Plutonium can be packed into M-11 missile casings and launched independent of aircraft, and Pakistan has built the Sargodha missile base for a slew of just such weapons, according to Pike. When we first started going after Sorgodha we expected to find a missile storage facility. Pike displayed a declassified military satellite photo of the same base taken in 1971 at a news conference Wednesday. Pakistan bought M-11s from China in 1991 and 1993 in defiance of the Missile Technology Control Regime. The United States sanctioned both Pakistan and China for the transaction.
Sanctions remain largely in place against Pakistan.
Pike's findings were not news to the White House nor Pentagon, neither of which disputed what FAS says is pictured in the photographs. However, FAS offers the first public glimpse into a classified military program that is far more advanced than U.S. officials had let on. Clinton will attempt to convince India and Pakistan to agree to the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty, an international agreement the U.S. Senate rejected last year. Pike, who closely tracks arms control issues, thinks the idea of nuclear disarmament is a non-starter, given that both countries perceive in each other very real enemies at their borders, having come repeatedly to the brink of war about the disputed land of Kashmir. Pike says Pakistan's investment in Sargodha makes it even more unlikely Pakistan will back down from its aggressive program.