraded version of the Shaheen-I with a range of 1000 km. The upgrade was supposedly carried out by NESCOM in the early 2000s and supposedly included a

terminal guidance In the field of weaponry, terminal guidance refers to any guidance system that is primarily or solely active during the "terminal phase", just before the weapon impacts its target. The term is generally used in reference to missile guidance system ...

system, improved radar-avoidance capability and stealth features. * Ababeel - solid-fueled

multiple independently targetable reentry vehicle A multiple independently targetable reentry vehicle (MIRV) is an exoatmospheric ballistic missile payload containing several warheads, each capable of being aimed to hit a different target. The concept is almost invariably associated with i ...

(MIRV)-capable ballistic missile system with a reported range of 2,200 km. *

Shaheen-II The Shaheen-II (Urdu:شاهين–اا; codename: Hatf–VI Shaheen) is a Pakistani land-based supersonic surface-to-surface medium-range guided ballistic missile. The ''Shaheen-II'' is designed and developed by the NESCOM and the National ...

- solid-fueled

medium-range ballistic missile A medium-range ballistic missile (MRBM) is a type of ballistic missile with medium range, this last classification depending on the standards of certain organizations. Within the U.S. Department of Defense, a medium-range missile is defined b ...

(MRBM) system with a reported range of 2,500 km. *

Shaheen-III The Shaheen-III (Urdu: ; lit. ''White Falcon-III'') is a Pakistani land-based surface-to-surface medium range ballistic missile, which was test fired for the first time by military service on 9 March 2015. Development began in secrecy in the ea ...

- solid-fueled ballistic missile system with a reported range of 2,750 km.

Land-Based Guided Missile Systems

* Babur-I - ground-launched anti ship and land attack cruise missile with a reported range of 700 km to 900 km * Babur-II - an upgraded ground-launched anti ship and land attack cruise missile of Babur-I with a reported range of 750 km

Ship-Based Guided Missile Systems

* Harbah - ship-launched anti ship and land attack cruise missile derived from Babur-II with an estimated range of 750 km

Submarine-Based Guided Missile Systems

* Babur-III - submarine-launched anti ship and land attack cruise missile derived from Babur-II with a reported range of 450 km

Air-to-Surface Guided Missile Systems

Barq Barq ( ur, برق, "lightning") is a laser-guided air-to-surface missile developed by Pakistan. It has a range of and weight of . Operational history The missile was unveiled on 13 March 2015 being fired from the NESCOM Burraq unmanned com ...

- air-launched laser-guided missile carried on the Burraq UCAV, reported range of 8 to 12 km *

Ra'ad The Ra'ad ( ur, رعد, "Thunder") is a Pakistani air-launched cruise missile (ALCM) . The missile was first tested in August 2007. Development and design The Ra'ad is a joint project developed by Pakistan Air Force's Air Weapons Complex and ...

- air-launched cruise missile with an original range of 350 km *

Ra'ad-II The Ra'ad-II ( ur, رعد-۲,"thunder-2") missile is a Pakistani long-range ALCM which is derived from the Ra'ad ALCM. It was first publicly unveiled on the Pakistan Day military parade on 23 March 2017, The missile was tested continuously with ...

- an upgraded air-launched cruise missile of

reported range of 600 km

Air-to-Air Missiles

* Air-to-air missile research – It was reported in November 2001 that the Aerospace Division of NDC was doing "preliminary studies" for developing a new medium range air-to-air missile. According to the report no full scale hardware had yet been built but investigations by NDC engineers into various design approaches were ongoing. The report stated that suggested that the missile may use active radar homing.

Guided Bombs

H-2 SOW The H-2 SOW (Stand-Off Weapon) is a precision-guided glide bomb manufactured by NESCOM and deployed by the Pakistan Air Force, capable of striking targets at stand-off range. It has a terminal guidance system based on an infra-red imaging seeker ...

– precision-guided munition *

H-4 SOW The H-4 SOW (Stand-Off Weapon) is a precision-guided glide bomb manufactured by NESCOM and deployed by the Pakistan Air Force, capable of striking targets at stand-off range. It has a terminal guidance system based on an infrared homing seeker ...

– precision-guided munition

Unguided Bombs

* 250 kg – Pre-fragmented bomb * 250 kg Mk.82 – General-purpose bomb * 500 kg Mk.83 – General-purpose bomb * 1000 kg Mk.84 – General-purpose bomb * HAFR-1, HAFR-2 and RPB-1 – Anti-runway Bombs (possibly variants of the

Matra Durandal Named for a mythical medieval French sword, the Durandal is an anti-runway penetration bomb developed by the French company Matra (now MBDA), designed to destroy airport runways and exported to several countries. A simple crater in a runway could ...

