Sunday, January 24, 2016

Pak-China Defense Tech Ties "Irk West"

Growing defense collaboration between China and Pakistan irks the West, according to a report in the UK's Financial Times newspaper.  The paper specifically cites joint JF-17 Thunder fighter jet, armed drone Burraq and custom AIP-equipped submarines as examples of close cooperation between the two nations.

Pakistan's bitter experience with the unreliability of its cold war allies as weapons suppliers has proved to be a blessing in disguise. It has forced Pakistan to move toward self-reliance in production of the weapons it needs to defend itself from foreign and domestic enemies.

It all started back in 1965 when the US and its western allies placed an arms embargo on Pakistan during war with India. The bitterness grew stronger when the US forced France to cancel its contract to supply a breeder reactor to Pakistan in 1974 soon after India conducted its first nuclear test.

Khushab Nuclear Reactor:

Fortunately for Pakistan, the French had already given Pakistanis scientists drawings and specifications before canceling the breeder reactor contract. Work on Khushab reprocessing plant stated in 1974 when Pakistan signed a contract with the French company Saint-Gobain Techniques Nouvelles (SGN). In 1978, under U.S. pressure, France canceled the contract. Pakistan then proceeded to indigenously produce its own nuclear breeder reactors at Khushab. Four such reactors are now operating to produce plutonium for Pakistan's nuclear weapons program. Having done its first nuclear test in 1998, Pakistan now has a large and growing nuclear arsenal it needs to deter any enemy adventurism against it.

Babar Cruise Missile:

Since MTCR (Missile Technology Control Regime) prevented Pakistan from acquiring delivery vehicles from other countries, the country had to develop its own ballistic and cruise missiles to carry nuclear weapons.

The story of Babar Cruise Missile development is particularly interesting. It is believed that Pakistani engineers learned the technology by dismantling and studying a US Tomahawk cruise missile that fell in Pakistani territory when President Bill Clinton fired these missiles to target Al Qaeda in Afghanistan.

JF-17 Thunder Fighter:

The development of JF-17, a modern highly capable and relatively inexpensive fighter jet, is the crowning achievement to-date of the Pakistan-China defense production cooperation. It's being deployed by Pakistan Air Force with Pakistan Aeronautical Complex (PAC) on recently rolling out the 16th Block 2 JF-17 aircraft for PAF's 4th squadron. The latest version is capable of launching a variety of nuclear and conventional weapons ranging from smart bombs and air-launched cruise missile Raad to anti-ship missiles.

Pakistan Aeronautical Complex (PAC) got its start decades ago by setting up maintenance facilities for advanced fighters like French Mirage and US F-16s and by manufacturing Mushshak and Super Mushshak trainer aircraft. It is now also building JF-17s as well as a variety of drones, including combat UAV Burraq being used in Pakistan's war against militants in Waziristan.

Nuclear-Capable AIP Submarines:

Pakistan is expanding and modernizing its underwater fleet with 8 additional AIP-equipped submarines. Four of these subs will be manufactured in Pakistan.  These will reportedly be custom versions of Yuan class diesel-electric subs with additional wider tubes from which cruise missiles can be launched. A key requirement for  these submarines is to be stealthy—and the AIP-equipped Yuan class is indeed very quiet. The trick is in the submarine’s air-independent propulsion fuel cells, which provide power under the surface as the diesel engines—used for running on the surface—rest and recharge. Though relatively limited in range, this system is quieter than the nuclear-powered engines on American and Russian submarines, which must constantly circulate engine coolant.


Arms as Pakistan's Cottage Industry

Pakistan has a long history of arms manufacturing as a cottage industry. The dusty little town of Darra Adam Khel, only a half-hour drive from Peshawar, reminds visitors of America's Wild West. The craftsmen of this town are manufacturers and suppliers of small arms to the tribal residents of the nation's Federally Administered Tribal Areas who carry weapons as part of their ancient culture. The skilled craftsmen of FATA make revolvers, automatic pistols, shotguns and AK-47 rifles. Until five years ago, the list also had items such as anti-personnel mines, sub-machine guns, small cannons and even rocket launchers. Pakistani government has forced the tribesmen to stop making heavy assault weapons to try and prevent the Taliban and Al Qaeda from getting access to such weapons.

Pakistan's arms industry has come a long way from making small arms as a cottage industry in the last few decades. The US and Western arms embargoes imposed on Pakistan at critical moments in its history have proved to be a blessing in disguise. In particular, the problems Pakistan faced in the aftermath of Pressler Amendment in 1992 became an opportunity for the country to rely on indigenous development and production of defense equipment.

Pakistan's Military Industrial Complex

The country now boasts a powerful industrial, technological and research base developing and manufacturing for its armed forces a wide variety of small and large weapons ranging from modern fighter jets, battle tanks, armored vehicles, frigates and submarines to armed and unarmed aerial vehicles and high tech firearms and personal grenade launchers for urban combat. Some of these items were on display at IDEAS 2014, the 5-day biennial arms show held November 2014 in Karachi, Pakistan.

Summary: 

A country can not be truly independent unless it can manufacture the arms it needs to defend itself. Pakistan is just starting to build the weapons it needs but it has a very long way to go. This goal can only be achieved if Pakistan develops significant human capital and builds a vibrant economy.

Related Links:

Haq's Musings

IDEAS 2014 Arms Show

Pakistan Defense Industry

Silicon Valley Book Launch of "Eating Grass"

Pakistan's Human Capital

Pakistan Economy Nears Trillion Dollars

Pakistan's Sea-Based Second Strike Capability


49 comments:

Mo said...

PAF still hasn't learnt its lesson fromt the Pressler Amendment when
Pakistan paid for the F16's but U.S sanctioned them. Now PAF wants to
buy 8 F16's for 1.5 billion when they could buy 36 J10B's with no strings
attached.

Riaz Haq said...

Mo: "PAF still hasn't learnt its lesson fromt the Pressler Amendment when Pakistan paid for the F16's but U.S sanctioned them. Now PAF wants to buy 8 F16's for 1.5 billion when they could buy 36 J10B's with no strings attached."

F-16 has been a very useful vehicle for Pakistani pilots and engineers to learn advanced US technology....the kind of technology that China currently lacks.

Mo said...

Dr. Sahab, those days are gone now and China is currently at least in early 2000 in terms of aircraft technologies in many cases and in some cases the deference is now marginal.

Anonymous said...

When did Paki pilots ever convert that knowledge into something useful - that is win a war.

Riaz Haq said...

Mo: "Dr. Sahab, those days are gone now and China is currently at least in early 2000 in terms of aircraft technologies in many cases and in some cases the deference is now marginal."

A big advantage US has is the fact its stuff uses battle tested technology coming out of Silicon Valley.

Riaz Haq said...

Anon: "When did Paki pilots ever convert that knowledge into something useful - that is win a war."


Here's what legendary US pilot Chuck Yeager @GenChuckYeager tweeted recently

Q: What did u think of Pakistan pilots? A: When I was there in 1971-73, they were the best. They kicked the Indians butt!

Here's what Yeager wrote in his autobiography:


"This airforce(the PAF), is second to none"

"The air war lasted two weeks and the Pakistanis scored a three-to-one kill ratio, knocking out 102 Russian-made Indian jets and losing thirty-four airplanes of their own. I'm certain about the figures because I went out several times a day in a chopper and counted the wrecks below."

"They were really good, aggressive dogfighters and proficient in gunnery and air combat tactics. I was damned impressed. Those guys just lived and breathed flying. "

Compare this to the incompetent Indian Air Force that bombed its own territory in Rajasthan today, India's Republic Day,

http://www.indiatimes.com/news/india/indian-air-force-jet-accidentaly-drops-5-bombs-over-rajasthan-explosions-spread-panic-but-no-casualties-reported-249861.html

Mo said...

Battle tested against what? Some third, nah fourth world country with no logistics, air force and battlefield formations to talk of.
Get it battle tested against an equal peer and then we can talk, otherwise it's just a term good only for marketing purposes nothing more.

Plus don't forget you might have the best weapons in the world but if you can't procure the right ammunition and spares for it then it's worse than useless.

Riaz Haq said...

Mo: "Battle tested against what? Some third, nah fourth world country with no logistics, air force and battlefield formations to talk of."

No one with any real knowledge of the facts questions US superiority in the air regardless of the enemy. Countries with large air forces equipped with sophisticated Russian and European equipment have failed time again when confronted with US technology in the Middle East and elsewhere.

As to comparison of US Air Force with F16s vs Indian Air Force with Su30 MK at Red Flag exercise, watch this video of an American colonel talking about it:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WKEa-R37PeU

MesquiteIce said...

All these playthings are just ways of US to project power. From Vietnam to Iraq to Afganistan, the US and their capabilities have been exposed. China=US=russia. Could you please tell me if ever any country has won a significant war after WW2 with these toys around?

Mo said...

Now a days technology is so advance and already test in various phase of production that these things are not consider any more. Yes only things matter is man and machine interface.

Riaz Haq said...

Mo: "Now a days technology is so advance and already test in various phase of production that these things are not consider any more. Yes only things matter is man and machine interface."

Technology is not static. It's constantly changing and US spends far more on research than any other nation.

Please take a look at this chart to see the huge gap between US and its various competitors:

http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-PyadGC4ozTw/UwoVss1wHDI/AAAAAAAAFCA/c1-UeZ7BJ2k/s1600/R&D+Spending+Pakistan.png

Chandra said...

Let's analyze Pakistan's Military track record. For all the praise, support and admiration it lost 50% of the country in 1971. Thousands of Pakistani soldiers died and many more became POWs. Prior to that, all the hype of getting "kashmir" in 1960s simply failed. Yet more attempts were planned. The Military was yet again got embroiled in the Kargil fiasco and got international condemnation and here it was China who told on Pakistan!

Riaz Haq said...

Chandra: "Let's analyze Pakistan's Military track record."


About 1971 war, the Indian Field Marshal speaks. "The Pakistan Army in East Pakistan fought very gallantly. But they had no chance. They were a thousand miles away from their base. And I had eight or nine months to make my preparations [while they were being worn out in a counter insurgency war against the secessionist forces of the Mukti Bahini]. I had a superiority of almost fifty-to-one." From the BBC archives.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y13qEyxKHy4

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L-tgRl_VK_Q


About 1965, read RD Pradhan's "Inside 1965 War":


"...a major battle the west of the Beas would end in the destruction of the Indian Army and thereafter allow the enemy (Pakistani) forces to push to the gates of Delhi without much resistance."

