One of Pakistan's senior missile experts, Samar Mobarik Mand, says the new Shaheen system is ready to be tested at an hour's notice.

Dr Mobarik said the Shaheen One missile, which has a range of seven hundred kilometres, has already been mounted on the launchpad and a test simply awaits the go-ahead from the government.

He said the Shaheen Two -- with a two-thousand kilometre range -- would be ready for a test flight within a year.

Dr Mobarik said nuclear warheads had been designed for the Shaheens, but wouldn't say whether they'd yet gone into production.