Pakistan Military Developments

DaRk WaVe

Regular Member
Joined
Nov 20, 2009
Messages
809
Likes
97
P3C Orion Aircraft inducted into Pakistan Navy

KARACHI: The induction ceremony of two modified P3C Orion aircraft acquired from the US was held at the Pakistan Navy Base Mehran on Tuesday.

Chief of the Naval Staff Admiral Noman Bashir was the chief guest at the ceremony.

US Brig Gen Mike Nagata of the Office of Defence Representative in Pakistan, and the US Consul General in Karachi Stephens G Fakan were also present.

Speaking on the occasion, the naval chief called the ceremony a historic event on many accounts. He said with the induction of these aircraft, the capability of Pakistan Navy and its Aviation Wing would be enhanced, adding that, "We have to contribute to make the areas that surround our country on land and the sea safe and secure and that we take this as our responsibility as well as moral obligation".

The navy chief pointed out that the aircraft would help the force in furthering this very effort. Admiral Bashir said the fully modified aircraft were capable of undertaking missions that they are designed for and with their induction, the friendship between Pakistan and the US had been cemented further. app

Daily Times - Leading News Resource of Pakistan

YouTube - Pak Navy Inducts Two More Lockheed P-3C Orion Aircraft
 

sathya

Regular Member
Joined
Aug 23, 2009
Messages
413
Likes
173
Country flag
Pakistan begins talks with China for procurement of 7 submarine
BY: JANES

China's vice-president, Zheng Dejiang, met with civil and military leaders in Pakistan on 9-10 June in a visit surrounded by reports of a major new defence deal under discussion that would see Pakistan buying at least three Chinese submarines.

Speaking to Jane's on 9 June, a senior Pakistani government official said the Pakistan Navy began discussions with "the Chinese authorities last month for an eventual submarine deal" for up to three or four boats, but declined to specify the types or terms under discussion.
China has a long history of helping Pakistan overcome shortages of key military hardware, notably the hardware it was denied by the Western world following sanctions imposed from 1990 in response to Pakistan's nuclear weapons programme.

The Pakistani government official who spoke to Jane's on 9 June said that it was vital for the navy to acquire more submarines to offset "the pressure we will definitely come under" due to the rapid expansion of India's naval capability. "Our Chinese brothers have always come to our help and we are asking them for assistance once again," he said.

Although neither China nor Pakistan have ever publicly revealed the terms of their past financial arrangements, defence analysts say that China continues to offer long-term loans to Pakistan on concessional terms, allowing the country to continue with its military hardware purchases.
 

nandu

Senior Member
Joined
Oct 5, 2009
Messages
1,913
Likes
163
US to deliver 18 F-16s to Pakistan by month's end

The United States will deliver 18 F-16 fighter jets to the Pakistan Air Force (PAF) by the end of this month, The Express Tribune has learnt. The Block 50/52 model jets will land at an airbase in Sindh, officials said here on Saturday.

"The F-16, equipped with the latest missiles, will arrive at Shahbaz Airbase in Jacobabad in the last week of June," PAF Director Media Tariq Yazdani confirmed.

However, he avoided revealing the exact date the jets would land in Pakistan. According to sources privy to the deal, the delivery is expected to take place on June 24.

"The runways have been renovated for modern F-16 fighter jets, to transform the airbase into a completely operational one," Yazdani said.

Informed sources said that the fighters were being delivered to Pakistan under a series of strict conditions by Washington. One of these stipulations is that Pakistan would not use the jets in any conflict with India, the source further added.

Another condition is that American air force engineers will accompany the delivery of the F-16s and supervise not only the air base but also the operations to be carried out by PAF against Taliban and al Qaeda.

Furthermore, though flown by PAF pilots, the logistics, management and control of the F-16s will be with the US engineers.

"Some American engineers will accompany the new fighter jets and will help the PAF engineers operate these F-16s for a short period accordingly," a senior PAF official said, however hastening to add that no American pilots will be stationed at Shahbaz Airbase, he stressed.