In Chapter 8 titled "Of Cowardice and Panic" of his book "1965 War-The Inside Story", R.D. Pradhan describes the cowardice of Maj. Gen. Niranjan Prasad, the Indian general commanding officer in Lahore sector. When Pakistan Defense Forces counter-attacked the intruding Indian military and the general was fired upon on Sept 6, 1965, he "ran away". Here's an excerpt:


"On learning that, Lt. Gen. Harbakash Singh and the corps commander drove in a Jonga (Nissan P60 Jeep) to the battlefront. Army commander found that the enemy (PAF) air attack had created a havoc on G.T. Road. (Indian) Vehicles were burning and several vehicles of 15 Division abandoned on the road, the drivers having run away, leaving some of the engines still running. Maj. Gen. Niranjan Prasad was hiding in a recently irrigated sugar cane field. As described by Harabakash Singh: "He (Prasad) came out to receive us, with his boots covered with wet mud. He had no head cover, nor was he wearing any badges of his rank. He had stubble on his face, not having shaved." Seeing him in such a stage, Harbakhash Singh asked him: "Whether he was the General Officer commanding a division or a coolie? Why had he removed badges of rank and not shaved? Niranjan Prasad had no answer."

http://www.riazhaq.com/2013/09/inside-story-pakistan-army-at-gates-of.html

Riaz Haq said...

Stop chasing France’s Rafale: India’s air warriors can’t fly on foreign wings forever


Incidentally, Rajiv Gandhi, then a newly elected member of Parliament and Congress general secretary, saw it put through its paces at the Paris Airshow. He was very impressed. He sat in on the official meeting in the ministry of defence that decided to acquire Mirage 2000. Gandhi had just become a qualified Boeing 737 pilot and this was presumably considered expertise enough.
Nevertheless, the deal to make 110 more Mirage 2000s in Bengaluru made eminent sense—both for the IAF and the economy. But it was dropped no sooner than when the first lot of 40 fighters in a flyaway condition were delivered. Why this deal was terminated remains a mystery, but one reason was certainly the price. The MiG -29 was available to India at Rs5 crore a unit, while the Mirage 2000 cost double that.
Replacing MiG-21 and MiG-27

The Indian Air Force will soon retire several squadrons of MiG-21 and MiG-27 jets at the end of their life cycle. Replacing these aged fighters will be the latest Su-30MKI, a 4+ generation long endurance air dominance fighter, now being assembled by HAL.
The MiG-21 is a short endurance lightweight and high-speed interceptor with limited ground attack capability. The Russians describe it as a frontal aviation aircraft. The Sukhoi, being an air dominance fighter, can perform both these roles, as well as undertake deep penetration strikes. The Su-30 is a Mercedes Benz SUV compared to the MIG-21’s Maruti 800. Now let’s say the IAF wants to intercept a Pakistan Air Force or People’s Liberation Army Air Force JF-17. The IAF’s fighter of choice for this is likely to be a MiG-21bis rather than the Su-30MKI. While the Sukhoi can do the job effectively, sending a 4+generation aircraft weighing in at over 18 tonnes against a much older and cheaper JF-17 weighing less than 6.5 tonnes would not only be overkill but also very cost ineffective.
The MiG-27 is a mid-sized, variable geometry, ground attack aircraft developed to support mechanised infantry and armoured columns. Its swing-wing configuration allows it to swiftly reach the target area and then swoop in at a much-reduced speed to effectively attack enemy ground forces. But what would be just another day in the office for the MiG-27 could prove expensive with the much bigger and heavier Su-30. Since ground attacks are often by flying low and slow, a bigger aircraft is more vulnerable to ground fire. The IAF learned this in 1971 with the Su-7. Besides risking a Su-30MKI costing about Rs400 crore each against relatively low-cost ground targets doesn’t sound sensible.
A permanent solution

What the IAF needs for its interceptor and ground attack roles are smaller fighters and attack helicopters. Clearly, the IAF needs a permanent solution, not a high-cost fix like the Su-30MKI. The Rafale too, then, becomes another, yet more expensive, interim fix. Hence, the IAF needs to shed its reluctance and urgently induct the Tejas light combat aircraft and push for newer and more powerful versions.

http://qz.com/603776/stop-chasing-frances-rafale-indias-air-warriors-cant-fly-on-foreign-wings-forever/

Anonymous said...

http://news.yahoo.com/not-top-gun-yet-china-struggles-warplane-engine-030529878--sector.html

Enjoy your top class Chinese planes with WS10A and WS15 engines which cannot supercruise. China is behind USA an Europe by at least 15-20 years in terms of technology.

Riaz Haq said...

#Pakistan Air Force pilot M.M. Alam among 7 of the Greatest Flying Aces in World Aviation History - http://www.popularmechanics.com/flight/g2323/greatest-flying-aces/ … via @PopMech


A dogfight between two aircraft is perhaps the most fascinating type of combat. The technical knowledge and precision required to operate a fighter aircraft combined with the physical and mental strain of a dogfight make the fighter pilots who excel at them truly exceptional.

Unofficially, a flying ace is a fighter pilot who shoots down at least five enemy aircraft, though the number a single pilot can achieve has steadily decreased because anti-aircraft and tracking technology has made dogfights rare in modern warfare. From Erich Hartmann, the Nazi fighter pilot credited with the most aerial victories of all time, to Giora Epstein, the ace of aces of supersonic jet pilots, these men are among the most skilled fighter pilots to ever enter a cockpit.


Muhammad Mahmood Alam was a Pakistani Air Force jet fighter pilot in the Indo-Pakistani War of 1965. He was the last fighter pilot to become an ace in a day, shooting down five Indian Hawker Hunter fighter jets in less than a minute on September 7 1965, the last four of which he downed within 30 seconds. A national hero in Pakistan, Alam holds the world record for becoming an ace in the shortest amount of time. This bold feat also makes him the only jet pilot to become an ace in one day. Alam was already a respected leader and proficient pilot and gunner when the war started in April 1965. He piloted an F-86 Sabre and downed a total of nine Indian Hawker Hunters in the 1965 war, as well as damaging two others.

Top 7:

Manfred von Richthofen - World War I

Erich Hartmann - World War II

James Jabara - Korean War

Muhammad Mahmood Alam - Indo-Pakistani War

Charles B. DeBellevue - Vietnam War

Giora Epstein - Arab–Israeli Wars

Cesar Rodriguez - Gulf War

Sammy Dara said...

The West cannot trust Pakistan. Not only recently, but it has been that way for a while. The A Q Khan Nuclear proliferation with North Korea and Iran and the capture and killing of Bin Laden has left many leaders in the West with a gaping trust deficit.

This Pakistan-China arms deal irks the West - you are right. This "irk" will just add to previous major "irks".

Riaz Haq said...

SD: "The West cannot trust Pakistan."

Nor can Pakistan trust the West.

The distrust is mutual.

Here's how ex sec of defense Robert Gates explains it:


"Well, first of all, I would say, based on 27 years in CIA and four and a half years in this job, most governments lie to each other. That's the way business gets done."


That was Defense Secretary Robert Gates' straight talk in response to the phony outrage by Senator Patrick Leahy on the news of Pakistan arresting 5 CIA informants following Osama bin Laden's killing by US Navy Seals in Abbotabad.


Here is the text of the exchange between Gates and Leahy during the US Senate hearing on Pakistan that began with Leahy asking Gates how long the U.S. will be willing to "support governments that lie to us?"

GATES: Well, first of all, I would say, based on 27 years in CIA and four and a half years in this job, most governments lie to each other. That's the way business gets done.

LEAHY: Do they also arrest the people that help us when they say they're allies?

GATES: Sometimes.

LEAHY: Not often.

GATES: And -- and sometimes they send people to spy on us, and they're our close allies. So...

LEAHY: And we give aid to them.

GATES: ... that's the real world that we deal with.

http://www.riazhaq.com/2011/06/straight-talk-by-gates-on-pakistan.html

Anonymous said...

What will happen to the financing of CPEC if Yuan depreciates ?

Riaz Haq said...

Anon: "What will happen to the financing of CPEC if Yuan depreciates ? "

Nothing. It will go on as planned. Yuan depreciation will help Chinese exports and swell up their reserves even more.

Riaz Haq said...

#Modi's $222 Billion Make-in-#India Haul Masks Hurdles To Come. #MakeInIndia Inauspicious start with fire http://www.ndtv.com/india-news/pm-modis-222-billion-make-in-india-haul-is-complicated-foreign-media-1278842 … via @ndtv

Prime Minister Narendra Modi's glitzy campaign this week to showcase India as the world's next manufacturing hub met with a few unpleasant realities of life in Mumbai: a fire engulfed one of the event stages and a strike by rickshaw drivers paralyzed traffic in the financial hub.

More worrying is the conflicting data and vague timelines that raise questions about Modi's "Make in India" drive, which on Saturday he called "the biggest brand created in India."

The tally for investment pledges soared on the final day to 15.2 trillion rupees ($222 billion) - more than triple what India has attracted through foreign direct investment since Modi came to office in May 2014.

Whether any of that will materialize remains to be seen. Right now the campaign launched in 2014 is best known for its logo - a lion made of cogs - that has shown up on billboards from Hannover to San Francisco.

"It hasn't really taken off," Radhicka Kapoor, a fellow at the Indian Council for Research on International Economic Relations, said of the campaign. "It'll take a lot more than a flashy new website, a new lion symbol, and catchy phrases to make India a manufacturing powerhouse and create productive jobs for its rapidly rising workforce."

Modi is pushing to lure manufacturers that can create millions of jobs, allowing India to take advantage of a demographic dividend as its population surpasses China in the next decade. While India's 1.3 billion people and high growth rate make it a stand-out among emerging markets, other indicators are grim: Investment remains weak, exports have fallen for 14 straight months, borrowing costs are relatively high and trade deals have stalled.

Modi's efforts to make it easier to operate in Asia's third-biggest economy have yet to show up in key external indicators. In the World Bank's Doing Business index, for instance, India still ranks 130 of 189 economies - well short of Modi's goal to crack the top 50 in two years.

One of the problems of Make in India, Kapoor said, is that it fails to address the outsized influence of states - many governed by Modi's opponents - on regulatory environments. Unions have opposed changes to some of the world's most rigid labor laws, and a fractious parliament has blocked a goods-and-services tax that would create a single market in India for the first time.

"India is a difficult place to govern, and one needs to have patience," said Nilmadhab Mohanty, a former civil servant and honorary senior fellow at the Institute for Studies in Industrial Development in Delhi. "But we don't have much time - other countries are competing for this and investors will go elsewhere."

---
"Under the pressure of this campaign, the government machinery will be required to make a number of corrections on the policy front," Modi said in the speech on Saturday, speaking to an audience that included his Swedish and Finnish counterparts. "We are committed to make India an easy place to do business."

