Subordinate To: Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission (PAEC)
Address: P.O. Box 2216
Islamabad, Pakistan
Telephone: 92-51-9266018, 9266142
Fax: 92-51-282696
Email: Unlisted
URL: http://www.depo.org.pk/products/ndc/index.htm
Primary Function: Import, development, assembly, and manufacture of Hatf and Shaheen-series solid-fueled ballistic missiles.

Description and Activities:
The National Defense Complex (NDC) consists of a cluster of research, development, and manufacturing units under the aegis of Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission (PAEC); the units were consolidated in the early 1990s with the objective of indigenously developing and manufacturing modern weapon systems for Pakistan. Other weapon systems aside, the NDC lies at the heart of Pakistan's efforts to import, assemble, manufacture, and in the long-term, develop short-, medium-, and intermediate-range solid-fueled ballistic missiles.

In the late 1980s (most likely late 1987 or 1988), Pakistan signed an agreement with China for the purchase of M-11(estimates range from 34-80) and possibly a small number M-9 ballistic missiles. China also agreed to aid Pakistan's ballistic missile efforts by building a turnkey facility where such missiles could be built in Pakistan. In 1994, US intelligence agencies detected the construction of such a facility in Fatehjung, in the Tarwanah suburb of Rawalpindi (Punjab province), 40km west of Islamabad. The configuration and design of the Fatehjung plant matched the M-11 missile facility in Hubei province in central China; engineers and technicians from the China Precision Machinery Import/Export Corporation were also sighted at the plant on several occasions; shipments from the Chinese missile entity bearing machine tools, rocket motors, and other missile-related goods to Pakistan were also tracked. The facility was completed sometime in 1997 or 1998 and is believed to produce the Hatf-III/Ghaznavi (M-11) and Hatf-IV/Shaheen-I (possibly M-9) solid-fueled ballistic missiles. Missile parts are also believed to be sourced from the cities of Lahore, Karachi, Gujranwala, and Islamabad for final assembly at the Fatehjung plant. Some analysts believe that the NDC can turn out exact replicas of the Chinese M-11 and possibly M-9 ballistic missiles; others suggest, however, that Pakistan still remains dependent on Chinese and other external suppliers for missile guidance systems and specialty steels to build rocket motors. The NDC is also developing the medium-range Shaheen-II with assistance from Chinese entities.

Here are the NDC's missile-related facilities:

• Solid-propellant and chemicals plant for missiles: the plant manufactures aluminum powder fuel (AL), ammonium perchlorate oxidizer (AP), hydroxy terminated poly-butadiene (HTPB) binder, curing agents and other ablative materials.
• Guidance & Control Center (GCC): The GCC is engaged in the design and development of modern navigation systems. The design division "carries out modeling and simulation, robust digital control system design and implementation, hardware in loop simulation, navigation and guidance system design." It also "carries out work in the areas of trajectory analysis and software development...besides, reverse engineering of complex electro mechanical systems such as actuators, inertial sensors..." The GCC also builds radar altimeters, warhead controller, safety and arming systems, and fuses, among other military products.
• Facility to build mobile ballistic missile launchers equipped with automatic missile testing and launch control systems (ATLCS). The ATLCS automatically carries out pre-launch testing procedures and the sequence of launching operations. Launchers have options for automatic gyro-aiming and integrated/remote fire control systems. NDC designs all-terrain, all-weather, mobile launchers.
• Facility for building telemetry systems used to "transmit data in ‘S' band for in-flight tests of aircraft and missiles."
• Facility to build power sources such as batteries for use in missiles.
• Aerodynamics & Structural Analysis Center: the center provides engineering solutions for "aerodynamics, hydrodynamics, gas dynamics, weapon designs, structural analysis, computer software development, and networking supported by experimental model analysis and wind tunnel facilities."
• Production facilities with "computer and numerically controlled lathes and milling machines, die-casting machines, heavy metal working facility, dynamic balancing machines and co-ordinate measurement machines." It also has a "heat-treatment facility to enhance the mechanical properties" of metal parts to enable them to withstand demanding operational environments.

Key Sources: R. Jeffrey Smith, "China Linked To Pakistani Missile Plant; Secret Project Could Renew Sanctions issue," Washington Post, 25 August 1996, p. A01; in Lexis-Nexis Academic Universe, 25 August 1996, <http://web.lexis-nexis.com/>; Tim Weiner, "U.S. Says It Suspects China Is Helping Pakistan With Missiles," The New York Times, 26 August 1996, p. 6; in Lexis-Nexis Academic Universe, 26 August 1996, <http://web.lexis-nexis.com/>; "Pakistan's Missiles," Pittsburg Post-Gazette, 27 August 1997, p. A-4; in Lexis-Nexis Academic Universe, 26 August 1996, <http://web.lexis-nexis.com/>; Steven Erlanger, "U.S. Wary of Punishing China For Missile Help To Pakistan," New York Times, 27 August 1997, p. 6; in Lexis-Nexis Academic Universe, 27 August 1996, <http://web.lexis-nexis.com/>; Douglas Waller, "The Secret Missile Deal," Time, 30 June 1997, <http://www.cnn.com/ALLPOLITICS/1997/06/23/time/missiles.html>; "National Development Complex – Pakistan," November 1999, <http://www.ideaspakistan.com/2000/art13_ndc.htm>; "Defence Export Promotion Organization: National Development Complex," <http://www.depo.org.pk/index.htm>; "Chinese Missile Exports and Assistance to South Asia," Nuclear Threat Initiative, October 2003, <http://www.nti.org/db/china/msaspos.htm>.

	Updated December 2003