"No foreigner, not even from the friendliest countries, will be allowed to have access to Shahbaz Airbase," a source said, revealing the security and secrecy surrounding the deal.

According to these sources, approximately US$500 million were spent in the effort to upgrade the airbase to make it conducive to the new F-16s.

Meanwhile, Akhtar Munir of the Ministry of Defence's public relations office also confirmed to The Express Tribune that the arrangements regarding the delivery of the new F-16 jets by the end of this month have been finalised.

"The Pakistani defence minister in a meeting with the Australian defence minister three days back at Islamabad told senior officials that 18 F-16s are being delivered to Pakistan within three weeks," Munir said.

To a query, he said that the bill of effectively rebuilding Shahbaz Airbase was footed by the PAF and the Ministry of Defence to ensure that all necessary infrastructural requirements of the new jets are met.

He went on to say that the security of the Airbase has been enhanced and no one but PAF officials will be allowed to have access to the renovated airbase located in Jacobabad.

Director General Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) Major Gen. Athar Abbas, when contacted regarding the delivery, said he could only confirm the details after consulting with the PAF authorities. However, he did say that a meeting of all concerned quarters may be held next week to finalise arrangements.

Meanwhile, a senior PAF official, on the condition of anonymity, said that approximately Rs25 billion were allocated for upgrading of the airbase.

Elaborating, he said that the Economic Coordination Committee (ECC) provided Rs7 billion to convert Shahbaz from a forward-operating base to a main-operating base, he added.

It is also pertinent to mention here that with the addition of 18 new F-16s, the total number of jet fighters in PAF will cross 50.The PAF currently has the Block 15 A/B F-16 models in operation, which have upgraded APG-66 radars.

It is expected that the much-demanded large-scale military operation against the Taliban and al Qaeda in North Waziristan will be launched after the US delivers the F-16s.

http://idrw.org/?p=2015#more-2015
 

Oracle

New Member
Joined
Mar 31, 2010
Messages
8,120
Likes
1,566
Upgraded Pak F-16s set to return home

Pakistan will receive the first four of 18 upgraded F-16s from the US this week and the multi-role combat jets will give its air force the capability to conduct night operations and use precision-guided munitions.

The four Block 52 F-16s are due to arrive at Shahbaz airbase in Jacobabad on Saturday, official sources were quoted as saying by the Dawn newspaper.

The delivery of all 18 jets ordered by Pakistan from the US will be completed by the end of this year, the sources said.

The jets will enhance Pakistan Air Force's capabilities for the ongoing war against terror, the sources were quoted as saying.

Pakistan is also conducting negotiations with the US for purchasing another 14 new F-16s, the sources said. The Block 52 F-16s are more advanced than the F-16 A/B jets in the PAF's existing fleet.

The PAF is in the process of conducting a mid-life upgrade of its fleet of 30-year-old F-16s. Four of the 45 old F-16s are currently being upgraded and they will be ready in a couple of months, the sources said.

Ahead of the delivery of the Block 52 F-16s, eight Pakistani pilots underwent training in the US.

The training included a course to make the transition from the F-16 A/B to the F-16 Block C /D aircraft, flight lead upgrade training and instructor pilot certification so that they eight pilots could train others to fly the new jets.

http://news.rediff.com/report/2010/jun/23/upgraded-pak-f-16s-set-to-return-home.htm
 

DaRk WaVe

Regular Member
Joined
Nov 20, 2009
Messages
809
Likes
97
US to deliver 3 F-16s to Pakistan today


ISLAMABAD: The US Air Force is set to deliver the first batch of 18 new F-16 fighting falcon jet fighters to the Pakistan Air Force in a sign of deepening relations between the United States and Pakistan, claimed a press release issued by the US embassy on Friday. Three F-16s are scheduled to arrive in Pakistan on June 26, with 15 more to be delivered later this year and the next, said US Air Force Major Todd Robbins, the Pakistan country director in the US office of the undersecretary of the Air Force for international affairs. "This is the most visible part of a strong and growing relationship between the two air forces that will benefit us, both in the near term and long term," Robbins said. staff report.
 

ajtr

Tihar Jail
Banned
Joined
Oct 2, 2009
Messages
12,038
Likes
723
Pakistan Army Finds Taliban Tough to Root Out


RAZMAK, Pakistan — On an operating table at a makeshift trauma center at this military base in North Waziristan, a Pakistani soldier lay anesthetized, blood-soaked bandages applied in the field just an hour earlier a testament to a near-fatal wound.The bullet through his neck from a Taliban militant had narrowly missed an artery, and after some minor surgery, the army medics declared the patient, Sepoy Aziz, out of danger.

