A Pakistani Army A-100, a Chinese reverse-engineered variant of the Smerch multiple rocket launcher system, fires during an exercise. (Image credit: Pakistan Army)
Long-range precision strikes are rewriting the rules of warfare. As satellites, unmanned aerial systems (UAS) and sensors operating across different spectra expand commanders’ view of the battlefield, long-range stand-off weapons allow them to strike targets from a distance.
At the centre of this shift are long-range rockets and missiles.These weapons came into sharp focus during the conflict involving Iran, the United States and Israel, where Tehran relied on its missile arsenal to project military power and defend its sovereignty. The US Army has also deployed its Precision Strike Missile (PrSM), which has a range of 500 km. US Central Command, responsible for the West Asian theatre, described a strike by the weapon as record-setting, although the exact coordinates and distance involved remain classified.
This occurred despite the US and Israel having established air superiority over Iran and carrying out strikes on ground targets.For the US, long-range one-way cruise missiles have been a key opening weapon since the First Gulf War in 1991, used to "kick open the door" for subsequent operations. Washington has employed the tactic in campaigns in the Balkans, Afghanistan, the Second Gulf War, Libya, Syria and now Iran.
Such weapons reduce the exposure of manned aircraft to enemy air defences.For Iran, whose antiquated air force was destroyed in the early days of the conflict, long-range rockets and missiles have provided the ability to strike targets far beyond its borders. Decades of sanctions have constrained its military, but its missile arsenal has allowed it to punch above its weight. By striking countries across the Persian Gulf, Iran has secured a credible role in the conflict despite lacking an effective air force.
China and Russia, too, maintain extensive rocket forces capable of delivering conventional and strategic weapons.
and the missile race in South Asia
During Operation Sindoor in May 2025, India used long-range missiles to strike terror targets in Muridke and Bahawalpur. As the conflict progressed, India deployed more of these weapons against Pakistani airbases, from Bholari in the south to Sargodha and Nur Khan in the north. The strikes helped bring the Pakistani air force to the ground and contributed to Pakistan suing for peace.Pakistan, meanwhile, fired missiles, rockets and drones at Indian military installations across Jammu and Kashmir, Punjab, Rajasthan and Gujarat. Almost all these weapons were intercepted or neutralised.One prominent case involved a Fatah-II missile reportedly aimed at the National Capital Region. It was brought down over Sirsa in Haryana, around 240 km northwest of New Delhi, on May 10. Debris was recovered in the area. The episode left Islamabad facing a question its military planners have been working to answer: how can conventional weapons strike Indian targets and get through its defences?Pakistan’s response has been to establish a new organisation.
On August 13, 2025, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif announced the creation of the Army Rocket Force Command (ARFC), a formation intended to oversee missiles following the conflict with India.Headed by a three-star general, the command consolidates conventional rocket and missile units from several formations and specialist detachments. The Fatah-I and Fatah-II systems were developed to provide conventional strike options.
During the conflict, they were mobilised only when international pressure forced de-escalation, leaving Pakistan without conventional rungs on the escalation ladder and unable to wrest control of escalation from India.
The new command is intended to address that gap.The change is about tactics as much as hardware. Pakistan’s surface-to-surface missiles were historically managed with a strategic, nuclear purpose in mind, while conventional rocket artillery remained with the army’s artillery arm.
Its units respond to different commanders depending on their deployment.Centralising conventional systems under one command shortens the chain between decision-makers, including the Pakistan army chief, the rocket force commander and field units. This is intended to enable faster decisions and concentrated firepower.
Pakistan's Army Rocket Force Command (ARFC) was created as a result of lessons from Op Sindoor.
Inside Pakistan’s Army Rocket Force Command
During Op Sindoor, Pakistan realised that there was considerable space between the upper limit of conventional ground based contact war and lower limits of the nuclear threshold. A huge void surfaced in the conventional non contact kinetic domain, in which Pakistan had no capability to either defend or carry out any offensive operations. India exploited this space with the Brahmos much to the embarrassment of Pakistan by plastering 11 airfields. Creation of the Army Rocket Force Command equipped with missiles retrofitted with conventional warheads seeks to plug this gap to regain balance. Pakistan aims not only to close this gap but use this new capability to threaten to lower the nuclear threshold. However what is to be noted is that by creating this force, Pakistan has tacitly indicated that it cannot cross the nuclear threshold with its customary display of irrationality. India will have to focus on neutralizing this newfound capability of Pakistan through defensive and offensive means.
Lt Gen PR Shankar (retired), Professor, Aerospace Dept IIT Madras and former DG Artillery
The weapons expected to form the core of the new command largely belong to the Fatah family.The Fatah-I is a guided multiple rocket launcher designed for tactical targets at ranges of 70 to 140 km. The Fatah-II has a reported range of around 400 km and uses inertial navigation with satellite guidance. It was used in combat in 2025.On October 13, 2026, the Army Rocket Force Command test-launched the Fatah-2 Extended Range. Pakistan’s military describes it as a hypersonic ballistic missile, although no range has been announced for this version.Pakistan has also unveiled the supersonic Fatah-III and the Fatah-IV, a ground-launched cruise missile with a stated range of 750 km. Its arsenal also includes the A-100 multiple launch rocket system acquired from China. The A-100 is based on Russia’s Smerch rocket system, which India also operates.