---

Added to promises Modi has drummed up from foreign leaders, total investment pledges come to at least $421 billion since he took power - more than what has come in during the past 14 years for which data is available.

There's reason to be skeptical that India will see the money. About 8 percent of nearly 40 trillion rupees proposed at investment summits during Modi's 11-year tenure as Gujarat chief minister was actually implemented, according to data from the state's Directorate of Economics and Statistics.

Modi, for one, knows the pressure is on to deliver.

"There is no time for incremental changes," he said last week. "We want a quantum jump."

Riaz Haq said...

#SIPRI: #India world's top arms importer #China 2nd #Australia 3rd #Pakistan 4th. Top exporters: #US, #Russia, China http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/india-retains-worlds-largest-weapons-importer-tag/article8271899.ece …

China, the third largest arms exporter and importer, sold most of its weapons to Pakistan, Bangladesh and Myanmar, says according to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute report on global arms purchases.

India remains the world’s largest weapons importer over a five-year period according to latest report of the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) on global arms purchases released on Monday. The report also says that China sold most of its weapons to India’s neighbours.

India accounted for 14 per cent of total imports between 2011 and 2015. China ranks second with 4.7 per cent, Australia (3.6 per cent), Pakistan (3.3 per cent), Vietnam (2.9 per cent) and South Korea (2.6 per cent) the report titled “Trends in international arms transfers-2015” said.

However on an annual basis India ceded its top spot to Saudi Arabia in 2015 which is reflective of the turmoil in the West Asia.

While Pakistan remains the main recipient of Chinese weapons accounting for 35 per cent, a growing trend for India to watch out for is that Pakistan is followed by Bangladesh and Myanmar, accounting for 20 and 16 per cent respectively, all three being neighbours of India.

India merely extended its top run from 2006-2010 period. The top five exporters in the period were U.S., Russia, China, France and Germany.

The report noted that a major reason for the high level of Indian imports is because India’s arms industry has so far largely failed to produce competitive indigenously designed weapons.

While Russia maintains a strong lead as the top supplier, purchases from U.S. are sharply increasing.

While the government has embarked on an ambitious Make in India drive to increase domestic manufacturing it is yet to bring in any meaningful technology build up in the country.

Chinese exports on the rise

Interestingly, China figures at third place as an exporter and importer.

China which has emerged as the world’s third largest arms exporter after U.S. and Russia has increased its exports of major arms by 88 per cent between 2006-2010 and 2011-2015 and concurrently China’s global share of arms exports rose from 3.6 to 5.9 per cent.

“China supplied major arms to 37 states in 2011-15, but the majority of these exports (75 per cent) were to states in Asia and Oceania,” the report said. Major arms include big platforms like aircraft, tanks and so on.

Chinese exports of major arms to states in Asia and Oceania in 2011-15 were 139 per cent higher than in 2006-10, the report added. This is likely to cross path with India’s own increased forays in the Indian Ocean region with emphasis on military diplomacy and capacity building.

Riaz Haq said...

F-16 Fightrer Jets Dispatched to #Pakistan (and $700 Million Dispatched to #Lockheed Martin?) -- The Motley Fool http://www.fool.com/investing/general/2016/02/26/f-16s-dispatched-pakistan-700-million-lockheed-mar.aspx?source=eptfxblnk0000004#.VtEzr5F1hsk.twitter …

Few people realize it, but Pakistan currently boasts one of the most powerful air forces in the Middle East, including hundreds of Chinese F-7 fighter jets and French Mirages combined -- and nearly four dozen early model Lockheed F-16s (the most popular fighter jet on the planet). But as recently revealed in a notification to Congress by the U.S. Defense Security Cooperation Agency (DSCA), the Pakistani air force is about to tip more heavily toward the F-16, thanks to an impending sale of eight new F-16 "Block 52" Falcons.

As revealed in the notification, Pakistan has asked Congress to approve the sale of two new F-16C fighters and six F-16Ds. Each aircraft will be powered by United Technologies' (NYSE:UTX) F100-PW-229 turbofan engine. Including the cost of a set of helmet-mounted cueing systems for the pilots, this portion of the sale comes to $564.7 million in value -- about $70.6 million per fighter jet.

The remaining 20% of the deal's value, according to DSCA, is made up of non-"Major Defense Equipment" not subject to the federal government's notification requirements. Comprising radar systems and defensive electronic warfare (EW) equipment for the planes, plus "spare and repair parts, support and test equipment, publications and technical documentation, personnel training and training equipment, U.S. Government and contractor engineering, technical and logistics support services," this portion of the sale comes to $134 million in value.

Who gets the loot?
Curiously, although Lockheed Martin is providing the planes that are both the core of this arms deal and also the most expensive equipment, Lockheed will not necessarily be named primary contractor. DSCA says, "Contractors have not been selected to support this proposed sale."

With Northrop Grumman (NYSE:NOC) building the radar, Harris Corporation (NYSE:HRS) the EW equipment, and United Technologies the engines, it seems it's at least possible the Pentagon will ultimately run the contract through one of these three -- and leave Lockheed Martin the role of subcontractor!

What it means to investors
Even if the Pentagon does choose a company other than Lockheed to handle the sale, however, this deal promises to be very good for Lockheed. The reason is contained in a single line buried within DSCA's notification, noting that "this sale will... support transition training for pilots new to the Block-52."

The implication of this statement seems to be that the sale of eight new-model F-16s to Pakistan may be only a prelude to a larger deal to upgrade Pakistan's 46 older F-16s with more advanced models. Given that such a sale could rise into the billion-dollar-plus range, we'll be watching developments here closely.

Riaz Haq said...

6th Annual #Pakistan #US Strategic Dialogue Planned to Start Monday in #WashingtonDc with #Kerry Sartaj meeting http://www.thehindu.com/news/international/pakistan-us-to-hold-strategic-dialogue-on-monday/article8292265.ece …

It will be the third annual meeting since the present government has come to power. Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif’s visit to the U.S. in October last year had given the necessary impetus

Pakistan and the U.S. will on Monday hold a ministerial-level strategic dialogue on key areas including economy, security and counterterrorism, amid strong opposition by India as well as U.S. lawmakers on the proposed F-16 deal to Islamabad.

Advisor on Foreign Affairs Sartaj Aziz will lead the Pakistani delegation while U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry will lead the U.S. side for the 6th round of the strategic dialogue to be held in Washington, Radio Pakistan reported on Monday.

The six segments of the strategic dialogue include cooperation in economy and finance; energy; education, science and technology; law enforcement and counterterrorism; security, strategic stability and non-proliferation and defence.

It will be the third annual meeting since the present government has come to power. Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif’s visit to the United States in October last year had given the necessary impetus to the dialogue mechanism, the report said.

The dialogue process began in 2010 but interrupted in 2011 when the U.S. forces killed al-Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden in Abbottabad in a midnight raid. The process resumed in 2014 when Mr. Aziz and Mr. Kerry met in Washington in January.

The key meeting will take place soon after the U.S. announced to sell eight F—16 fighter jets worth $700 million to Pakistan, despite objection from India and mounting opposition from influential American lawmakers.

Mr. Kerry has strongly defended the Obama Administration’s decision, arguing that these fighter jets are a “critical” part of Pakistan’s fight against terrorists.

Planning Minister Ahsan Iqbal, who is in Washington as part of the Pakistani delegation, has said the dialogue will provide an opportunity to operationalise key future making initiates between the two countries.

He was speaking at the Centre for Strategic and International Studies.

The Foreign Office had earlier said that the upcoming meeting will “afford an important opportunity to take stock of the entire gamut of Pakistan’s bilateral relations with the U.S”.

Riaz Haq said...

#Pakistan Seeks #France's Thales Damocles Targeting Pod For JF-17 Fighter Aircraft for precision targeting http://www.defenseworld.net/news/15768/Pakistan_Seeks_Thales_Damocles_Targeting_Pod_For_JF_17_Aircraft#.VwbwLXqidWs.twitter …

Pakistan is assessing the Thales-made Damocles targeting pod to be mounted on its JF-17 aircraft for giving the fighter precision-targeting capability.
Pakistan Air Force deputy chief Muhammad Ashfaque Arain, currently in Paris to discuss the possibility of acquiring the Domacles pod was quoted by Reuters today as saying, “the Damocles is a battle- proven system and the other options are not. If we do not get the Damocles pod for example, then we will need to look for alternate options that may not be proven.”
The JF-17 is a China- Pakistan joint venture manufactured in Pakistan. Arain said that the JF-17 with the Pakistan Air Force had been performing well but its usefulness in current operations was limited because it lacks precision-targeting, a need which would be fulfilled if Thales sold it the Damocles pod.
Arain revealed that 16 JF-17s will be produced this year in Pakistan and a further 20 in 2017. The aircraft are equipped to carry air-to-air and air-to-ground missiles and bombs.
The Damocles is a 3rd generation targeting pod, modular, eye-safe laser and a high performance pod. It is currently operated by Malaysia’s Su-30MKM jets, UAE Mirage 2000-9 jet, Saudi’s Tornado and Typhoon aircraft, as well as France’s Rafale and Mirage 2000D jets.

Riaz Haq said...

#Pakistan’s quest for self-reliance in #defense . #ideas2016 #Karachi
http://gulfnews.com/opinion/thinkers/pakistan-s-quest-for-self-reliance-in-defence-1.1932031

A major international defence exhibition, which is due to open in Karachi tomorrow, marks a timely opportunity for Pakistan to showcase its journey towards self-reliance in the face of significant odds. Whenever sanctioned by Washington during periods of lows in a checkered history of Pakistan’s relations with the United States, Islamabad’s choice of building up close ties with China has indeed paid off. Most of Pakistan’s successfully developed indigenous weapons systems have resulted from the uninterrupted support that the country has received from China.

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In a nutshell, Pakistan’s success has become possible with a combination of the country’s valuable friendship with China and the determination of successive governments in Islamabad to focus on critical areas of need. Going forward, its vital for Pakistani authorities to keep up the momentum by retaining the focus in two inter-related ways.

On the one hand, it is essential for Pakistan to continue funding its indigenous efforts irrespective of the difficulties. The success in finding indigenous solutions to the needs of Pakistan’s defence forces must never be subject to compromise. On the other hand, it is vital for Pakistani authorities to work tirelessly towards building up public opinion in support of its achievements. The pride of Pakistan, such as the JF-17 Thunder, has already earned the support of the public.

Finally, celebrating this success is also vital for Pakistan to guard its interests on a continuing basis. With the recent unexpected success of Donald Trump in United States presidential election, Pakistan may well face an element of unpredictability in its relations with Washington. Given how Trump expressed his reservations against Muslims and Pakistan during campaign, Islamabad needs to prepare itself for the worst possible scenarios. The likely fallout from a drying up of US economic and military assistance must remain at the centre of Pakistan’s policies.

