The Pakistan Navy successfully conducted a test launch of the indigenously developed SMASH ballistic missile from a warship. On November 4, 2024, the Pakistan Navy announced the flight test, demonstrating the weapon system’s ability to engage both land and sea targets with high precision. With a range of 350 kilometers, the missile is equipped with advanced navigation and maneuverability features, allowing it to adjust its trajectory and speed mid-flight. The test was observed by the Chief of Naval Staff, senior naval officers, as well as scientists and engineers involved in the project.
The SMASH missile, internally designated as P-282, significantly extends the Pakistan Navy’s offensive and defensive reach, as well as its A2/AD (Anti-Access/Area Denial) capabilities. This technology, enabling the missile to strike targets over 350 kilometers away, provides a substantial deterrent against potential threats in the Indian Ocean region. Equipped with a sophisticated navigation system, the SMASH missile can adapt to variations in speed and direction, making it difficult to intercept and highly adaptable to modern combat environments.
This missile shares notable similarities with the Chinese CM-401, an ASBM (Anti-Ship Ballistic Missile) model designed to target large and medium-sized ships, fleets, and harbor installations. The CM-401 is known for its supersonic speed and complex maneuverability, enabling it to follow a near-space, semi-ballistic trajectory before diving towards its target with a terminal attack approach that is particularly challenging to intercept. Key features of this model include its near-space trajectory, supersonic maneuverability, terminal dive capability, compatibility with multiple launch platforms, and multi-trajectory coordination to evade enemy defenses.
These technological attributes grant the SMASH missile unique penetration capabilities against modern naval defenses, which are often optimized for intercepting slower, less maneuverable missiles. The SMASH missile also shows design similarities to the short-range Fatah-II ballistic missile, introduced to Pakistan’s arsenal in May 2024, indicating a shared design framework and potentially standardized components among Pakistan’s new missile systems.