A missile without telemetry is a missile without proof

In Pakistan's recent showcase of its anti-ship ballistic missile (ASBM), the evidence was almost completely missing. Instead of technical information, the Pakistan Navy offered a stylish, tightly edited launch video and a distant impact plume at sea.

- COMMANDER RAHUL VERMA (RETD)

When a country announces a powerful new missile, it is not enough to show a dramatic video. Serious militaries and serious analysts look for data-radar tracks, flight paths, speed and altitude, guidance behaviour and proof that the missile did what the government claims it did. This evidence usually comes in the form of telemetry and tracking footage.

In Pakistan's recent showcase of its anti-ship ballistic missile (ASBM), that kind of evidence was almost completely missing. Instead of technical information, the Pakistan Navy offered a stylish, tightly edited launch video and a distant impact plume at sea. The visuals were designed to impress, but they did not answer the basic technical question: did the missile actually perform as a true ASBM?

That is why the core judgement is simple—a missile without telemetry is a missile without proof. Pakistan offered spectacle, not science.

WHAT SERIOUS MISSILE TESTS NORMALLY SHOW

When India tests an advanced missile, its Defence Research & Development Organisation often shares radar-tracking footage, graphs showing altitude and range and sometimes animations of the flight path based on real data. China's state media regularly shows trajectory diagrams and tracking clips for its long-range missiles. The United States, through agencies like the Missile Defense Agency and the US Navy, publishes radar screens, infrared tracking views and timestamped sequences that follow the missile from launch to impact. Even Iran, which is usually secretive, still releases partial tracking images and trajectory visuals for its headline tests.

These countries do not always reveal everything. They protect sensitive details. But they release enough to prove that the missile flew as described. Telemetry and tracking videos act like the "lab report" behind the big headline. They show that the test was not just a public-relations stunt, but a measured event with documented performance.