In this journey, Pakistan could well serve its interests by getting its priorities right. For too long, successive governments have failed to give enough focus to the needs of its defence forces, supporting, instead, fancy ventures like heavy expenditure on luxury projects. With Pakistan presiding over a historic opportunity built by its dedicated engineers in developing critically-needed defence hardware, its importance for policy-makers in Islamabad to choose the right set of priorities.

Riaz Haq said...

261 foreign firms to attend #ideas2016 #defense expo in #Karachi #Pakistan https://www.thenews.com.pk/print/166551-261-foreign-firms-to-attend-IDEAS-2016 …

KARACHI: Commodore Tahir Javed has said that 90 delegations of 43 countries are participating in IDEAS 2016, while 261 foreign and 157 Pakistani firms will put up their stalls.

Addressing a press conference regarding the 9th IDEAS 2016 starting from November 22 at the Karachi Expo Center, Director Media Defense Export Promotion Organization Commodore Tahir Javed said that the exhibition has been extended from all the previous IDEAS expos and foreign defense delegations have responded positively over the invitations and 90 delegations from 43 countries are participating in the exhibition.

He said that two MoUs were signed in 2014, while this year 14 MoUs will be signed. The International Defence Exhibition and Seminar (IDEAS) is the biggest defence exhibition of international stature, held biennially in Pakistan. The route leading to the Expo Centre from Karachi Airport has been decorated with national flags and buntings and the traffic police have announced alternate routes as the four-day International Defence Exhibition and Seminar (IDEAS) 2016 is set to begin on Nov 22.

The IDEAS 2014 was successfully conducted from 1-4 December 2014, at Expo Center, Karachi. It was 8th in the series, since the inception of the Exhibition. The IDEAS 2014 had an opportunity and distinction to host participants from 67 countries. It also attracted 256 exhibitors, 88 foreign defence delegations (from 50 countries) including trade visitors.

According to DEPO, the IDEAS-2014 was a great success. All the defence delegates, exhibitors, trade visitors and speakers of the seminar/sideline conferences conveyed their appreciation for the elaborate planning, efficient organization, flawless and befitting conduct of this mega international event of our region. The forum indeed helped to project Pakistan as a modern, progressive and tolerant state that is determined to recover her distorted image.

Now, the IDEAS 2016 would improve the image of Karachi at international level, the District Municipal Corporation (DMC) Korangi said in a statement on Sunday as it placed welcome banners for the delegates from Karachi Airport up to Drigh Road and also decorated the route with national flags and buntings.

Riaz Haq said...

#Nigeria buys #warplanes from #Pakistan & #Russia after #US refuses to sell

http://www.newsweek.com/nigeria-buys-military-aircraft-russia-pakistan-us-demurs-528344

Nigeria has turned to Russia and Pakistan for warplanes following refusals by the United States to sell military aircrafts to the West African country.

At a media briefing in the Nigerian capital on Sunday, Air Marshal Sadique Abubakar said that the Nigerian Air Force also had more than 700 troops training in various countries, including the United States, United Kingdom, Russia and China, at a media briefing in the Nigerian capital on Sunday, Nigeria’s Premium Times reported.

The Nigerian Air Force shared pictures on its Facebook account on Monday of the chief of the Pakistani air force, Sohail Aman, at a ceremony in northern Nigeria marking the sale of the aircraft.

https://www.facebook.com/hqnigerianairforce/photos/a.1684765155069762.1073741829.1684425015103776/1806492082897068/?type=3&theater

Riaz Haq said...

#Indian Army Vice Chief says #Pakistan's #defense #industrial base better than #India's. #military

http://indianexpress.com/article/india/pakistan-defence-industrial-base-better-than-ours-army-vice-chief-4766949/

Lt. Gen. Sarath Chand, Vice Chief of Army Staff (VCOAS), said the ordnance factories have not been able to keep pace with changing technology while "there is no competition whatsoever" and it is "an unsuccessful method of supporting our defence requirements".

A top Army general on Tuesday said Pakistan has a better military industrial base and exports more defence equipment than India, as he came down heavily on ordnance factories which manufacture weapons for the forces. Lt. Gen. Sarath Chand, Vice Chief of Army Staff (VCOAS), said the ordnance factories have not been able to keep pace with changing technology while “there is no competition whatsoever” and it is “an unsuccessful method of supporting our defence requirements”.
“I would even go to the extent of saying that Pakistan probably has a better industrial base, as far as defence production is concerned, than our country. In fact they export defence equipment abroad, definitely more than what we are doing,” he said.
He wondered whether the functioning of ordnance factories is because of the assured orders they have or the lack of accountability. “There is little or no research and development. They do not even have the capability of absorbing the industry through transfer of technology, and in some cases they have even failed to assemble products that have been imported from abroad,” Lt. Gen. Chand said.
“It is very hard to see ordnance factories changing in the present state. Overall it has become an unsuccessful method of supporting our defence requirements,” he said. He was speaking at the inaugural session of AMICON 2017, a two-day conference organised by the Army and the CII.

He noted that having indigenous industrial capability is very crucial for the country. He further cautioned that in an event of a war, one has to look abroad for its sustenance. “And very often, friends have let us down whenever the chips have been down,” Lt. Gen. Chand observed.
He said the ‘Make in India’ programme, the Defence Procurement Policy 2016, the strategic partnership model, and the creation of the Army Design Bureau (ADB), are major steps taken by the government for fast-tracking indigenisation in the sector.

Riaz Haq said...

Could China Help Pakistan Make Its Nuclear Arsenal Even Deadlier?

http://nationalinterest.org/blog/the-buzz/could-china-help-pakistan-make-its-nuclear-arsenal-even-25158

Testifying before Congress in March, U.S. Defense Intelligence Agency director Robert Ashley confirmed that “In January 2017, Pakistan conducted the first test launch of its nuclear-capable Ababeel ballistic missile, demonstrating South Asia’s first MIRV payload.”

Analysts believe Pakistan’s MIRV technology has yet to be perfected, but the latest acquisition of a Chinese optical system will significantly aid development.

In missile testing, optical systems consist of specialized telescopes equipped with a high-speed camera, infrared detector, laser ranger, and a tracking system that captures and follows targets. With this system, missile designers are able to view high-resolution images from each stage of the missile including launch, separation, re-entry and the release of warheads.

The Chinese system that Pakistan acquired is unique for its four telescope units. Each unit is placed at a different location to capture highly detailed and accurate images from multiple angles. With multiple warheads, the additional telescopes allow the system to more easily track each warhead simultaneously.

Rong Jili, Beijing Institute of Technology’s School of Aerospace Engineering’s deputy director, explained that high-quality optics are especially critical in the development of MIRVs. While radar and other tracking systems can collect more precise data at long distances, optical systems provide direct feedback.

“Seeing it with our own eyes is completely different from mining dry data. It helps to not only diagnose problems, but also generate inspiration,” Rong told the South China Morning Post.

A Chinese team spent three months in Pakistan assembling the system and training locals on how to use it.

China has long partnered with Pakistan, covertly assisting the nation in developing nuclear weapons during the Cold War. More recently, China has helped Pakistan develop several nuclear reactors and regularly sells the nation fighter jets, submarines, short-range missiles and unmanned drones.

In 2017, Pakistan bolstered its air defenses by spending $373 million on Chinese anti-air missiles to ward off Indian jets.


Riaz Haq said...

#Turkey, #Pakistan reach their largest-ever #defense contract for 30 #Turkish attack #helicopters

https://www.defensenews.com/global/mideast-africa/2018/05/29/turkey-pakistan-reach-their-largest-ever-defense-contract/

ANKARA, Turkey — Turkey and Pakistan have agreed on the sale of a batch of 30 Turkish-made T129 ATAK multirole combat helicopters, Turkish officials have said.

A government election manifesto revealed by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Turkey and Pakistan “just recently” agreed on the contract, which is the largest-ever Turkish-Pakistani defense contract.

The two countries have been negotiating a T129 deal since 2014. This is the first export contract for the helicopter.

Turkish Aerospace Industries, or TAI, maker of the T129 under license from the Italian-British AgustaWestland, has so far delivered 35 T129s to the Turkish Army and the Gendarmerie force.

Before the deal, the T129 went through various tests in Pakistan. Most recently, the T129 was showcased at a March 23 military parade for Pakistani National Day.

“We expect further [T-129] contracts to follow the order from Pakistan,” a Turkish defense procurement official said. “We are in talks with a number of countries.”

The official declined to name any of the potential T129 buyers. One TAI official said, however, that potential buyers could include Jordan, Libya and Azerbaijan.

The Turkish government has not disclosed a price for the T129 deal with Pakistan, but aerospace industry sources estimate the contract to be worth about $1.5 billion, almost equivalent of Turkey’s annual defense exports.

Turkey’s defense exports rose slightly from $1.677 billion in 2016 to $1.739 billion in 2017. Turkish officials aim to attain $10 billion in defense and aerospace exports by 2021.

TAI started to deliver the T129 to the Turkish Army in April 2014. Under the full program, a batch of 59 helicopter gunships will be delivered. There is an option for a follow-on order of 32 more choppers. TAI officials say the T129 features 97 percent sovereign production.

The Turkish Army deploys T129 gunships at its domestic southeastern military bases to support anti-terror operations against Kurdish rebels fighting for autonomy in southeast Turkey, northern Iraq and northwest Syria.

The T129 choppers are Turkey’s first locally made platforms under license. The T129 features a tandem seat, twin-engine and NATO-interoperability for attack, armed reconnaissance, and precision-strike and deep-strike mission capabilities for day and night and in all weather conditions.

The T129 incorporates asymmetric weapon-loading capability and enables the use of all weapons according to mission requirements. For close-combat support missions, a 20mm gun turret with a capacity of 500 rounds as well as 70mm rockets with a capacity of 76 rockets have been integrated.

Riaz Haq said...

Planes, ports and satellites - rejected by US, Pakistan cosies up to China
By Maria Abi-Habib

https://www.smh.com.au/world/asia/planes-ports-and-satellites-rejected-by-us-pakistan-cosies-up-to-china-20181220-p50nfc.html?fbclid=IwAR3cfQySdHXnLP2jVbOq_CkuxIzo4y0xL31PMewKUlXAJJQ_ONUN18dCqj4

Chinese officials have repeatedly said the Belt and Road is purely an economic project with peaceful intent. But with its plan for Pakistan, China is for the first time explicitly tying a Belt and Road proposal to its military ambitions – and confirming the concerns of a host of nations who suspect the infrastructure initiative is really about helping China project armed might.

