The Ra'ad-II ( ur, رعد-۲,"thunder-2") missile is a Pakistani long-range

ALCM An air-launched cruise missile (ALCM) is a cruise missile that is launched from a military aircraft. Current versions are typically standoff weapons which are used to attack predetermined land targets with conventional, nuclear or thermonuclear p ...

which is derived from the Ra'ad ALCM. It was first publicly unveiled on the

Pakistan Day The Resolution Day ( ur, , translit=Yawm-e-Qarārdād), also known as the Pakistan Day ( ur, , translit=Yawm-e-Pākistān) and Republic Day, is a national holiday in Pakistan primarily commemorating the adoption of the Lahore Resolution by the M ...

military parade on 23 March 2017, The missile was tested continuously with improvement in range from initial 300 km to recently tested 600 km, guidance and flight control system were also improved.

Testing and unveiling

On 18 February the missile was test-fired from a PAF

Dassault Mirage III The Dassault Mirage III () is a family of single/dual-seat, single-engine, fighter aircraft developed and manufactured by French aircraft company Dassault Aviation. It was the first Western European combat aircraft to exceed Mach 2 in horizont ...

Fighter aircraft, the testing was seen by

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 ...

director general lieutenant general Nadeem Zaki Manj, the chairman of

NESCOM The National Engineering & Scientific Commission (NESCOM) ( ur, ) is a Pakistani missile manufacturer and civilian research organization of Pakistan, under the administrative control of the Strategic Plans Division of Pakistan's National Command ...

Nabeel Hayat Malik as well as senior officers from the

, Strategic Forces and Strategic Organizations of Pakistan. According to the ISPR, it significantly enhanced Pakistan's air delivered strategic standoff capability on land and at sea.

Characteristics

According to the ISPR, the new missile has a range of 600 km. The Ra'ad-II missile has a conventional tail fin configuration compared to the twin tail configuration of the previous version. It has a new "X" type tail as opposed to previous versions large horizontal tails. The missile is also seen to have a length of 4.85 m, further information about the missile has been kept classified.

Similar missiles

* AGM-158 JASSM (USA) *

CJ-10 The CJ-10 () is a second-generationGormley et al.: p.102 Chinese ground-based land-attack missile.United States Office of the Secretary of Defense: Annual Report To Congress 2015, p.39 It is derived from the Kh-55 missile. It is reportedly manufa ...

(China) *

KEPD 350 Taurus KEPD 350 is a Swedish-German air-launched cruise missile, manufactured by Taurus Systems and used by Germany, Spain, and South Korea. Taurus Systems GmbH is a partnership between MBDA Deutschland GmbH (formerly LFK) and Saab Bofors Dynam ...

(Germany/Sweden) * Kh-65SE (Russia) * SOM (Turkey) *

Storm Shadow Storm Shadow is an Anglo-French low-observable, long-range, air-launched cruise missile developed since 1994 by Matra and British Aerospace, and now manufactured by MBDA. Storm Shadow is the weapon's British appellation. In French service, it ...

(France/UK)

References

{{Pakistan_Missiles Cruise missiles of Pakistan Air-to-surface missiles of Pakistan 2020 in Pakistan Air-launched missiles Weapons and ammunition introduced in 2020