These missiles are believed to be product of French Eridan sounding rocket technology acquired by Pakistan and developed with Chinese assistance. Eridan was a two-stage rocket able to send a 250 kg payload to more than 300 km altitude, or a 130 kg payload to more than 425 km altitude. A total of 17 Eridan rockets were launched by France between 1968 and 1979. This sounding rocket had a liftoff mass of 2,127 kg, and was just shy of 10 meters long.
It is believed that the Haft II program has been halted due to technical problems. Reports of a missile program known as Shadoz (King Hawk) are believed to refer to the Hatf 2 project. The Pakistani's allegedly shelved this system because of problems with guidance and control systems. Another consideration may have been the purchase from China of the M-11 missiles with similar capabilities.
Pakistan's SUPARCO (Space and Upper Atmosphere Research Commission) developed a space launch vehicle to place a future Pakistani satellite into low earth orbit. In January 1989, Delhi domestic radio reported that a Pakistani newspaper, Dawn, had announced a successful launch of an "indigenous multistage rocket into deep space." The rocket was said to have reached an altitude of more than 640 km.(1) Two months later, Agence France Press reported that Pakistan had manufactured a rocket booster with a range of 640 km that was to be tested in Autumn of 1989; however, no such test is believed to have occurred.(2) According to a detailed report in a trade weekly publication, State Department officials said that the January 1989 test was the test of the Hatf-1 and Hatf-2, which were announced in February 1989. The report said that the Hatf-2 is the first stage of a planned multistage rocket to have a maximum range of 600 km.(3) In a possible reference to the same rockets, in May 1990, SUPARCO announced that the "test firing of two versions of scientific rockets ha[d] been successfully carried out."(4)
Specifications | |
| Designation | Hatf-ll |
| Range km | 280 |
| Length meters | 9.75 |
| Width meters | 0.82 |
| Payload kg. | 500 |
| Weight kg. | 5,500 |
| Guidance | Inertial |
| Propulsion | Solid |
