The Nasr (Hatf 9) is a Pakistani short-range ballistic missile with a range of 60 – 70 km. Pakistan first revealed the missile in April 2011 as a “quick response” nuclear delivery system. It is derived from China’s WS-2 tactical rocket and was first revealed in April 2011.
Nasr (Hatf 9) at a Glance
- Originated from
- Pakistan
- Possessed by
- Pakistan
- Alternate name
- Nasr
- Class
- Short-Range Ballistic Missile (SRBM)
- Basing
- Road-mobile
- Length
- 6.0 m
- Diameter
- 0.4 m
- Launch weight
- 1,200 kg
- Payload
- Single warhead, 400 kg
- Warhead
- Low-yield nuclear
- Propulsion
- Single-stage solid propellant
- Range
- 70 km
- Status
- In service
A Hatf 9 missile boosting from its launcher. Photo: ISPR Pakistan 
A quad-packed Hatf 9 missile launcher. Photo: Pakistan media 
A Hatf 9 in early flight.
Nasr development
Pakistan reportedly began developing the Nasr system in the mid-2000s, eventually selecting a design derived from the China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation (CASC) WS-2 guided rocket. Pakistan first flight tested the Nasr in April 2011, with further tests in May 2012, February 2013, November 2013, September 2014, and July 2017.1 It reportedly entered service in 2013.
Specifications
Pakistani leaders have envisioned the Nasr as a tactical nuclear weapon to deter Indian conventional offensives.2 The single-stage, solid-fueled missile can range 60 km in its original form and, in 2017, was upgraded to range 70 km.3 It is carried on a four-axle transporter-erector-launcher (TEL) which can load up to four missile launch containers in a modular system.
Footnotes
- “Hatf 9 (Nasr),” in IHS Jane’s Weapons: Strategic 2015-2016, ed. James C. O’Halloran (United Kingdom: IHS, 2015), 78; Jonathan McLaughlin, “Pakistan Missile Update,” Wisconsin Project on Nuclear Arms Control, February 2016, http://www.wisconsinproject.org/countries/pakistan/PakistanMissileUpdate-2016.html.
- Hans Kristensen, Robert Norris, and Julia Diamond, “Pakistani nuclear forces, 2018,” Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists 74, No. 5 (2018), pp. 348 – 358.
- Press release PR-344/2017-ISPR, Pakistan Inter Services Public Relations, July 5, 2017, https://www.ispr.gov.pk/press-release-detail.php?id=4097.