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Pakistan test fires Hatf VIII Ra'ad
Ra’ad cruise missile has stealth capabilities, is a low altitude, terrain-hugging missile with high maneuverability.
Ra’ad cruise missile has stealth capabilities, is a low altitude, terrain-hugging missile with high maneuverability. PHOTO: ISPR
RAWALPINDI: Pakistan conducted a successful test flight of the indigenously developed air-launched cruise missile, Hatf-VIII (Ra’ad) on Thursday.
A statement issued by Inter Services Public Relations (ISPR) said the Ra’ad Missile, with a range of over 350km, enables Pakistan to achieve strategic standoff capability on land and at sea.
‘Cruise technology’ is extremely complex and has been developed by only a few countries in the world.
The Ra’ad cruise missile with stealth capabilities is a low altitude, terrain-hugging missile with high maneuverability, and can deliver nuclear and conventional warheads with pin point accuracy.
A major additional feature of today’s test was the effective employment of the National Command Authority’s fully automated Strategic Command and Control Support System (SCCSS).
It has enabled robust Command and Control capability of all strategic assets with round the clock situation awareness in a digitised network centric environment to decision makers at National Command Centre (NCC).
The system has the added capability of real time remote monitoring of missile flight path.
The successful launch was commended by President Asif Ali Zardari, Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani and Chairman Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee who congratulated the scientists and engineers on their outstanding achievement.
Reader Comments (89)
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Technical feedback? [email protected]
I hope Pakistani Rocket Scientists will further enhance this technology so that in future these missiles could be modified for Satellite launch vehicles so that Our indigenous space program could be developed. Moreover Pakistan lack Surface to Air and Air-Air long range technology as at present Pakistan cannot develop none of any long range anti aircraft missiles and i hope they will invest on that project as well. Beyond Visual Range ( BVRs) Missiles are a vital part of any modern Airforce and India have this technology but Pakistan dont have any locally manufactured BVRs at all. So a long way to go from self reliance and I hope they will ponder about it as well.
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Congratulations Pakistan!! – and those whining about no electricity or etc – should keep in mind that its not our scientists job to produce electricity! It’s because of corrupt politicians and management in those departments that we are producing less electricity than what we are capable of!
Proud of Our scientists and Engineers who are working hard – Cruise Technology is no joke! Good Job!!!!
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Hearty Congratulations to North Korea and China for a successful test.
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Congratulations Pakistan!! – and those whining about no electricity or etc – should keep in mind that its not our scientists job to produce electricity! It’s because of corrupt politicians and management in those departments that we are producing less electricity than what we are capable of!
Proud of Our scientists and Engineers who are working hard – Cruise Technology is no joke! Good Job!!!!!
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Where are these going to be used, asks Baby??? 350 Kms mean Iran, Afghanistan, India and I guess ourselves. Like everything, we can shoot ourselves in the foot. What say you Meine Generale???
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Before the Indian trolls start mocking the range of this missile …Just FYI its a tactical nuclear weapon to counter Cold Start doctrine.
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Well Done Guys!!! World powers are focusing on development of missile defense systems including India, rather than piling up inventory. Why not we???
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Salute to Pak Armay,,,,,,,,, ,jelous indian’s wl start commenting with a muslims name
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Another answer to Indian’s “Cold Doctrine”
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Great achievement. At least one institution of the country is working properly, the armed forces.
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Very Nice!!! But it Seems that our priority is to keep making missile & do nothing about the severe energy starvation.
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Likesss
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The time is ripe to develop missile technology for commercial space projects. Only military based research and development will not get us anywhere.
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Wow. When I lived in 20th century I heard something like this. Recommend
Kudos, let this spill to other sectors also! Wish them success!
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Is anything in Pakistan indigenously developed?
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Yea – thats great – can it shoot down a drone? Otherwise this money would have been better spent on education and power/electricity…..
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Would love to see a video of the actual launch.
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Congrats to our men involved in the development of these projects. Thank you from bottom of my heart to you guys for working day and night to strengthen Pakistan’s defences
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Well Done Guys!!! World powers are focusing on development of missile defense systems including India, rather than piling up inventory. Why not us??
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Can we please have Power , Education , Food and Healthcare please
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@Nand:
They forgot to film it. It is only thru the word of mouth.
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I think the Americans are rather scared!
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++=
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dam it! resources and brains wasted for nothing- can’t we spend/use these resources on solving actual problems like poverty, hunger, energy crisis, education, health….
