Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif recently announced the establishment of the Army Rocket Force (ARF) on the eve of the country’s 79th Independence Day. The disclosure came three months after the May 2025 conflict with India, during which both states launched long-range rockets against each other.
As of now, details about the ARF are scarce; however, its name indicates that the new force will be under the direct operational control of the Pakistan Army. According to one senior security official, the new force will be India-centric and designed to conduct conventional military strikes against targets located deep inside the Indian territory.
India’s willingness to employ the dual-capable BrahMos cruise missile at a lower echelon of escalation in the 2025 India-Pakistan four-day conflict signified New Delhi’s resolve to use missiles against Pakistan. This motivated Islamabad to establish a new command equipped with conventionally armed systems such as Fatah-I, Fatah-II, and Fatah-IV to counter India’s future conventional missile response. The Fatah-I and Fatah-II are long-range guided rockets with ranges of 140 and 400 km, respectively. However, Fatah-IV is a cruise missile with only 5 meter circular error probable (CEP) at 750 km range.
The ARF’s operational role will be distinct from the already operational tri-services commands under the ambit of the National Command Authority (NCA), the apex body responsible for command and control of Pakistan’s nuclear weapons. It will only be equipped with rockets and missiles, which can carry conventional warheads. It will be a separate command, under the control of the Pakistan Army General Headquarters rather than the NCA or Strike Corps. Its headquarters will be located at a different location to avoid entanglement with nuclear and conventional command and control centers.
The primary rationale behind its development is to deal with threats that originate at the operational rather than tactical and strategic levels. The Army Rocket Force is not established to wipe out Indian defensive bunkers, field artillery positions, and armor deployed on the battlefield, as these targets can be easily engaged with the existing Pakistan Army’s field artillery guns, self-propelled howitzers, and multiple-launch rocket systems. In addition, the new command will minimize the load on the artillery units integrated with the Strike Corps by restricting their role to support the Pakistan Army’s combined arm formations fighting along the border.
Pakistan’s new missile force responds to India’s Integrated Rocket (IRF) concept, whose conceptual foundation was laid when former Chief of Defense Staff General Bipin Rawat revealed the idea to the public in 2021. The IRF will be armed with conventionally armed missiles such as Pralay, derivatives of Prahaar, and the dual-use BrahMos, and it is likely to include a conventional version of the Agni-V as well. The Indian military ordered 120 Pralay missiles two years ago with an option to induct 250 more in the future, indicating India’s intent to officially establish a new missile command with delivery systems capable of carrying conventional warheads only.
The ARF’s role will focus solely on engaging counterforce military targets deep inside India, beyond the reach of traditional artillery range. These are likely to be India’s strategic road and rail bridges, tunnels, rear ammunition and supply depots, air bases, and long-range air defense systems. Another possible target will be the Indian military’s upcoming IRF-dispersed missiles and storage sites. A possibility also exists that the ARF’s projectiles could be employed to neutralize advancing columns of the Indian armor even before reaching their potential launching areas. All these engagements seem realistic as the systems under ARF’s command are long-range and can be integrated with different sensors for multiple missions and roles.
The new command doesn’t indicate that Pakistan has lowered its warfighting threshold, but it is an attempt to further reinforce Pakistan’s conventional deterrence. The ARF will be a constant reminder to New Delhi that if it launches conventionally armed long-range vectors, Islamabad will retaliate heavily in line with its policy of quid pro quo plus. The demonstration of Fatah-guided rockets striking targets inside India during Operation Bunyan Um Marsoos is a testament to the command’s credibility. In short, the purpose behind its creation is to deter any future Indian belligerence by using conventional missiles and rockets.
India has moved toward a Dynamic Response Strategy (DRS) to conduct strikes against Pakistan. At the same time, Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced India’s equivalent to “Iron Dome” during his recent speech on August 15, terming the project as “Sudarshan Chakra,” a term in Hindu mythology associated with the god Vishnu. This initiative aims to develop an indigenous aerial defense system around India’s major security sites and critical infrastructure by 2035.
Indian development of a missile defense system, coupled with the modernization of its rocket force, would provide it with a false sense of security that it can launch missile strikes in Pakistan at will while maintaining the capability to neutralize the response from Islamabad. This notion is compelling Pakistan to make improvements in its conventional missile force to deter India.
It is important for Pakistan to diversify its conventional missile force and develop supersonic cruise and hypersonic missiles to strengthen conventional deterrence in the region. Missiles with these characteristics will be difficult for India’s integrated air defense system to intercept, thus reinforcing the ARF’s capability and credibility.
Given the unprecedented use of long-range rockets in conventional conflicts worldwide and India’s adoption of a non-contact warfare strategy, the new command becomes a compulsion for Pakistan. In addition, the ARF is established to draw clear boundaries between nuclear and conventionally armed missiles and rockets. This is an effort to strengthen conventional deterrence by increasing Pakistan’s capability to strike deep inside India with projectiles armed with non-nuclear payload. In short, it is Islamabad’s response to nullify the Indian non-contact warfare strategy, for which New Delhi is trying to establish its non-nuclear rocket force.