Where are pakistani nuclear weapons stored?
8 Answers
Updated Feb 10
My name is not important but I have the answer to this question. I have given the location at the end of this answer but before knowing the location there are few important things to know. First and foremost it must be realized that even though the Pakistani forces are incapable to provide security to their own citizens today, they have however made sure that their nuclear missile bases are secured and safe. Several of these bases have been rounded with 4–5 fences and the facilities are often underground.
Now to know the location of Pakistan’s nuclear bases it is essential to understand the country’s nuclear doctrine (i.e to understand in what way does Pakistan intend to use it’s nuclear weapons if the situation arises).
PAKISTAN’s NUCLEAR DOCTRINE
The reason behind the acquisition of Pakistan’s nuclear weapons was the need to make the price of attacking Pakistan so high that it’s enemy India would not launch a full scale war against it. This provides Pakistan with a very high threshold to export terrorists across the border/LoC into India without being worried about any major military offensive from the Indian side.
Pakistan knows it very well that if India declares a full fledged war against Pakistan, it is incapable of defeating or even stopping the Indian advance forces in today’s world. Therefore it needs to ensure that if overwhelming Indian forces march into Pakistan, they can use tactical nuclear weapons against them to stop them. Tactical nuclear weapons are smaller low-yield weapons which are not powerful enough to destroy a city but powerful enough to decapitate any advancing forces (in this case an Indian Strike Corps)
Now using tactical nuclear weapons against Indian forces is a very tricky situation as the nuclear policy of India dictates it crystal clear that India reserves the right to retaliate punitively(using mega-yield nuclear weapons against cities) if any country chooses to strike it’s territory or
it’s forces with nuclear weapons.
The deployment of Pakistan’s tactical nuclear weapons is in the hope that
if Pakistan attacks Indian Invading Forces with tactical nuclear weapons on Pakistani Soil then maybe somehow the world would imply pressure on India to stop it from a PUNITIVE RETALIATION.
This assumption is not entirely absurd, because since India’s own territory has not been attacked with nuclear weapons, the world might have some grounds to stop India from retaliating with a full-scale nuclear attack. The world might try to bargain non-retaliation from India in exchange for sanctions against Pakistan. This might also work since any punitive retaliation against Pakistan comes with a possibility of a similar counter retaliation from Pakistan as well(this time against Indian cities with higher yield weapons). Yes India has an Anti Ballistic Missile Defense system but the mere possibility of even 1% of it failing against a real nuclear threat is going to make Nuclear Retaliation a very difficult decision for Indian leadership unless it’s own territory has been nuked.
However, a lot depends on the leadership of the time in India and the general public mood of the time. So, if India chooses not to retaliate, Pakistan will be imposed with innumerable sanctions, diplomatic isolations, and international repercussions but
PAKISTAN WILL CONTINUE TO EXIST. Also, India will loose it’s entire Strike Corps but not win the war. That might not go down well with the Indian people though.
Therefore, there is also an equal possibility that India would not heed to the world and go ahead with it’s declared policy of MASS RETALIATION. Now, according to my present knowledge India is well aware of the information I am going to share below(regarding the locations of Pakistan’s Nuclear weapons) and India would try to ensure that in it’s first strike itself, it renders Pakistan incapable of a counter Mass Retaliation.
Now, to ensure that this happens India is most likely going to use it’s Air Force or conventional/nuclear tipped Brahmos supersonic cruise missiles as they are one of the few weapons with India which Pakistan does not possess the capability to intercept. The range of BrahMos is 290 Kms.
So following are the requirements that Pakistan has kept in mind while deploying it’s nuclear weapons.
1.) It needs two types of nuclear weapons i.e tactical low-yield warheads(for initial retaliation against advancing enemy forces) as well as Strategic high-yield warhead(for counter retaliation to ensure Mutual Assured Destruction)
2.) The low-yield warheads need to be deployed in forward border areas on shorter range ballistic missiles and forward airbases to ensure the shortest flight time to attack while the higher-yield strategic warheads need to be deployed away from borders on long range ballistic missiles to keep them out of range of Indian Air Force and BrahMos supersonic cruise missiles.
3.) The higher yield nuclear weapons to be well dug in to safeguard against any possible attacks from India.
Now, if you see the actual nuclear deployment of Pakistan, this is pretty much what they have achieved.
LOCATIONS OF NUCLEAR BASES OF PAKISTAN.
1.) TACTICAL NUCLEAR DEPLOYMENT OF PAKISTAN
- GUJRANWALA (Near Lahore) 32 14 27 N x 74 04 23 E
Construction b/w- March 2011 - August 2014
Deployment - Nasr TELs(60Km) and Ghaznavi (400Km)
Distance from International Border- 60Kms
Status- Active
- Two large hardened High Bay Garages (100x20m) with blast doors on the East and 5m wide exit doors on the west(below picture). Each garage is connected to the square launch platform with a 6m wide pathway
- Most likely they can accommodate around 10 TELs (Transporter Erector Launcher)
Tyre marks suggest that regular trials are conducted
2.
PANO AQIL(NEAR SUKKUR) 27 50 06 N x 69 09 28 E
- Construction b/w 2010 - 2015
- Deployment - Ghaznavi (400Kms)
- Similar to Gujranwala but smaller facility
- Distance from IB- 80–90Kms
or maybe your alerts fill up too fast cause you are captain Audi...