In an offensive nearly two years old, the Pakistani Army has been fighting Taliban militants in the nation's tribal areas and beyond, and like the United States across the border in Afghanistan, it is finding counterinsurgency warfare tougher, and more costly, than anticipated.

Months after declaring victory on several important fronts, including in South Waziristan and the Swat Valley, the army has been forced to reopen campaigns after militants seeped back in. True victory remains elusive. Soldiers like Sepoy Aziz — a sepoy is the rough equivalent of a private — are killed and wounded almost daily.

Much like the challenge facing American and NATO forces in Afghanistan, an absence of Pakistani civilian authority has made it nearly impossible to consolidate military gains. While eliminating some Pakistani Taliban insurgents, the long campaign has dispersed many other fighters, forcing the Pakistani Army in effect to chase them from one part of the tribal areas to another.

As the campaign drags on, the Pakistani military relies more and more on American-supplied F-16 fighter jets and Cobra helicopter gunships to bomb militants in areas of treacherous terrain, increasing civilian casualties, according to reporters and Pakistani officials in the tribal areas.

Many of the Pakistani Taliban fighters organize and rest here in North Waziristan under the protection of Sirajuddin Haqqani, the Afghan Taliban leader who runs a network of several thousand fighters of his own.

Allied with the Taliban and backed by Al Qaeda, the Haqqani group makes up a significant part of the insurgency in Afghanistan, too, and American officials have pressed the Pakistani Army for an offensive against them. But for now the brunt of the effort against Al Qaeda and the Haqqani fighters is borne by American drone strikes launched with Pakistan's acquiescence.

The Pakistani Army says it is too overwhelmed tamping down the Taliban on other fronts in the tribal areas to take on a full-blown campaign in North Waziristan. There is truth to the Pakistani concern about being overstretched, American officials said.

But there are also deep suspicions that Pakistan's military and intelligence service use Mr. Haqqani's force to exert influence in Afghanistan, and keep India at bay.

The Pakistani Army chief, Gen. Ashfaq Parvez Kayani, has even offered to help broker a deal between the Haqqani group and the Afghan government as part of an Afghanistan peace settlement, according to Pakistani and American officials.

Meanwhile, more than 2,000 troops have been killed in the last two years fighting the Pakistani Taliban, the military says. In South Waziristan, Taliban fighters operating in groups of 4 to 15 regularly hit Pakistani soldiers, army officers said. The Taliban use classic guerrilla tactics — sniper fire, roadside bombs, ambushes — and their innate knowledge of the terrain to great advantage, they said.

"The terrorists have been raised here; they can find their way around blind," said Maj. Shahzad Saleem, as small gunfire sounded around the hills near Nawazkot where Sepoy Aziz was shot.

More than 120,000 farmers, shopkeepers, women and children who were ordered to leave South Waziristan at the start of the offensive were expected to be back home by now. But the lands here remain devoid of any residents, and the fruit trees laden with summer apricots are untouched.

The civilians will be allowed back in stages, starting in about two weeks, and their return will be carried out under the guidance of the army, said Lt. Gen. Asif Yasin Malik, the commander of the army's 11th Corps.

In other parts of the tribal areas to the north, and in the adjacent Swat Valley, which was reclaimed by the army from the Taliban last summer, the Pakistani Army faces similar problems.

Two parts of the tribal region that Pakistani Army commanders had said were secure, Bajaur and Mohmand, have come under renewed attacks from the militants in the past month.

