Tuesday, June 8, 2021

Did Pakistan Help China Access American Stealth Helicopter Technology?

American Defense publication "The Drive" claims that Pakistan has helped China get access to American stealth aircraft technology. Specifically, the American website alleges that the Pakistanis gave Chinese access to the wreckage of the US stealth helicopter destroyed during the American raid to kill Usama Bin Laden in Abbottabad in 2011. Chinese experts have called the accusation "groundless", according to Global Times. 

Chinese Stealth Helicopter Model. Source: Henri Kenhmann


The accusations surfaced when a Chinese helicopter model, believed to be a variant of the Chinese Z-20 helicopter, was displayed in China on May 19, 2021. The model in question was spotted by @HenriKenhmann who posted a picture of it on social media.  Here's how "The Drive" website describes it:

"The aircraft shown appears to be a stealthy adaptation of China's Z-20 medium-lift helicopter, which itself is something of a clone of the H-60 Black Hawk. The Z-20's story is a unique one in itself, as most don't realize that China was a purchaser of the Black Hawk in the '80s, during a period of time when the United States was exporting some military capabilities to China". 


The Drive alleges that the Pakistanis retrieved the surviving tail of the US stealth helicopter that crashed and was subsequently blown up by the retreating American Navy Seal Team.  The Chinese scientists were allowed to look at the tail. Here's an excerpt of The Drive story: 

"When the downed stealthy Black Hawk was demolished via an explosive charge at Bin Laden's Abbottabad compound, its tail, which was sitting high atop the wall that surrounds the residence, remained intact. We may have never known these helicopters even existed if it was destroyed. Pakistan subsequently carted off the tail, which was of an extremely exotic design, and used it as a geopolitical bargaining chip in the turbulent aftermath of the raid. It is known to have been closely examined by America's adversaries, namely by Pakistan's other top weapons provider, China. The tail was eventually returned to the U.S. after roughly three weeks of fiery diplomacy". 

This is not the first time that Pakistanis have been accused of using the wreckage of US equipment to learn about the American technology.It is alleged that Pakistani engineers learned the cruise missile 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. Pakistan now possesses fairly advanced missile technology to defend itself. 

A similar story is often told of the indigenous development of the Khushab nuclear reactors. Work on Khushab reprocessing plant started 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. Fortunately for Pakistan, the French had already given Pakistani scientists drawings and specifications before canceling the breeder reactor 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.  

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2 comments:

Riaz Haq said...

#Pakistan #Navy's New Type 054 A/P Frigate Started Sea Trials in #China. These state of the art frigates are equipped with modern surface, subsurface and anti air weapons and sensors. They're the backbone of the People’s Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) fleet https://www.navalnews.com/naval-news/2021/06/pakistans-new-type-054-a-p-frigate-started-sea-trials-in-china/

The first Type 054 A/P frigate for the Pakistan Navy started sea trials in late May. Local ship spotters images show the frigate leaving the Hudong Zhonghua shipyard (near Shanghai) under her own power...

Pakistan signed an initial contract for the delivery two Type 054 A/P frigates in 2017. An additional contract for two more ships was announced in June 2018. The first-in-class frigate was launched in August 2020 and the second in January 2021. As for the third one, the keel laying took place on May 1st 2021. All four units are built in China and the first two are expected to be delivered to the customer by year end.

According to a Pakistan Navy press release, the Type-054 A/P ships are state of the art frigates equipped with modern surface, subsurface and anti air weapons and sensors. Once constructed, these ships will be the most technologically advanced platforms of Pakistan Navy which will strengthen its capability to meet future challenges and maintain peace, stability & power equilibrium in the Indian Ocean Region.

The Pakistan Navy is currently undertaking an important renewal of its fleet, with the procurement of several modern platforms: In addition to these frigates from China, Pakistan will also commission new corvettes from Turkey and OPV from the Netherlands. It is also modernizing its submarine force.

The Type 054A is a multi-role frigate and is recognized as the backbone of the People’s Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) fleet of surface combatants with 30 vessels in commission. They have a length of 134 meters, a beam of 16 meters for a displacement of 4,000 tons. They have a crew complement of 165 sailors and are fitted with:

a H/PJ-26 76mm main gun
8 C803 anti-ship missiles
32x VLS cells for HQ-16 surface to air missiles
2x Type 730 30mm CIWS
2x Triple Torpedo launchers
In PLAN service, those frigates feature a Type 382 radar which shares a close resemblance with the Russian MR-710 Fregat radar. Unlike the Pakistan Navy variant – whose first ship-in-class is fitted with a SR2410C radar – the Type 054A in Chinese Navy service do not feature a long range / metric wave radar.

Riaz Haq said...

#PMImranKhan: #China-#Pakistan relationship is extremely strong. The idea that #India is supposed to lean to the Western world to counterbalance China is going to be very detrimental for India. - Global Times #Modi #Quad #US #Australia #Japan #CPEC https://www.globaltimes.cn/page/202106/1227439.shtml#.YNvb1HpDPEc.twitter


Khan noted that relations between China and Pakistan have nothing to do with India. The two countries have a long history of diplomatic ties. "Our bilateral relations are extremely strong," Khan said.

Recently, Khan has been under vicious attacks from some Western media outlets because he did not criticize China's policy in Xinjiang during an interview with Axios news website. Some even claimed that the interview showed how China buys silence over Uygurs.

Asked about how he would respond to these voices, Khan told the Global Times that the version from China about what is happening in Xinjiang is completely different to what is being portrayed by Western media and Western governments.

"We have a very strong relationship with China based on trust. So we actually accept the Chinese version," he said.

He criticized Western media for being "hypocritical" as they turned a blind eye to the serious human rights problems in Kashmir.

During Tuesday's press conference, Khan also congratulated China and the Communist Party of China (CPC) for the 100th anniversary of the founding of the Party. He highly praised China's anti-corruption fight and the miracle that China and the CPC were able to lift hundreds of millions of people out of poverty.

He told media that the CPC is a unique model. While they had been told that the best way for a society to improve itself is to follow the Western system of liberal democracy, the CPC actually beat all Western democracies by nurturing a society that brings things forward.

"What the CPC has done is that, without that electoral democracy, it has actually fared much better. What I saw in China when I visit the Communist Party headquarters and when they give us briefings about their system of sifting talent and then grooming it and bringing it up, for me it is probably more remarkable than any electoral democracy."

He stressed that the CPC has a flexible system when they want to try something. The system allows them to bring a change, while in Western democracies it is very difficult. Besides, China has long-term planning while in an electoral democracies people only look for the next presidential term.

This year also marks the 70th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic ties between China and Pakistan. Khan stated that Pakistan is committed to strengthening its political relations with China, as well as in the economy and trade.

"The China-Pakistan Economic Corridor is a flagship program of the Belt and Road Initiative, and for Pakistan, it is the one program which gives us the greatest optimism and hope for our future economic development."

He said that Pakistan hopes to attract Chinese industry to the country's special economic zones by offering incentives to businesses. "In Pakistan, the labor is much cheaper than in China. We hope to attract businesses which will benefit from our cheaper labor."

Pakistan also hopes to get more help from China to develop its agriculture and improve productivity.

Khan said that the great power rivalry between the US and China is taking place in the region. "It creates problems because what the US is doing is building this regional alliance called the QUAD.

"From that point of view, Pakistan thinks that it is very unfair for the US and all other powers like us to take sides. Why do we have to take sides as we should have good relationship with everyone? It is not going to happen if this pressure is put on Pakistan to change its relationship or downgrade relations with China. Because relations between Pakistan and China are very deep. It is not just between governments, It is a people to people relationship," he said.