As a strategically located and nuclear-armed neighbour, Pakistan has been the leading example of how the projects are being used to give Beijing both favour and leverage among its clients.

Since the beginning of the Belt and Road Initiative in 2013, Pakistan has been the program's flagship site, with some $US62 billion in projects planned in the so-called China-Pakistan Economic Corridor.

In the process, China has lent more and more money to Pakistan at a time of economic desperation there, binding the two countries ever closer.

For the most part, Pakistan has eagerly turned more toward China as the chill with the US has deepened. Some Pakistani officials are growing concerned about losing sovereignty to their deep-pocketed Asian ally, but the host of ways the two countries are now bound together may leave Pakistan with little choice but to go along.

Even before the revelation of the new Chinese-Pakistani military co-operation, some of China's biggest projects in Pakistan had clear strategic implications.

A Chinese-built seaport and special economic zone in the town of Gwadar is rooted in trade, giving China a quicker route to get goods to the Arabian Sea. But it also gives Beijing a strategic card to play against India and the US if tensions worsen to the point of naval blockades as the two powers increasingly confront each other at sea.

A less scrutinised component of Belt and Road is the central role Pakistan plays in China's Beidou satellite navigation system. Pakistan is the only other country that has been granted access to the system's military service, allowing more precise guidance for missiles, ships and aircraft.

The co-operation is meant to be a blueprint for Beidou's expansion to other Belt and Road nations, however, ostensibly ending its clients' reliance on the US military-run GPS network that Chinese officials fear is monitored and manipulated by the US.

In Pakistan, China has found an amenable ally with much to recommend it: shared borders and a long history of co-operation; a hedge in South Asia against India; a large market for arms sales and trade with potential for growth and a wealth of natural resources.
Now, China is also finding a better showcase for its security and surveillance technology in a place once defined by its close military relationship with the United States.

"The focus of Belt and Road is on roads and bridges and ports, because those are the concrete construction projects that people can easily see," said Priscilla Moriuchi, director of strategic threat development at Recorded Future, a cyberthreat intelligence monitoring company based in Massachusetts.

"But it's the technologies of the future and technologies of future security systems that could be the biggest security threat in the Belt and Road project."
------------

For the Pentagon, China's satellite launches are ominous.

"The [Chinese military] continues to strengthen its military space capabilities despite its public stance against the militarisation of space," including developing Beidou and new weaponry, according to a Pentagon report issued to Congress in May.

Riaz Haq said...

#China building export version of one of its advanced #warships and will deliver it to #Pakistan as part of a major #arms deal. The ship has a fully loaded displacement of about 4,000 metric tons and is equipped with advanced radars and missiles. #Navy http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/a/201901/02/WS5c2c0e5aa310d91214051fba.html

China recently started construction of an export version of one of its advanced warships and will deliver it to Pakistan as part of a major arms deal, according to China State Shipbuilding Corp, a large State-owned defense contractor.

It said the ship is a version of the Chinese Navy's most advanced guided missile frigate, without specifying its type.

In late December it said the ship is under construction at its Hudong-Zhonghua shipyard in Shanghai, noting it will be equipped with modern detection and weapon systems and will be capable of anti-ship, anti-submarine and air-defense operations.

According to the Pakistani Navy, the ship's class is Type 054AP, which means it is based on the Type 054A of the People's Liberation Army Navy. It previously said four such ships had been ordered.

Once constructed, the warship will be one of the largest and technologically advanced platforms of Pakistan's Navy and strengthen the country's capability to respond to future challenges, maintain peace and stability and the balance of power in the Indian Ocean region. It will also support the Pakistani Navy's initiative of securing sea lanes for international shipping by patrolling distant waters, it said in a statement on its twitter account.

Type 054A is the best frigate in service with the PLA Navy. Military sources said the ship has a fully loaded displacement of about 4,000 metric tons and is equipped with advanced radars and missiles. About 30 Type 054As are in service with the PLA Navy, observers said.

Cao Weidong, a senior researcher at the PLA's Naval Military Studies Research Institute, said that in the past, the Pakistani Navy would ask its Chinese contractors to use Western radars or weapons on ships constructed by Chinese shipbuilders because it believed Western naval technologies were better than Chinese ones.

"But it seems that all weapons and radars on the new ship will be Chinese products, which reflects our progress in the industry and the Pakistani Navy's confidence in our technology and capability," he said.

Cao said there are many nations selling frigates in the market, so Pakistan must have made thorough comparisons in terms of combat capability and costs.

"I believe the reason they chose our type is that ours is one of the few that can carry out all of the air-defense, anti-ship and anti-submarine tasks," he said, expecting the service of the Chinese frigate to substantially boost Pakistan's defense capability.

An insider in China's shipbuilding sector with knowledge of the Type 054AP program told China Daily on condition of anonymity that the ship is the largest and most powerful combat vessel China has ever exported.

"Based on pictures circulating on the internet, the ship will have vertical launch cells that can fire Chinese HQ-16 air-defense missiles and other kinds of missiles. Vertical launch cells will bring flexibility to the user in terms of weapons portfolio, thus giving it a stronger fighting capability," he said, adding that the Type 054AP is the best frigate Pakistan can access in the international market.

"The service of Type 054APs will double the combat power of the Pakistani Navy's surface fleet," he said.

Riaz Haq said...

SIPRI Study: #China is now the 2nd largest arms producer in the world, behind the #UnitedStates but ahead of #Russia. #India is the world's 2nd biggest arms importer. #Pakistan is 9th largest arms importer. https://www.sipri.org/media/press-release/2020/new-sipri-data-reveals-scale-chinese-arms-industry

New research from the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) suggests that China is the second-largest arms producer in the world, behind the United States but ahead of Russia. This research represents the most comprehensive picture of Chinese companies’ weapons production to date.

In the past, a lack of transparency has meant that the value of Chinese companies’ arms sales has been either unknown or difficult to reliably estimate. For this reason, the SIPRI Top 100—an annual ranking of the world’s 100 largest arms-producing and military services companies—has so far not been able to include Chinese arms companies.



Advances in reliable estimates
SIPRI has identified information from 2015–17 on the value of arms sales by major Chinese arms companies. The research looks at four companies for which credible financial information is available. The companies cover three sectors of conventional arms production: aerospace, electronics and land systems. With the increase of available data on these companies, it is now possible to develop reasonably reliable estimates of the scale of the Chinese arms industry.



China has some of the world’s largest arms producers
Based on estimated arms sales in 2015–17, the four major Chinese arms companies chosen for the study can now finally be compared with the major arms companies from the rest of the world. In 2017, of the 20 largest companies in the SIPRI Top 100, 11 were based in the USA, 6 in Western Europe and 3 in Russia. If the four Chinese arms companies investigated in the study were included in the Top 100, they would all rank among the top 20, with combined estimated arms sales totalling $54.1 billion. Three of the companies would be ranked in the top 10.

The largest of the Chinese companies is Aviation Industry Corporation of China (AVIC), which with arms sales totalling $20.1 billion would rank sixth largest in the world. China North Industries Group Corporation (NORINCO), which would place eighth in the Top 100 with sales of $17.2 billion, is in fact the world’s largest producer of land systems.



Weapon production more specialized
Contrary to most other major global arms producers, Chinese arms companies specialize primarily in one arms production sector, for example AVIC produces mostly aircraft and avionics. Most of the large non-Chinese arms companies produce a wider range of military products across different sectors—covering aerospace, land systems and shipbuilding within one company.



For editors
These new estimates are most likely still an underestimate. A lack of transparency in the arms sales figures of Chinese arms companies continues to hinder a complete understanding of China’s arms industry. This new research, however, acts as an important scoping study that opens the possibility for further research and prepares the ground for a fuller estimate of Chinese arms sales.

Riaz Haq said...

#India’s #French #Rafale to be ‘outgunned’ by #Pakistan's #JF17 fighter aircraft with longer-ranged #Chinese PL-15 missiles. “The IAF allowed itself to be outgunned by focusing on platform acquisitions, rather than weapon system and sensor upgrades" #Modi http://shr.gs/kID6TzP

INDIA's Air Force chief Rakesh Kumar Bhadauria has issued a strong warning to the political leaders of India, as $7.8billion Rafale jet is insufficient to meet the country's defence requirements. India previously signed a $7.8billion contract with French Dassault Aviation to buy the aircraft in 2019.


However, Indian Air Force (IAF) veteran, Vijainder Thakur, believes it is the best aircraft in the forces’ inventory now. He said: “The IAF allowed itself to be outgunned by focusing on platform acquisitions, rather than weapon system and sensor upgrades. The technical advantage gained by the IAF through the acquisition of the Rafale would be transient because it would be based largely on the weapon systems and sensors of the Rafale.


“With sufficient military foresight, the IAF could have armed its Su-30MKI with longer range air-to-air missiles acquired from Russia rather than continuing to rely on the lesser ranged missile ordered years ago from Ukraine.

“The IAF fulfilled the expectations only after it made an emergency purchase of Laser-Guided Bombs and targeting pods.”

However, a determined nemesis like the Pakistan Air Force, could deploy longer-ranged Chinese PL-15 missiles on an updated version of the JF-17 jet.

The Pakistan Air Force’s single engine multirole fighter, the JF-17 manufactured by the Chengdu Aircraft Corporation, is due for a major upgrade.

The Chinese newspaper, Global Times, reported earlier this year that the upgraded JF-17 fighter jet will have “an infrared search and track system and a radar cross section reducing ‘pseudo-stealthy’ airframe”.

The Indian Air Force’s focus on platforms rather than sensors and weapon systems was evident during the Kargil conflict with Pakistan two decades ago.

The JF-17 fighter jet has also been equipped with an PL-15 Beyond Visual Range air-to-air missile that has posed serious concern among the US air force.

The former head of the US Air Force, Herbert Carlisle, believes that the missiles’ long range is an ‘exceedingly high priority’.

He said: “The PL-15 and the range of that missile, we’ve got to be able to out-stick that missile.”

Last year, a day after the IAF struck an alleged terror training camp at Balakot, the Pakistani Air Force surprised the IAF with its longest range AMRAAM.

The Indian Air Force ordered a large amount of Russian air-to-air missiles, such as R-27 and R-73’s very shortly after.

Emphasising the importance of air-to-air missiles, the Indian Air Force Chief, Bhadauria, attended a seminar on it in New Delhi on Friday.


He said that when the missile goes on to the SU-30 And MiG-29, that the power of parity and better performance will spread across the air force.

The Indian Air Force will start taking delivery of the Rafale jets in May 2020.

Mr Thakur’s comments come one year after Pakistan’s military accused India’s aircraft of crossing into its territory and carrying out an airstrike.