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We need to change our priorities as a nation. Agreed that we are situated in a very hostile region, but the greatest strength is education and economic power. Just read a news about Qatar’s investment on education on the plea that oil/gas reserves will not last forever. I may sound unpatriotric by not congratulating on test firing a missile, but the fact is that i spend most of my time in load shedding cursing the leadership. Phir bhi Pakistan Zindabad!!
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Good news to all Pakistan, But USA is doing the same it did to the Vietnam/Ukraine (not sure, but its one of these two), they have the most weaponry in WWII but the europeans destroyed their economy to such an extent that atlast there was no option with them country to sell all their weaponry.
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@Arijit Sharma:
even if that were the case, we still have a sword over our heads, like it or not.
its high time fo rus indian to stop acting like little school boys .
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How much this did cost?
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These missiles will solve all the serious crises the country faces!
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Pakistan needs schools and electricity, not bombs and missiles. These missle tests have no practical relevance to Pakistani public.
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Welcome to North Korea. Chinese minister was in Pakistan to witness test firing of their missile!
Is it possible to grow “edible grass” in and around the launch site. A bankrupt country living on handout spending money on useless technologies.
Stockpile all you want, when the Afghan war is over, the international community is coming after you to get rid of it, if not, here comes sanctions. How long do you think Pakistan can survive? Week? two? a Month?
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I wonder if Stupidity has any limits. Our brave boys need more n more toys and common man suffers from hunger, unemployment, social insecurity.
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How ridiculous spending money on these toys for our boys….if only it could be used for health, education and most important capacity building of our institutions.
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@baba segal:
but its a chinese missile. like it or not. pakistan do not have technology to develop such missiles with exaggerated features as above.
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@Nand
Would love to see a video of the actual launch.
They tried to film it, unfortunately there was no electricity to charge the camera’s battery
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more grass for the poor to eat! YAY!
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@ Anjit Sharma:
Does it matter who made the missile? Pakistan has it and can use it …. bottom line! At least it functions properly … unlike the Indian missile program, an embarrassment and a set back to India’s dream of becoming a regional super power.
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Congrats.
Of what use is this to 85% of the populace when there is no safety of life and property, no basic amenities like electricity for domestic and industrial purpose ?
Really what brownie points are the govt trying to get from these kind of achievements.
If this is for India’s benefit, it can safely be said that it hasn’t caused a ripple.
No amount of arms and ammunitions will threaten India.
What might cause a few heads to turn will be the all round development of Pakistan.
That by the look of things doesn’t seem possible.
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Bravo. Now this will create schools, employment, reduce poverty, generate electricity for the general public.
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BOO.
We don’t need this.
We’re still eating grass because of our military insecurities.
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@ Nasir, wish I could upvote you a thousand times.
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K for D. Invest today in schools, you need less investment in missiles tomorrow.
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i don’t know why ppl whine about spending on defence which is only 18% of the total budget, and that 18% is combined budget of army , air force and navy. the problem is they use the budget as planned not like the other 82% which goes straight into the hands of the corrupt, i believe this 82% can be utilised to handle the issues like power and education but alas our political leadership this would nvr happen….. atleast not with this type of leadership present
i Congratulate the team responsible for this test… i am proud of u
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You can’t take care of poverty stricken hungry people with all these missiles —– it’s about joblessness, and lack of basic amenities, about clean drinking water, health care which must be taken care of, not anything else. Who cares about these stupid destructive capability, how about inventing something which provides relief?
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what about its speed and other specifications? speed of baber cruise is jst about 0.8 match wht about this??is it a slow moving cruise missile like babur as comparing 2 india’s brahmos and other missiles around the world?
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All facets of our society are slowly destroying, but missile technolgy is enhancing, unbeliveable. reactionary tests.
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congrats!!! but can anyone let me know if ever there was any “test” that failed in the past? failure in development stage is pretty normal and part of any indigenous programmer. Was there any in Pakistan?
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So Much Indian trolls mocking Our Army with Pakistani names is a norm on ET right now. ET should not approve all of the comments which are just degrading in every aspect. Less than 0.0001 percent of Pakistani Ultra Elite along with Indian Trolls are spoiling the whole environment of the forums here.
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Congratulation to all those who worked for this precious/valuable job. May Allah almighty give us more strength. Now scientist are advised to do a work on agricultural, industrial development so that hunger problem decrease and more job created for poor people.
