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On 23 December 2023, the Pakistani military’s media department, Inter Services Public Relations (ISPR), announced the test firing of a new surface-to-surface missile (SSM) called the “Fatah-II.”
According to the ISPR, the Fatah-II has a range of 400 km and is “equipped with state-of-the-art avionics, sophisticated navigation system and unique flight trajectory.”
The Fatah-II is a new addition to Pakistan’s growing inventory of guided rockets, building upon the Fatah-I multiple launch rocket system (MLRS) and Nasr-series of short-range ballistic missiles (SRBM).
Though sharing the same core designation of “Fatah,” the Fatah-II does not appear to be a new variant of the Fatah-I. Rather, the ISPR’s visual footage shows that the Fatah-II is based on a different missile platform, not the Fatah-I line of MLRS. In 2023, Global Industrial and Defence Solutions (GIDS), the commercial arm representing a number of Pakistan’s state-owned defence contractors, showcased a “Fatah-II” that was an evident evolution of the Fatah-I. This earlier Fatah-II inherited the core design attributes of the Fatah-I, but with an improved range of over 250 km and accuracy of 10 m circular error probe (CEP), compared to the Fatah-I’s range and accuracy of 140 km and 50 m CEP, respectively.
In contrast, this ‘new’ Fatah-II not only offers a far greater range at 400 km, but it also seems to be a larger missile. For example, the Fatah-I used an eight-cell launch system (which the original Fatah-II design would have likely reused), while the new Fatah-II seems to leverage a twin-cell system. Finally, the design of the new Fatah-II also exhibits several key differences, such as the lack of fins on the nosecone, for example.
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