Pakistani villagers were in the area where Indian jets struck and said they heard four loud bangs at approximately 3am on February 26th 2019, according to Reuters.

A senior government source said 300 militants had been killed in the strikes, but no further details were provided.

However in a conflicting report, Pakistan’s military has said there were no casualties from the air attack.

Riaz Haq said...

#Pakistan Has Not 1 but 3 #Tanks Designed With #China. Al-Khalid II featured a redesigned turret with better armor protection and explosive reactive paneling. It also has an upraised, 1,500 horsepower engine & 125 mm computerized fire-control for targeting https://nationalinterest.org/blog/buzz/why-pakistan-has-not-1-3-chinese-made-tanks-144837

The Al-Zarrar tank is a Pakistani-operated variant of China’s Type 59 main battle tank, which is itself a copy of the Soviet Union’s T-54 tank.

Back in 2003, China partnered with Pakistan in upgrading Pakistan’s Chinese-bought Type 59 tanks to the Al-Zarrar standard, enhancing the tank’s mobility, firepower, and armor protection.

The original 100 millimeter main gun was replaced by a 125 millimeter smoothbore gun, increasing firepower. A modern computerized fire control system was also introduced for improved target acquisition and accuracy. A thermal imaging system was also installed, giving the Al-Zarrar night-time target acquisition capabilities.

Armor was also upgraded. Large explosive-reactive armor paneling was installed on the turret and the hull, improving survivability against some kinds of projectiles.

It is a fairly small tank at just 44 tons, but despite this it is not the most mobile of platforms due to the Al-Zarrar’s modest 730 horsepower diesel engine. Though it is small, the Al-Zarrar has a crew of four: a gunner, driver, loader, and commander.

In 2019, the Al-Zarrar claimed a bit of fame. The Pakistani Army reported that the tank was operating at 12,000 feet above sea level, which Pakistan claimed was a world-record. While indeed impressive, Indian media has pushed back, saying it may not actually be a world record after all.

In addition to a number of airframes, drones, and missiles that China has supplied to Pakistan, the Al-Khalid is one of the more complex pieces of military equipment.

The Al-Khalid tank is substantially more capable than the Al-Zarrar. It was developed in tandem with China in the 1990s and is based on Chinese prototype that eventually would become China’s impressive Type 99 main battle tank.

One of the design challenges that had to be overcome was Pakistan’s terrain. An adequate cooling system, both for the engine and the crew had to be developed to deal with high ambient temperatures typical in Pakistan. An adequate air filtration system also had to be fitted to filter out the fine dust that is also endemic to Pakistan.

Like the Al-Zarra, the Al-Khalid has a 125 millimeter smoothbore gun that is compatible with Pakistani depleted uranium rounds, which gives the Al-Khalid good penetration capabilities.

Riaz Haq said...

Satellite Image Shows #Pakistani Submarine With #Chinese Navy. Pak sub is equipped with AIP, modern combat systems & AS-39 Exocet anti-ship #missiles. It's also launch platform for #Pakistan’s indigenous Babur-3 #nuclear-capable cruise missile. via @forbes https://www.forbes.com/sites/hisutton/2020/08/12/satellite-image-shows-pakistani-submarine-with-chinese-navy/

The Pakistan Navy recently parked one of its submarines in the middle of Chinese Navy warships visiting Karachi. The strong defense ties between Pakistan and China are well reported. Currently the Pakistani Navy is massively growing its submarine branch with eight Chinese-designed Type-039B Yuan Class boats. Parking the sub there shows that the two navies are sharing knowledge as well as hardware.

The presence of the submarine is evident in commercial satellite imagery. It is hard to spot by the untrained eye so it has taken time to confirm it. And we can now be sure that it was a Pakistani sub and not Chinese. I can positively identify the submarine as an Agosta-90B type submarine, which is only operated by the Pakistan Navy. They are known locally as the Hashmat-class.

The Chinese Navy warships were visiting Karachi for a joint exercise, ‘Sea Guardian-2020’ in January. When I wrote about the exercise in April, showing the Chinese Warships in Karachi, the submarine was just visible in the imagery. But it had not been identified.


Local media reported the exercise but did not mention the submarine. The Nation.pk reported at the time about the types of Pakistan Navy warships and equipment involved in the exercise. Frigates, missile boats, anti-submarine patrol aircraft, helicopters and special forces were mentioned. The submarine was not. Other media, such as the South China Morning Post did that mention submarines would be involve. But they did not provide any specific information.

This was not in the Pakistani Navy’s usual berths, but in a cordoned-off part of the commercial docks. The placement of the Pakistani Navy submarine cannot be viewed as coincidental.

Pakistan operates five of the French-designed Agosta Class submarines. Three of are the improved version with Air independent Power (AIP), which was parked among the Chinese vessels.

What is significant about this class of submarine is that it is the most potent and modern in the Pakistan Navy arsenal. It has French-designed AIP, relatively modern combat systems and AS-39 Exocet anti-ship missiles. It is also reported to be the launch platform for Pakistan’s indigenous Babur-3 nuclear-capable cruise missile.

Parking the submarine in the center of the visiting warships suggests that the Chinese were invited aboard. Typically the host nation would have given the visitors a tour and explained relevant features. In essence, Pakistan is sharing the inner workings of one of its most potent weapons platforms.

The Agostas will be complemented by eight Chinese-designed Type-039B Yuan Class submarines. The first batch of Yuan boats will be delivered to Pakistan in the next few years, and some may be built locally. They may incorporate some Pakistan specific equipment and capabilities, such as the Babur-3 missile.

In the past, the Chinese Navy, formally known as the PLAN, have deployed their submarines to the Indian Ocean. A Chinese Type-091 Han Class nuclear-powered submarine visited Karachi in 2016. It was parked along the same quay where the Pakistani boat is in these images.

Riaz Haq said...

#India must heed growing #China-#Pakistan intelligence-sharing. It may have aided #Galwan clash. Pakistan shared its #intelligence on Indian Army with China to help the Chinese operations. #Ladakh #Kashmir #GilgitBaltistan #CPEC https://theprint.in/opinion/india-must-heed-growing-china-pakistan-intel-sharing-it-may-have-aided-galwan-clash/478761/ via @ThePrintIndia

While intelligence cooperation between the two is not unknown, in the past Islamabad was a little more cautious, providing intel in return for some specific favour. At other times, it behaved evasively for fear of compromising its deep sources to a foreign power. But it now seems that Beijing has been able to overcome these reservations, as it gains a steady ingress into the Pakistani establishment at the highest levels, as well as on the ground. This Pakistan-China intelligence cooperation poses a challenge for India, because it marks an alarming accretion in a relationship in which Pakistan is beginning to resemble nothing more than a colony.

Signs of the evolving ‘intel chumminess’ has been apparent for the last few years, as the Pakistan Army began to virtually govern through its ‘selected’ Prime Minister Imran Khan. The role of Pakistan Army chief General Qamar Javed Bajwa is central to this, with his extension hailed by Beijing. The Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang said: “Gen Bajwa is an extraordinary leader of the Pakistani army. He is also an old friend of Chinese government and the army.”

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When Baloch insurgents attacked the Chinese consulate in Karachi, the perpetrators were killed in just a month in Kandahar. Whoever launched the strike had precise intelligence, since almost an entire rung of leadership of the Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA) was wiped out. When the same group tried to attack the Karachi Stock Exchange  – where China has a 40 per cent stake – all four members were killed, with the whole operation wound up in “eight minutes” by the Sindh Rangers. Clearly, security forces were literally waiting for the insurgents to show up, indicating advance intelligence of no small degree.

Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) seems to have thrown all its resources into protecting Chinese interests, with sources indicating that Chinese ambassador himself has sometimes sat in on high-level meetings of security agencies on the issue. China is now going a step further in pushing Pakistan to allow the designation of the BLA as a terrorist entity at the UN. This is embarrassing for Islamabad, which doesn’t want the situation to be ‘internationalised’ at a time when it is liquidating Baloch’s youth by the dozens.

Obviously, it is the intel sharing in India that is worrying. China has a far superior technical intelligence capability than Pakistan, and it needs no assistance in this. It also has some human intelligence capability among the Tibetans spread out in regions of India such as Dharamshala, Tawang and parts of Himachal Pradesh, as well as southern cities like Bengaluru.

But Pakistan has had intel operations into India for decades, particularly on movement of troops that were acquired using low-level assets. Sources also point to increased Pakistani intel activity during the Galwan stand-off, indicating that the human intelligence capability is being outsourced to Islamabad. This also ties in with the recent report regarding the posting of ISI officers to China Military Commission’s Joint Staff Department, as well as the consistent emphasis on intelligence sharing in Pakistan–China military exercises.

What is even more worrying is that Pakistan is now willing, or has been forced, to go the extra mile in intelligence sharing — an area that is traditionally regarded as central to national security. With China projected to pay up $62 billion for China–Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), that’s probably one way to pay the bills.

Riaz Haq said...

China will deliver 25 J-10C fighter jets to Pakistan within weeks as part of a deal that will bolster Islamabad’s military capabilities against mutual rival India.

https://www.ft.com/content/b505d504-6447-4ffb-bb7d-3a33db837c9a

Beijing’s first export of the advanced jets marks a big step-up in its decades-old arms relationship with Islamabad and entails providing its ally with some of the latest equipment that China’s own armed forces are using. China will also broaden its support to Pakistan’s navy.

The first batch of the combat aircraft is being tested in Chengdu, the base of its manufacturer Chengdu Aerospace Corporation, according to a journalist at a Chinese military publication.

“They will be transferred to Pakistan once Pakistan air force pilots and technicians have completed an introduction to the aircraft,” he said.

Senior officials in Islamabad said the jets would be delivered before the end of the month.

Last week, Chinese and foreign military watchers posted photos and a video showing several J-10C aircraft flying the colours of the Pakistan air force on social media.

China is also selling Pakistan four Type 054A frigates, the first of which began service in November, and is expected to begin delivery of up to eight Type 041 submarines, its quietest attack submarine, this year.

India, which has been engaged in a stand-off on its Himalayan border with China for nearly two years, believes the arms deliveries to Pakistan are an attempt to amplify the threat from Islamabad. India shares long land borders with both Pakistan and China.

“There’s a clear strategic nexus between China and Pakistan,” said Brahma Chellaney, a professor of strategic studies at the Centre for Policy Research, a New Delhi think-tank. “That nexus is clearly designed to contain India, to pin India down and keep it preoccupied. That’s the Chinese strategic aim.”

He described the latest arms deals as a significant shift, adding that “China is now selling or transferring its top of the line weapons systems to Pakistan”.

