Why has Pakistan launched a new rocket command after India conflict?

Islamabad, Pakistan – On the eve of Pakistan’s 78th Independence Day, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif announced the enactment of a caller Army Rocket Force Command (ARFC) that helium said would “have modern exertion and capableness to onslaught the force from each direction”.

“It volition further heighten our accepted warfare capabilities,” Sharif said during an August 13 lawsuit successful Islamabad.

“Enemy” successful Pakistan is codification for India, Pakistan’s nuclear-armed neighbour and rival, which a week aboriginal would test-fire its Agni-V intermediate-range ballistic missile, with a apical scope of 5,000km (3,100 miles).

Most analysts person dismissed immoderate transportation betwixt the Agni testing, which took spot from the integrated trial scope successful India’s eastbound authorities of Odisha disconnected the Bay of Bengal, and the enactment of the ARFC.

But the ARFC’s instauration follows a tense four-day conflict betwixt Pakistan and India successful May, during which the 2 sides exchanged aerial strikes, rocket occurrence and drone attacks connected each other’s subject installations. Experts accidental the struggle exposed holes successful Pakistan’s strategical deterrence, which for astir 3 decades has present relied connected the country’s atomic weapons – and an ambiguous posture implicit erstwhile it mightiness usage them.

The constitution of a dedicated rocket unit besides reflects a wider planetary trend. Recent wars, including those betwixt Ukraine and Russia and Israel’s confrontations with Iran and Hezbollah, person underscored the increasing relation of precision-guided missiles and drones successful modern warfare.

What is Pakistan’s Army Rocket Force Command?

Sharif did not disclose operational details of the ARFC, but information analysts picture it arsenic a caller limb of the Pakistan Army created to centralise power of accepted rocket forces.

Under Pakistan’s subject bid structure, its atomic arsenal falls nether the Strategic Plans Division (SPD), portion strategical decisions are taken by the National Command Authority (NCA), the country’s highest decision-making assemblage connected atomic and rocket policy.

According to Naeem Salik, a erstwhile service serviceman who served astatine the SPD, the ARFC volition absorption connected guided accepted rocket systems alternatively than nuclear-capable weapons.

“Unlike accepted artillery, which has a constricted scope of astir 30 to 35 kilometres (19 to 22 miles), the ARFC focuses connected guided rockets which are purely accepted systems and bash not person atomic capability,” Salik, who present leads Islamabad-based deliberation vessel Strategic Vision Institute (SVI), told Al Jazeera.

He said nuclear-capable ballistic and cruise missiles stay nether the power of the SPD and NCA, portion the ARFC volition beryllium overseen by the army’s General Headquarters (GHQ).

On the different hand, Tughral Yamin, a erstwhile service brigadier and a specializer connected arms power and atomic affairs, says the request to make ARFC was to guarantee enhancing operational readiness and summation ratio successful deploying rocket assets, some for deterrence and during constricted conflicts.

“The Rocket Force Command indispensable beryllium seen successful the broader discourse of evolving determination threats. It is not a knee-jerk absorption to immoderate 1 trial oregon skirmish,” Yamin said.

Pakistan’s service presently operates 9 corps crossed the country, alongside 3 specialised commands: Air Defence, Cyber, and the Strategic Forces Command, which manages atomic transportation systems.

The ARFC is expected to beryllium led by a three-star general, reflecting its strategical significance. A three-star wide successful Pakistani service is among the senior-most generals who are fixed the tasks of starring strategically important subject corps and different departments.

Why was the ARFC needed?

Analysts reason that the ARFC is simply a semipermanent doctrinal improvement alternatively than a short-term effect to India’s rocket tests oregon the May conflict.

“The Indian rocket tests underscore the urgency of Pakistan keeping pace, but the Rocket Force Command is portion of a semipermanent doctrinal improvement alternatively than a short-term reaction,” Yamin said.

Christopher Clary, a governmental idiosyncratic astatine the University astatine Albany, echoed that view.

“Pakistan had already begun shifting its readying toward having much short-range ballistic rocket options to usage successful conflicts with India,” Clary told Al Jazeera.

“It makes consciousness successful that discourse to abstracted retired the Strategic Forces Command, liable for atomic missions, from the Rocket Force, which would absorption connected accepted strikes,” the world added.

Mansoor Ahmed, a lecturer astatine the Australian National University, said Pakistan has been gathering accepted counterforce capabilities for years.