) * 6 kg, 11 kg Practice bombs

Depleted Uranium Ammunition

* 105 mm anti-tank round – a DU

APFSDS Armour-piercing fin-stabilized discarding sabot (APFSDS), long dart penetrator, or simply dart ammunition, is a type of kinetic energy penetrator ammunition used to attack modern vehicle armour. As an armament for main battle tanks, it succeeds A ...

anti-tank round developed to be fired by Type 59 tanks (upgraded with 105 mm guns) in service with the Pakistan Army. Reported to have a muzzle velocity of 1,450 m/s and be capable of penetrating 450 mm of rolled homogeneous armour (RHA) at an unspecified range. * Naiza (125 mm anti-tank round) – a DU

anti-tank round developed to be fired by T-80UD tanks in service with the Pakistan Army. A model of the round was put on display at the IDEX 2001 exhibition in the

United Arab Emirates The United Arab Emirates (UAE; ar, اَلْإِمَارَات الْعَرَبِيَة الْمُتَحِدَة ), or simply the Emirates ( ar, الِْإمَارَات ), is a country in Western Asia ( The Middle East). It is located at t ...

and it was stated to have a DU long rod penetrator, performance 25% greater than NDC's 105 mm DU round and a saddle-type sabot with re-arranged forward bore-rider for more accurate alignment with the T-80UD's

autoloader An autoloader or auto-loader is a mechanical aid or replacement for the personnel that load ordnance into crew-served weapons without being an integrated part of the gun itself. The term is generally only applied to larger weapons, such as nava ...

. Displayed at IDEAS 2002 alongside DU rounds produced by other Pakistani organisations. Reportedly named "Naiza", made compatible with the T-80UD tank and stated to be capable of penetrating 550 mm of RHA.

Unmanned Aerial Vehicles

* Anka - unmanned combat aerial vehicle (UCAV) - (Jointly produce with Turkish aerospace company

Turkish Aerospace Industries Turkish Aerospace Inc. ( tr, Türk Havacılık ve Uzay Sanayi A.Ş., TUSAŞ) is the center of technology in design, development, manufacturing, integration of aerospace systems, modernization and after sales support in Turkey. Located in Ankara ...

) * Burraq - unmanned combat aerial vehicle (UCAV)

Naval Systems

* Starfish Naval Mine – a naval mine that targets submarines and ships, details on the mine were first released in 2001. Can be deployed by aircraft, ships and submarines. Makes use of solid state electronics. The mine's attack modes are controlled by a microprocessor which uses magnetic, acoustic and pressure sensors to analyse a potential target's signature. Sensors are mounted flush to both ends of the mine's cylindrical (barrel) shape. It is unknown if the mine has a self-destruct mechanism. Weight: 767 kg, warhead: 500 kg HE (PBX charge), storage life: 20 years. * MSL Advanced Towed Array Sonar (ATAS) – a

towed array sonar A towed array sonar is a system of hydrophones towed behind a submarine or a surface ship on a cable. Trailing the hydrophones behind the vessel, on a cable that can be kilometers long, keeps the array's sensors away from the ship's own noise sou ...

developed by Maritime Systems Ltd. (MSL) and MTC to replace old systems in service with the

and for export. Project started during the 1990s, Commodore Sarfraz appointed as program chief. System was designed to cope with Arabian Sea environment and is stated to be superior to foreign systems being offered for export. Expected to be installed on Agosta 70 and Agosta 90B class submarines currently in service with the Pakistan Navy, also being integrated with the Agosta 90B's SUBTICS combat management system, as well as future vessels to be acquired by the Pakistan Navy such as new submarines and corvettes. * Naval Training Simulator – programmable training system. Simulates maritime sensors and weapon systems of aircraft, warships and submarines under any weather or sea conditions. Installed on the ''Jalalat II'' class fast attack craft of the

. * Shore-based/ship-based

electronic warfare Electronic warfare (EW) is any action involving the use of the electromagnetic spectrum (EM spectrum) or directed energy to control the spectrum, attack an enemy, or impede enemy assaults. The purpose of electronic warfare is to deny the opponen ...

system * Ship-borne display consoles

References

{{authority control Military research installations of Pakistan Research institutes in Pakistan Pakistani engineering organisations Pakistan federal departments and agencies 2000 establishments in Pakistan Guided missile manufacturers Unmanned aerial vehicle manufacturers of Pakistan Defence companies of Pakistan