The J-10C aircraft will help Pakistan close the air-power gap with India following New Delhi’s acquisition of 36 Rafale fighter jets from France. “This is our response to [India’s] Rafale,” Sheikh Rasheed Ahmed, Pakistan’s interior minister, said when he revealed the J-10C agreement in December.




The new Chinese ships would boost Pakistan’s capabilities in the Indian Ocean, an area of strategic importance for Beijing.

“They want Pakistan to have naval bases ready that China could also use, and to be able to protect them,” said Siemon Wezeman, an arms trade expert at the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute.

“The Chinese have shown that they will sell to Pakistan when others won’t. I suspect that China is very easy to persuade [to sell], not only for commercial but also for political reasons,” he said.

India is also planning a naval expansion. The navy’s deputy chief said late last year that it aimed to increase the size of its fleet from 130 vessels to 170 by 2027, including four frigates being developed in partnership with Russia.

Despite the upgrades, Chellaney said the Himalayan stand-off was draining India’s defence resources. “The Indian navy is supposed to be undergoing modernisation, but the modernisation is happening at a relatively slow pace, largely because of the land military confrontations that India faces,” he said.

Riaz Haq said...

AEROSINT Division PSF
@PSFAERO
#Pakistan Air Force going out on a roll and disclosing several new acquisitions:
1. Bayraktar Akinci drones.
2. Bayraktar TB-2 drones.
3. HQ-9B SAMs.

https://twitter.com/PSFAERO/status/1502204606847361028?s=20&t=FS2ZWfwVPrc5PDTMaA0VOQ


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AEROSINT Division PSF
@PSFAERO
Yes PAF is acquiring the HQ-9B SAM, aside from the Pakistan Army’s acquisition of the HQ-9P.


------------

AEROSINT Division PSF
@PSFAERO
YLC-8E radar as well

Riaz Haq said...

China ramps up arms exports to Pakistan, aiming to squeeze India
Beijing and Islamabad grow closer with eye on mutual rival

https://asia.nikkei.com/Politics/International-relations/China-ramps-up-arms-exports-to-Pakistan-aiming-to-squeeze-India

BEIJING/NEW DELHI -- From the sale of stealth fighters to submarines, China is accelerating its defense cooperation with Pakistan in a bid to exert pressure on India, a rival in border disputes with both.

China is believed to want to expand its influence in South Asia while the U.S. and Europe are focused on the war in Ukraine. Beijing "stands ready to provide assistance within its capacity for Pakistan to overcome difficulties and recover its economy," Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi told Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan in a Tuesday meeting, according to China's Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Khan expressed hopes for joint achievements and cooperation "in all fields," the ministry said. Ukraine was among the other topics discussed.

China this month delivered six J-10CE fighter jets to Pakistan, the Communist Party-affiliated Global Times has reported. An update to China's homegrown J-10s, they are a key part of the Chinese air force and often fly into Taiwan's air defense identification zone.

The J-10CE is a so-called 4.5-generation fighter, placing it somewhere between the F-15s used widely by Japan and the U.S. and F-35 stealth fighters in terms of capability. The delivered jets later took part in a military parade in Pakistan.

Pakistan this month is also adding 50 new JF-17 fighters, which were developed jointly with China. They do not match the performance of the J-10CE but do come with near-stealth capability.

India recently deployed the Russian S-400 missile defense system with an eye toward Pakistan. China looks to bolster its response to potential Indian air operations through greater cooperation with Pakistan.

China is actively contributing to improvements in Pakistan's navy as well, concerned that the Indian military could wield greater clout in key Indo-Pacific sea lanes. Pakistan in January inducted a Chinese-built Type 054 frigate, which is designed for anti-surface, anti-air and anti-submarine warfare.

"Pakistan is reportedly also planning to purchase from China eight submarines, which Pakistan is positioning as the 'backbone of the Navy,'" Japan's Ministry of Defense said in its 2021 white paper. "Four will be built in China, with the remainder to be built in Pakistan."

Sino-Indian relations have deteriorated since the deadly 2020 border clash in the Himalayas. India also announced a diplomatic boycott of the Beijing Olympics at the last minute after a Chinese soldier who had been involved in the fighting was chosen as a torchbearer.

Chinese President Xi Jinping invited Khan to the Olympics' opening ceremony. At a Feb. 6 summit, Xi told Khan that bilateral ties had gained greater strategic significance amid global turbulence and transformation. He expressed firm support for Pakistan's sovereignty -- a likely signal that China stands with Pakistan in the latter's own border dispute with India.

Khan expressed hopes for greater cooperation with China. No force can stop China's advance, he said.

Riaz Haq said...

Pakistan, China vow to step up defence cooperation despite challenges
High-level military interaction comes at a critical juncture when tensions are deepening between China and the US


https://tribune.com.pk/story/2361207/pakistan-china-vow-to-step-up-defence-cooperation-despite-challenges

The high-level military interaction between the two countries came at a critical juncture when tensions are deepening between China and the United Sates.

Earlier this week, the US and Chinese defense ministers held a face to face meeting in Singapore on the sidelines of a regional security dialogue but the two sides exchanged barbs over many issues including Taiwan and Russia-Ukraine conflict.

Pakistan has also faced significant pressure from the West to change its stance on Russia-Ukraine conflict. Islamabad has so far walked a tightrope even after the change of government.

A statement issued by military's media wing, the ISPR, on Sunday said the tri-service delegation held wide ranging discussions with senior officials of Chinese military and other government departments.

The apex committee meeting was held on June 12 wherein Pakistani side was headed by army chief General Bajwa while Chinese side was led by General Zhang Youxia, Vice Chairman Central Military Commission of China.

Both sides discussed their perspectives on international and regional security situation, and expressed satisfaction on defence cooperation between the two countries, according to the Inter-Services Public Relations.

It further said that Pakistan and China reaffirmed their strategic partnership in challenging times and agreed to continue regular exchange of perspectives on issues of mutual interest. Both sides also vowed to enhance their training, technology and counterterrorism cooperation at tri service level.

Observers believe military diplomacy and military to military cooperation has assumed greater significance in view of the fast changing developments.

The current Pakistan army chief is the only military leader who visited China on the invitation of the Chinese president.

The visit is part of Pak-China Joint Military Cooperation Committee ( PCJMCC), Which has an apex committee – the highest body in military cooperation.

The committee has two sub committees that include joint cooperation Military Affairs (JCMA) and Joint Cooperation Military Equipment & training (JCMET).

Relations between Pakistan and China have shown great improvement in recent years in all fields including defence.

Pakistan now heavily relies on China for military equipment. Only recently China provided Pakistan with J-10 fighter jets. Pakistan is the only country to have been provided the war planes since their induction into the Chinese military showing deepening military ties between the two sides.

There have been pressures on Pakistan to maintain some balance in the relationship between China and the West. But given the strategic interests of the US in the region and threats of new cold war, it is becoming increasingly difficult for Pakistan to maintain that balance

Riaz Haq said...

China and Pakistan on Sunday pledged deeper military ties while calling for stronger cooperation in counterterrorism two months after an attack killed three Chinese citizens in Karachi.
In a meeting with Pakistani Chief of Army Staff General Qamar Javed Bajwa, General Zhang Youxia, vice-chairman of the Central Military Commission, also said China would also “strengthen communication … enhance cooperation, deepen pragmatic exchanges, properly address complex factors in the regional situation and promote deeper relations between the two militaries”, according to the Chinese defence ministry.
Pakistan’s Army Chief General Qamar Javed Bajwa met China’s General Zhang Youxia, the vice-chairman of the Central Military Commission on Sunday.



https://www.scmp.com/news/china/diplomacy/article/3181549/china-and-pakistan-jolted-karachi-attack-killed-chinese-vow

Riaz Haq said...

A White House official said Tuesday Russia’s sanctions-struck defense industry is creating an “opportunity” for U.S. and western defense firms to take a bite of Moscow’s share of the market.

https://www.defensenews.com/pentagon/2022/09/27/wh-aims-to-ease-arms-sales-as-sanctions-hit-russian-defense-sector/

“As a practical matter, countries that have had to rely on Russian equipment are going to find it very difficult to get even basic supplies from Russia’s defense industrial base,” said the NSC's Cara Abercrombie.


The remarks come weeks after the Biden administration notified Congress it would make $2.2 billion in new Foreign Military Financing grants available for Ukraine and former Warsaw Pact countries whose Soviet-made gear has been part of international aid to Ukraine.

“In NATO, that could be to transition our eastern flank partners to NATO-standard, western equipment. But certainly as we look to other countries in the Pacific, this is an opportunity as well, not just for the United States, but for western industry as well,” Abercrombie said.

The Pentagon’s chief weapons buyer, Bill LaPlante, said more “interchangeability by interoperability” among allies presents an opportunity, not just economically, but geostrategically. Linking industrial bases, or “friendshoring,” would mitigate supply chain shocks and be essential to the common defense of the U.S. and its allies, he said.

“As we have seen in Ukraine, the weapons and equipment provided by the U.S. and its allies are the best in the world,” LaPlante said in pre-recorded remarks at the ComDef conference. “Continuing to more closely integrate these capabilities with increasingly common standards for munitions, software and other components will provide even greater advantages moving forward.”

Though western sanctions have targeted Russia’s defense industry, Russia was in 2021 the second-largest arms exporter after the United States, according to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute. Its chief clients are India, China and Egypt.

The head of Russia’s weapons export branch said earlier this year that Moscow’s arms export revenue in 2022 is likely to total about $10.8 billion, roughly 26% lower than reported for 2021.

This week, LaPlante is in Brussels convening a meeting of weapons buyers from more than 50 countries to better coordinate defense industrial efforts as they replenish weapons sent to Ukraine from their own stockpiles. The meeting is taking place under the auspices of the 50-nation Ukraine Defense Contact Group.

Dovetailing with Pentagon-led efforts to boost western and allied defense capabilities, the White House will continue the work of a Department of Defense “tiger team” seeking to streamline the U.S. process of selling arms around the globe, Abercrombie said.

“Within the National Security Council, I am looking at basically a baton pass,” Abercrombie said. “As DoD wraps up its initial analysis, we’ll be doing an interagency process to look at the collective [effort and] how can we make U.S. foreign military sales work better for our partners, or at least be a little faster.”

U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin in August established the task force to address the U.S. foreign military sales process, which spans the Pentagon and State Department. Abercrombie said the streamlining is meant to make the process more nimble without cutting corners.

Riaz Haq said...

A White House official said Tuesday Russia’s sanctions-struck defense industry is creating an “opportunity” for U.S. and western defense firms to take a bite of Moscow’s share of the market.

https://www.defensenews.com/pentagon/2022/09/27/wh-aims-to-ease-arms-sales-as-sanctions-hit-russian-defense-sector/


Asked about trade restrictions by the European Union that could hinder U.S. defense exports, Abercrombie said the administration is seeking to reduce those barriers. Supply chain challenges make clear it’s “time to be looking for opportunities to work together to reduce the barriers,” she said.