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@Zamir Malik… Agree 100% & then when u answer them ur comment doesn’t get approved… Strange!
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To defend the mother land from invasions and attacks from out side of our borders should be top priority and Pakistan achieved that when we became nuclear power but after that we should have spent all our resources to eliminate far more dangerous threats which are corruption illiteracy injustice population explosion militancy but it requires leader with vision which we do not have. In deed it is very sad situation.
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@SB: They are not reported only successfull launches reported
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@Pungi, true, I’m amazed why many of my comments are never published yet all the indian filth is.
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@Arijit Sharma and co: Indian don’t make everything home grown from scratch and they do get outside help in everything they do in this domain. You cannot miss the turtle pace MIGS you acquired from Russia….
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Is the moderator of this forum from india ????
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@Uza Syed: You are one confused lady amongst the confused nation. The Strategic Plans Division is given funds as other government departments are allocated funds. Its only that we see this department working what they are paid to do, the poverty stricken people should elect better people to look after their interest. This is what they voted in power, this is exactly what they deserved. Poverty and other issues hurt me as well, but that needs to be solved by the efforts of the government not the SPD who are paid to build missiles.Recommend
is it just me or is the Pakistani flag on the missile the wrong way? :-/
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@Arijit Sharma:
and we congratulate Russians for your “Achievements”
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Waste of money. It is time to allocate a significant portion of budget to education, health and social welfare of the people. Educated, cultured, and healthy people make a nation and country stronger, not just army which eats away most of the resources. Very shameful, we are spending money on unnecessary things. We do not need these bombs and cruise missles. Keep good relations with the world, so we do not need to invest on these so-called missles.
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Come on Indians.. go n get a life….U think you will degrade Pak Army by using American funded Express Tribune?
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And we say Express Tribune a Conspiracy machine because they have allowed to post all the garbage. We (Pakistanis) are protesting for a long time by comments but till now it (ET) can not make rules and regulations about approving comments or they are not intended to do that or they are not allowed to do that i guess.
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Congratulation,but not heartfelt,
because in my city Faisalabad,a protester died and some others injured,
a procession was taken out,people was demanding the end of load shedding,
unrest was created,shots were fired which created stampede,according to the
news received by pedestrians one died and some other injured.
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Express Tribune why dont you make clear policies regarding approving comments. I have never seen any newspaper that allow to degrade its own country and institutions. What do you really want. Whats ur real agenda??????
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@ Express Tribune Moderators …
Why are you contentiously allowing anti Pakistan comments which are posted by Indians by using Islamic Names?
Respect this country Recommend
@ Express Tribune Moderators …
We know ET is foreign Paper but you are Pakistanis. :(
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Express Tribunes comments Deleting Policy mentioned on FAQ page of comments policies.
“Comments we Delete
Posted with explicit intent to provoke other commenters , writers or staff.
Now someone form Express Tribune Please tell my what is happening here? do the Indians are not provoking us (Pakistanis) by their comments????? And u still approving and violating your own policies. Extremely Pathetic I can never expect such irresponsible act by a leading news paper of country. We are asking you to comply your own rules and regulations nothing else.Recommend
ET, Please stop the Indian posts on our website.. You are too partial. You moderate our posts but let the indians.. Shame on you.
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Congrats to Pakistan for develop this weapon.
For those who are commenting that Pakistan has other problems, dont forget that every country has the right to have a strong defense force.
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ET-
Can you please explain why my comment which was published in this forum has been removed ? It was not offensive but only gave a simple message that Pakistan should not waste its hard earned dollars in achieving parity with India on defence infrastructure and nobody commented against my comment. However, I find lot of Pakistanis complaining against Indians little realising that fifty percent of my and may be other Indians non-offensive comments are moderated much to our dismay. However, I would request that some critical comments posted by Indians be taken supportingly otherwise this would become dull and drab affair and ET despite my complaint is doing a balanced act and I wish ET and my Pakistani friends good luck. Happy reading for all.
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@Zahir:
We should hear arguments,being advanced by enemies
with opened heart.
We are living in the democratic world,never disregard enemies
and their opinion,it is assisting choosing the better way.
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Stealth Capability, what does this means? I think people involved in terrorist activities are also moving around with same capabilities. Correct word is stealth technology. I hope our scientists will also work on power generation projects.
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For all those cribbing about comments by Indians, Do you want some cheese to go with that whine. More than half the time my comments do not get published, do you see me whining about it??