“All nuclear-armed states person developed accepted strategical options. Pakistan’s ARFC truthful fills an important doctrinal and capableness spread successful the look of India’s increasing counterforce options,” helium said.

He argued that India’s improvement of a “first-strike posture” and long-range precision capabilities added urgency to Pakistan’s decision.

“The May struggle lone reinforced the urgent request to operationalise Pakistan’s emerging strategical accepted forces successful the aftermath of India’s accepted cruise rocket strikes,” Ahmed, who besides authored Pakistan’s Pathway to the Bomb: Ambitions, Politics, and Rivalries, told Al Jazeera.

What missiles volition autumn nether the ARFC?

Pakistan possesses a scope of missiles, including surface-to-surface, air-to-surface, and surface-to-air systems.

While immoderate are nuclear-capable, the ARFC volition chiefly power short- to medium-range accepted missiles, according to information experts.

Salik said the unit presently includes the Fatah-1 (range up to 140km oregon 90 miles) and Fatah-2 rockets (range betwixt 250-400km oregon 155-250 miles), some of which were deployed during the May conflict, on with systems similar Hatf-1 and Abdali, which person ranges little than 500km (310 miles).

Ahmed said the caller bid would supply Pakistan with “deep-strike options against high-value targets successful India without lowering the atomic threshold”.

“The improvement of multiple-launch rocket systems and accepted precision-strike capabilities nether the ARFC is cardinal to executing Pakistan’s Quid Pro Quo Plus doctrine, which is simply a effect to India’s escalatory deterrence posture,” helium said.

The Pakistani doctrine of “quid pro quo plus” refers to the anticipation of Pakistan’s effect to an Indian attack, which could spell beyond a elemental reciprocal action, by being much expansive oregon adjacent disproportionately terrible successful a mode that could hazard intensifying the conflict, but stay contained capable to debar a atomic escalation.

Lessons from the May conflict

During the May fighting, Pakistan claimed to person changeable down respective Indian jets connected the battle’s opening day.

While initially denying the nonaccomplishment of immoderate planes, Indian subject officials yet conceded having mislaid jets, without acknowledging the nonstop fig of planes that were changeable down.

India retaliated with heavy strikes crossed Pakistan, hitting airbases and installations, including the Bholari airbase successful Sindh province, targeted with a BrahMos supersonic cruise rocket jointly developed by India and Russia.

After the four-day struggle ended connected May 10 with a ceasefire, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi said India “only paused” its subject enactment against Pakistan.

In his archetypal code aft the cessation of fighting, Modi said his state “will not tolerate atomic blackmail” and added that the Indian authorities volition not marque a favoritism betwixt governments that enactment “terrorism” and “terrorist groups”.

Ahmed said the ARFC was aimed, successful part, astatine countering “this caller mean of ‘escalatory deterrence’ [from India] that seeks to exploit perceived gaps successful Pakistan’s accepted retaliatory ladder”.

Pakistan’s atomic doctrine has agelong been cardinal to its defence posture and has for years focused connected processing its arsenal of tactical atomic weapons.

Tactical atomic weapons dwell of short-range, low-yield atomic weapons which are chiefly intended to beryllium utilized against an opposing service connected a battlefield, alternatively of medium-to-longer scope weapons which tin beryllium utilized against strategical targets.

They are designed with the volition to deter immoderate large-scale Indian incursion. But the 2025 struggle was the 2nd clip successful six years that the 2 nations came to the cusp of a imaginable atomic escalation, aft tensions erupted successful 2019 erstwhile Indian jets bombed Pakistani territory, claiming to deed combatant camps.

A erstwhile Pakistani authorities defence expert said the rocket unit was designed to plug gaps exposed during the May war.

“When India employed the BrahMos missile, Pakistan was incapable to deploy its Babur cruise missiles successful a accepted role, arsenic they are solely managed by the SPD and Strategic Forces Command for atomic missions,” the expert said, requesting anonymity.

The Babur, besides known arsenic Hatf-7, is simply a ground-launched cruise rocket with a 700km (435-mile) range, and has been operational since 2010 but remains tied to Pakistan’s atomic doctrine.

“Establishing a caller rocket unit underlines shortcomings of the existing atomic posture, which relied connected tactical atomic weapons to deter India from attacking Pakistan,” the expert said.

“Conflicts successful 2019 and 2025 intelligibly amusement that India has recovered ways to circumvent Pakistan’s atomic deterrent. Now, accepted firepower is needed to screen India’s territory and flooded rocket defences,” helium added.