The Fatah missile family has weapons that use different types of propulsion systems and form a conventional strike capability.
A Fatah-V with a reported range of around 1,000 km has been discussed in defence media, but its existence is unconfirmed.
Reports also differ on whether the longer-range Shaheen, Ghauri and Babur missiles will come under the new command. One-way attack drones have also been described as part of its inventory.The creation of the ARFC raises an obvious question: how does it differ from Pakistan’s Strategic Plans Division (SPD), the secretariat and operational arm of the National Command Authority, which controls the country’s nuclear arsenal?The Pakistan army’s Strategic Forces Command operates nuclear-capable missiles under the SPD’s security framework.
The ARFC, by contrast, is a separate army formation responsible for conventional rockets and missiles, primarily those with short to medium ranges.The distinction is intended to allow Pakistan to signal conventional retaliation without immediately crossing the nuclear threshold. This has long complicated the deterrence equation between Islamabad and New Delhi.However, the separation is not complete and creates its own challenges.
The SPD also oversees employment and deployment control committees that keep nuclear and conventional missiles ready. Establishing a new command means duplicating some of this work, along with the infrastructure, communications systems and trained personnel required.Reports have also indicated that Pakistan’s defence production, organised around entities linked to the division, is geared towards low-rate production of strategic assets rather than the large conventional quantities a rocket force would require.
How effectively the two organisations coordinate during a crisis will be crucial.
India’s expanding strike capability
India's growing conventional missile arsenal will help New Delhi deal with different types of targets.
India has been strengthening its conventional strike capability since before Operation Sindoor. The army has inducted the Pinaka, Smerch, Pralay and BrahMos systems for different operational requirements.Pralay is a solid-propellant, quasi-ballistic missile with a reported range of 150 to 500 km. It has a manoeuvrable re-entry vehicle and carries a conventional warhead.
The defence ministry cleared around 120 missiles in 2022, and Pralay completed back-to-back user trials in July 2025.The next iteration of BrahMos is expected to have a range of up to 800 km. Meanwhile, a long-range guided rocket version of the Pinaka, currently under development, is intended to reach targets up to 120 km away.India is also working on subsonic land-attack cruise missiles, including the Long-Range Land Attack Cruise Missile.
It is expected to be cheaper than BrahMos and deployed in significantly larger numbers.The rationale is practical. The army has traditionally relied on the air force for deep strikes against command centres, ammunition dumps, bridges and logistics hubs. But modern air defences can engage targets hundreds of kilometres away. During Operation Sindoor, India’s S-400 surface-to-air missile system demonstrated this reach by bringing down a Pakistani aircraft from more than 300 km away.Sending fighter aircraft into heavily contested airspace can be costly. Missiles can strike many of these targets while leaving fighters available for other missions, an important consideration for an air force facing an acute shortage of squadrons.
The missile shield
The Sudarshamn Chakra air defence network is designed to take down different types of aerial threats.
During the conflict, India’s integrated air defence network played a central role in defending military installations. The Integrated Air Command and Control System links radars and sensors with air defence units along the border.Pakistan targeted numerous military locations in northern and western India, but India’s layered defence network, comprising the S-400, Barak-8 or MR-SAM, Akash and counter-drone systems, held.India signed a Rs 35,000-crore deal for five S-400 squadrons in 2018, and three squadrons were operational by the time of the conflict. Sources said the S-400, Akash-NG and MR-SAM were capable of intercepting a missile such as the Fatah-II.
However, India has not officially confirmed which system carried out the interception.The shield is now being expanded. In his Independence Day speech in August 2025, Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced Mission Sudarshan Chakra, an integrated, multilayered defence shield intended to be in place by 2035.A key component of its long-range defence architecture is Project Kusha, an extended-range air defence system designed to fill the gap between the MR-SAM and S-400.
It is planned to have three interceptors with ranges of 150 km, 250 km and 350 to 400 km.The air force is the lead agency for the project and asked the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) to accelerate development after Operation Sindoor. The defence secretary has announced the success of initial testing.Other systems under development include Akash-NG, the very short-range air defence system (VSHORADS) and a two-tier ballistic missile defence system, whose first phase has been validated.
India is developing a host of weapon systems to form a comprehensive air defence shield.
Pakistan has built an organisation and a family of missiles intended to make conventional strikes possible, describing its latest system as hypersonic, although no public flight data is available to substantiate that claim.India, meanwhile, has strengthened both its ability to strike targets at long range and its multilayered defences, which intercepted the earlier attacks. The contest is no longer just about who commands the skies. It is increasingly about who can strike deeper, penetrate defences and sustain the ability to do both.