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A very few countries in this world have this technology and we should be proud of it.
people moaning about electricity need to know that nuclear energy can help them with electricty.
Pakistan Army zindadbad
Pakistan zindabad
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I agree with some of my pakistani brothers that the comments posted by the hindian should be moderated more closely. However, i disagree with what some of the posters are suggesting that all the comments critical of the army are posted by the indians. I have posted many crital comments of the khakis and i feel that it is our right to criticize what we feel is wrong with this country. You pro-khakis dont have problem blaming politicians for all the problems unders the sun, do you? may be the moderator can filter hindian comments by checking their IP address.
BTW, many of my own post arent allowed by the moderators, even when it obeys all the posting rules!!
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lol .. I love the Indian expressions here .!!Recommend
I think that’s the 5th success in the 5th month of this year.
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@Arijit Sharma:
Think before you talk, Most of your stuff is Russian junk. Some entirely and has parts. There is hardly anything india produces. one hundred percent indigenous. Bottomline is our missiles are better than yours. From briefcase nukes to 3000km Shaheens, We got them all
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A lot of comments here are suffixd with ‘Pak Army zindabad and etc etc zindabad’. What’s so ‘ zindabad’ about launching a missile when the country is reeling under huge power outages, ethnic violence and incessant corruption. Wake up guys!
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All indians should keep thinking that they are toys. I think they should stay in this dillusions. When time will come they will open their eyes with suprise. My dear these are dangrous toys. Do not try to play with them and mess with them.
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irony … most of the population lack basic necessities of life and yet we have funds for sophisticated missiles ..
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Designed in China,produced in North Korea and re-painted in Pakistan
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We don’t need this – India is not a conventional war threat anymore since we went nuclear. And they have better things to focus on like economy, education and jobs for the masses than thinking about attacking Pak. We should do the same – give us energy, schools, health, etc., rather than bombs. Focus on the ECONOMY and EDUCATION. Congrats to Pak Army but this was money wasted – these same engineers could be utilized in a more productive way. We have enough defence and deterrence capability now. And stop looking at India as an enemy – its high time. Our real enemy is within us. Defeat that through a resolute resolve to overcome our own internal challenges!
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@Uzair Javaid:
The best strategy to survive, for any nation, especially one like ours, is to make sure that it does its utmost to provide for and create job ottortunities for its citizens. Otherwise all these missiles etc. would be rendered useless when the people would pee on them and their planners and makers. Just wait and you’ll see.
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No doubt,
our military establishment and civilian leadership mostly deserve heartfelt congratulation on this delightful opportunity for successfully test the cruise missile.
Pakistan in the present time is numbered among those countries having iron clad guarantee regarding its defense.
We are on war in terror since long which put our economy at stack and unrest,spreading day by day civilian government and brave armed forces fighting on both fronts with remarkable success.
Our economy coming down swiftly due to power shortage and lack of gas supply the matter deserve comprehensive attention.Time is running out it can be drifted us far from its timely solution,it must be our first obligation as a accountable leadership.
Request,repeatedly turn down by the United States,once again request can be made to the single super power for supplying civil nuclear technology which plays a major role in removing electricity crisis but there is specific snag in the way in form of ”ground lines communication issue and ”Apology”there is clear reluctance on offering apology on behalf of Obama administration.
In case,impasse remained stand then we will have to face more tough days,expected a head.
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@Waqas: if one institution is doing batter then other u cant blame it blame the other which is not resource allocation is Govt duty Vote for right people next time Kracahi killing Load shedding,cricket situation, road accidents will u call blame on missile fire be rational
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At this rate we will soon overtake US in terms of nuke inventory and then we will see how the members of US congress and senate dare to stop US aid to Pakistan.
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@Zamir Malik:
Do you realize that people die of hunger everyday in Pakistan and you want our generals to increase their capabilities for what? How about feeding the poor first and then moving on!Recommend
@Meekal Ahmed:
“How much this did cost?”
Unit cost of a Tomahawk cruise missile is about a million dollars each. Pakistani/chinese cruise missiles are copies of the Tomahawk.
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@bangash:
Dear Bagush Bro. as you know pakistan is surronded between cheep enimies like India Israil and USA, they all focused on our minerals, and all other resoures like gold, copper, coal and same with man power. you never ever save your essets without strong defence, otherwise you ll be another Iraq or Afghanistan or watname.
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