On 18 December, the U.S. State Department announced that the United States imposed sanctions on four entities it alleges are supporting Pakistan’s efforts to develop long-range ballistic missiles.
These entities are:
- The National Development Complex (NDC), a state-owned enterprise (SOE) the State Department says is responsible for developing Pakistan’s Shaheen-series of ballistic missiles as well as various missile-related items, such as missile-testing equipment.
- Akhtar and Sons Private Limited, a company the U.S. alleges helped facilitate the procurement of equipment to support NDC’s missile development programs.
- Affiliates International, another company the U.S. alleges helped manage the procurement of equipment relevant to missile development for NDC and other Pakistani weapons SOEs
- Rockside Enterprise, a company the U.S. says worked with NDC to acquire and supply critical equipment for Pakistan’s long-range ballistic missile programs.
Interestingly, this set was the second wave of sanctions targeting Pakistan’s ballistic missile program in just this year. In April, the State Department also sanctioned four companies – three Chinese and one Belarussian – for supplying “missile-applicable items to Pakistan’s ballistic missile program.”
These companies were:
Pakistan is intent on improving its second-strike capabilities and, in turn, pursuing a naval or sea-based deterrence capability. This naval deterrence capability could materialize through either a nuclear-powered submarine or a “hybrid” solution involving a conventionally-powered boat armed with submarine-launched cruise missiles (SLCM) and/or SLBMs.
In this context, a Pakistani SLBM would need to be an intermediate-range ballistic missile (IRBM) to cover India. However, because a submarine is a mobile system in that it can theoretically position itself closer to the U.S. or U.S. targets in Pakistan’s regional vicinity, the IRBM would be a threat to the U.S.
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