Chi sells Pakistan sensitive missile technology

Beijing, March 22: Chi has sold a highly-sensitive tracking system to Pakistan, which could boost Islamabads ability to develop multi-war heads. According to the South Chi Morning Post, an influential Chinese think tank says that Chi is the first country to have given such sensitive equipment to Pakistan. Chi is the biggest arms supplier to Pakistan, India’s arch-rival.

Zheng Mengwei, a researcher with the Chi Academy of Sciences (CAS) Institute of Optics and Electronics in Chengdu, Sichuan province, told the Post that Pakistan’s military recently deployed the Chinese-made system “at a firing range” for use in testing and developing its new missiles. The statement from the CAS said the Chinese team enjoyed VIP treatment during the nearly three months it spent in Pakistan assembling and calibrating the tracking system and training technical staff on how to use it. “The system’s performance surpassed the user’s expectations,” it said. The amount paid by Islamabad was not known.

An optical system is crucial in missile testing. It usually comes with a pair of high-performance telescopes equipped with a laser ranger, high-speed camera, infrared detector and a centralized computer system that captures and follows moving targets, the Post said. The uniqueness of the Chinese-made system lay in its use of four telescope units, “more than normally required”, Zheng said. (IANS)