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On 13 August, the Prime Minister of Pakistan, Shahbaz Sharif, announced that the Pakistan Army (PA) has officially raised a ‘Rocket Force Command’ under its umbrella.
The formation of ‘Army Rocket Force Command’ (ARFC) cements the PA’s multi-year effort to build its independent stand-off range precision-strike capability as not just a doctrine, but an organized element with its own command structure, concept of operations (CONOPS), requirements, and objectives.
While the announcement of the ARFC follows the reveal of the Fatah-IV, a subsonic ground-launched cruise missile (GLCM) with a range of 750 km, the work to form it likely dates back to 2021, when the PA began testing the indigenous Fatah-I guided multiple launch rocket system (GMLRS).
The original intent of the Fatah-I GMLRS was likely to augment the PA’s existing artillery capabilities with a longer-ranged guided rocket, complementing the A-100 already in service at that point. However, following Ukraine and Russia’s respective successes in deploying organized rocket-centric tactics since 2022 and – perhaps more importantly – the Pakistan Air Force’s (PAF) gradual evolution to using its strike capabilities for broader strategic purposes, the PA likely saw the need to build its own precision-strike element.
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