India-Pakistan: October 29, 2003

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India and Pakistan are putting more money and effort into their ballistic missile programs. This is because delivering nuclear weapons by aircraft is too unreliable. Aircraft can be shot down, missiles cannot. But missiles require smaller nuclear weapons, and bombs built to deal with the enormous stresses of missile launch and re-entry. It's expensive, as well, for many missile tests need to be done not to test the missile, but warhead design (a warhead without explosives and radioactive elements is put in the missile, with radio gear aboard so that warhead performance can be monitored before it crashes into the ocean.)

In Pakistan, the Frontier Corps has deployed 25,000 troops and irregulars to try and stem movement across the border with Afghanistan. So far, 119 border posts have been equipped with night vision devices. But there is some 1,200 kilometers of border to guard, much of it in the mountains. 

 

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