The U.S.-led meeting of armaments directors in Brussels also highlights some of the headwinds for allied efforts to arm up. The gathering is aimed at addressing supply chain chokepoints for gun barrels, ball bearings and steel casings ― as well as how to sustain equipment for Ukraine on a long-term basis.

“Ultimately, more closely integrating with our allies and friends around the world will make us all more secure and resilient,” LaPlante said.

Riaz Haq said...

Pakistan Displays India’s MiG-21 Bison’s Tail Shot Down By PAF F-16 Fighter Jet At Its Defense Expo — Reports

https://eurasiantimes.com/pakistan-displays-indias-mig-21-bisons-tail-shot-down-by-paf-f-16/

By
Ashish Dangwal
November 17, 2022


The tail section of a MiG-21 of the Indian Air Force is on display at IDEAS-22 that was shot down on February 27, 2019, during Operation Swift Retort, by a Pakistani F-16. New Delhi and Islamabad made different statements about the event’s occurrence at the time.

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Meanwhile, the J-17C’s informative photos, one of which also shows the cockpit, are being presented at the event. A video module of the aircraft is also showcased at PAF Pavilion during IDEAS 2022.

Pakistan’s JF-17C, also known as Block 3, is the latest version of the J-17 aircraft. The Chengdu Aircraft Corporation (CAC) of China and the Pakistan Aeronautical Complex (PAC) collaborated to develop the medium-sized multi-role JF-17 ‘Thunder’ fighter aircraft for the Pakistan Air Force.

The service has received more than 100 Thunder jets since 2007.

The JF-17 C model is thought to have taken to the skies for the first time in December 2019. The PL-10E, which China describes as its most advanced air-to-air missile, was also spotted being carried by the JF-17 Block 3 in 2021.

The JF-17C has notable upgraded capabilities, such as Missile Approach Warning Systems (MAWS), Wide Angle Smart HUD, more Chin Hardpoints, and an integrated EW suite.

Another photograph that has gained popularity on the internet is thought to be the finest image of a PAF JF-17C – dubbed Block 3 – so far.

The DEPO organizes IDEAS every two years. Since its beginning in 2000, IDEAS has established itself as a worldwide staging ground for defense manufacturers, business owners, R&D professionals, finance experts, and top-level officials.

However, in terms of space, reservations, exhibitors, and delegates from domestic and international countries, this year’s event has reportedly eclipsed all records.

The defense expo was inaugurated by Pakistan’s Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari at the city’s expo center in Karachi. IDEAS 2022 officially started on November 15 and will last through November 18.

In his remarks at the occasion, FM Bhutto-Zardari discussed the current coalition government’s difficulties while noting that it succeeded despite the economic downturn. About 300 exhibitors are showing off their latest products from 32 nations.

This exhibition is attended by about 500 national and international delegates, including high-level delegations from friendly nations.

Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif tweeted that the nation’s defense industry is meeting the demands of the technological era, and he emphasized that IDEAS had grown into a significant platform in the global defense market.

He stated that this year’s event’s ‘Arms for Peace’ theme represented Pakistan’s commitment to peace and stability. Sharif added that IDEAS had developed into a platform that showcased Pakistan’s expanding impact in the global defense market.

“Good to see that our defense sector is catering to demands of the tech era,” he added.

Meanwhile, the Pakistan Air Force is presenting its aerospace, avionics, cyberspace, and other related technologies at its pavilion. The National Aerospace Science and Technology Park (NASTP) is the PAF pavilion’s biggest attraction.

It is a Pakistan Air Force project to promote industry-academia linkage to provide an ecosystem of critical elements required to nurture design, research, development, and innovation in the aviation, space, and cyber sectors.

---

Speaking at the event, the Air Chief stated that the Pakistan Air Force (PAF) is dedicated to creating advanced technologies in the nation to deliver the most cutting-edge, efficient, and impenetrable aerial defense.

Riaz Haq said...

Pakistan Holds Keel-Laying And Cutting-Steel Ceremonies For The Hangor-Class Submarines

https://www.navalnews.com/naval-news/2022/12/pakistan-holds-keel-laying-and-cutting-steel-ceremonies-for-the-hangor-class-submarines/

The indigenous submarine development project in Pakistan has reached another milestone. The keel laying of the first HANGOR-class submarine (5th overall) and the steel cutting of the second submarine (6th overall) were carried out at Karachi Shipyard & Engineering Works (KS&EW) on December 24, 2022.

The defense agreement between Pakistan and China included the development of 08 x HANGOR-class Submarines including four submarines under construction at Wuchang Shipbuilding Industry Group (WSIG) in China and the remaining four being built at KS&EW under the Transfer of Technology (ToT) agreement. The construction work of the first submarine to be made at KS&EW Pakistan commenced on Dec 21 and now the Keel Laying is being laid which is a major milestone in the history of any naval vessel being constructed. Concurrently, construction work on the subsequent submarine has started with its Steel Cutting at the same shipyard.

HANGOR-class Submarine is capable to undertake a variety of missions as per operational dictates. The submarine possesses advanced stealth features and is fitted with state-of-the-art weapons and sensors to operate under a multi-threat environment and can engage targets at stand-off ranges.

The Pakistan Navy does not offer any details about the Hangor-class submarines’ subsystems or specific weapon systems. The Stirling AIP system is used in China Shipbuilding and Offshore International Company’s (CSOC) S26 design, on which many experts assume the Hangor is based, but Pakistani officials have not publicly revealed the propulsion system of Hangor-class sub

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Naval News comments on Hangor-class project:
The Hangor-class submarines are an export variant of the PLAN’s Type 039A/041 Yuan-class submarines. Pakistan accepted the purchase of eight submarines from China in April 2015. According to the agreement, four of the submarines will be built in Pakistan’s KSEW at the same time as the other four would be produced in China.
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According to the Pakistani defense blog Quwa, Hangor-class submarines will be 76 meters long and have a displacement of 2800 tons, making them slightly shorter but heavier than the original S26 design.

Currently, PN operates three Agosta 90B air-independent propulsion (AIP) submarines and two Agosta 70 diesel-electric submarines. Three Agosta 90B subs have been undergoing a mid-life upgrade under a contract signed in 2016 with the Turkish STM Company as the prime contractor. STM delivered the first upgraded submarine, PNS Hamza, in 2020. The scope of modernization is the replacement of the Fire Control System, Sonar Suite, Electronic Warfare System, Radar, and Periscope System (Navigation and Assault).

The eight Hangor Class submarines will significantly strengthen the Pakistan Navy. Pakistan is likely to improve its A2/AD capabilities in the region after the project is completed. Though no official confirmation has been made on the weapon systems, it is clear that Pakistan would obtain deep strike capability if the Hangor-class submarines were outfitted with Babur-3 SLCMs.

Riaz Haq said...

Pakistan remains China’s priority in its neighbourhood diplomacy, top Chinese General tells Pak Army chief

https://www.tribuneindia.com/news/world/pakistan-remains-chinas-priority-in-its-neighbourhood-diplomacy-top-chinese-general-tells-pak-army-chief-501217

Gen Zhang said that China and Pakistan are all-weather strategic cooperative partners and iron-clad friends, China military online, the official media of the Chinese defence ministry, reported

China always puts Pakistan as a priority in its neighbourhood diplomacy, a top Chinese General told Pakistan Army chief General Asim Munir, assuring him that their all-weather friendship will continue notwithstanding the perilous economic and political crisis faced by Islamabad and Beijing’s increasing concern over the security of its personnel working there.

General Zhang Youxia, vice chairman of China’s Central Military Commission (CMC) - the high command of the Chinese military headed by President Xi Jinping - held talks with Gen Munir here on Wednesday and discussed matters of mutual security interests and military cooperation. Gen Munir is on a four-day visit to China.


Gen Zhang said that China and Pakistan are all-weather strategic cooperative partners and iron-clad friends, China military online, the official media of the Chinese defence ministry, reported.

The long-lasting mutual trust and friendship between the two countries, as solid as rocks, are important factors for regional and even world peace, stability and prosperity, Gen Zhang said.

He stressed that no matter how the international situation changes, China always puts Pakistan as a priority in its neighbourhood diplomacy and firmly supports Pakistan in safeguarding its sovereignty, territorial integrity, development interests and national dignity, the report said.

The Chinese military is willing to work with the Pakistani military to further deepen and expand practical cooperation, continuously push the mil-to-mil relationship to a higher level, and jointly safeguard the common interests of the two countries, as well as the regional peace and stability, General Zhang added.

He said China is willing to build a closer China-Pakistan community with a shared future in the new era, a reference to the period headed by President Xi since he came to power in 2012

Gen Munir, on his maiden visit to China amid the serious economic and political crisis back home, discussed the “regional security situation” with his PLA counterpart General Li Qiaoming.

“Matters of mutual security interests and military cooperation were discussed. Both military commanders reiterated the need for maintaining peace and stability in the region and enhancing military-to-military cooperation,” said a press release issued by the Pakistan Army’s media wing - the Inter-Services Public Relations - in Islamabad.

Gen Munir will hold further meetings with military leaders in China to enhance the long-standing relations between the two militaries, the release said.

Riaz Haq said...

The PAF is finally phasing out its oldest fighter jet French-built Mirage III. Another fleet of Mirage 5 is also under the retirement plan.


https://www.financialexpress.com/business/defence-pakistan-air-force-crisis-250-fighter-jet-to-retire-seeks-chinese-jets-3115866/

Under the modernization plan, PAF has already purchased 22 J-10 CE fighter jets. In fact, according to the deal, PAF may acquire another 100 jets with specific enhancements.

The J-10C is a four-plus generation medium-sized fighter jet. The J-10C holds an upgraded jet engine than the China-Pakistan jointly developed lightweight fighter jet, the JF-17, currently being used by the PAF

While JC-10 comes with a fully integrated weapon, avionic and combat system, it lacks a bigger active electronically scanned array (AESA) radar than the one used by the JF-17 Block 3.

However, it can carry more advanced, air-to-air missiles including the short-range PL-10 and the beyond-visual-range PL-15.

The bulk purchase from China is also about the financing which Pakistan can leverage amid its economic turmoil.

The financial compulsion — cheaper loans from China—is the key factor for Pakistan’s modernization budget.

Besides, its existing fleet of US-built F-16s also demands overall upgradation and overhauling.

Reports suggest that Pakistan is also looking for KJ-500 early warning aircraft and Y-8 electronic warfare aircraft.