The Taliban resurfaced in Bajaur, warning the few residents who had returned not to challenge them. In Mohmand, a border post was taken over by the Taliban after 60 Pakistani soldiers of the Frontier Corps ran out of ammunition — and nerve, according to a senior army commander — when several hundred militants operating from Afghanistan attacked.The army has made the most gains in Swat, where bazaars are bustling and some tourist hotels have reopened. But few schools have been rebuilt, and residents complain of slow compensation for reconstruction of ruined homes. Taliban fighters have singled out for assassination key tribal leaders involved in negotiations in Swat for a more permanent political settlement.Civilian casualties have become harder to ignore. In April, the head of the army, General Kayani, in a rare statement of apology, acknowledged that more than 70 tribesmen had been killed after what he said were inadvertent aerial strikes against a house in Khyber belonging to a tribal elder loyal to the government.

A senior Pakistani military official said, "There have been no reports of large numbers of civilians who have become casualties."

The Pakistani Army opened what it thought would be its final front against the Taliban in March when it deployed five army battalions backed by F-16 jets in an offensive in Orakzai, a part of the tribal areas that became a refuge for Taliban displaced by the campaign in South Waziristan. It has also become a critical staging ground for the Taliban and other militants groups to penetrate the adjacent Punjab Province.

In June, General Kayani visited Orakzai and congratulated the troops at what was reported as a victory ceremony. But since then Pakistani fighter jets, attack helicopters and artillery have continued to bomb Orakzai, causing civilian casualties in villages close to the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa Province, formerly the North-West Frontier Province, according to local residents.

"You can hear bombardments day and night from our house," a prominent landowner in Hangu said.

According to the account of the landowner, who declined to be identified because of fear of repercussions from the military, seven women and children were killed in May during an air attack on the village of Shahu Khel.

"There had been firing between the militants and the army and the next day three helicopters were shelling the village," the landowner said. "There was constant bombardment at about 4 p.m." The bodies of three women and seven children were taken to the Civil Hospital in Hangu, he said.

According to reports that appeared in Pakistan's leading English-language newspaper, Dawn, 226 civilians have been killed in the fighting and aerial bombardment in Orakzai since the campaign started in late March.

The United States is satisfied that Pakistan is using the American warplanes and helicopters in an appropriate manner, an American military spokesman said. Washington was pleased that General Kayani apologized for the deaths in Khyber, the spokesman said.

"In our view the Pakistani Air Force continues to make a concerted effort to minimize collateral damage and fully understand the impact these kinds of incidents can ultimately have on their counterinsurgency efforts," he said.
 

IBRIS

Tihar Jail
Banned
Joined
Aug 6, 2009
Messages
1,402
Likes
796
Country flag
Boeing puts investment in Pakistan on hold

ISLAMABAD: The Boeing Company, which was to invest over $5 billion in Pakistan in avionics, has put on hold its investment due to what it said unfavorable policies of the present government.

An official concerned with the project said, "We have not scrapped the project completely but are waiting for a congenial investment environment to launch it."

Boeing was planning to set up a plant in Attock, Punjab, to manufacture spare parts for civil as well as military aircraft.

The official told Arab News Boeing Company had acquired over 5,000 acres of land in Attock for the plant. "The decision to go ahead with the project or scrap it rests with the authorities in Seattle," said the official.

In 2006, Boeing had signed agreements with the government of Pakistan to set up the project.
 

ajtr

Tihar Jail
Banned
Joined
Oct 2, 2009
Messages
12,038
Likes
723
On front line in war on terrorism, it's spy vs. spy among supposed friends CIA and Pakistan

By Adam Goldman (CP) – 2 hours ago
WASHINGTON — A Pakistani man approached CIA officers in Islamabad last year, offering to give up secrets of his country's closely guarded nuclear program. To prove he was a trustworthy source, he claimed he had spent nuclear fuel rods.
But the CIA had its doubts. Before long, the suspicious officers had concluded that Pakistan's spy agency, the Inter-Services Intelligence, was trying to run a double agent against the them.
CIA officers alerted their Pakistani counterparts. Pakistan promised to look into the matter and, with neither side acknowledging the man was a double agent, the affair came to a polite, quiet end.
The incident, recounted by former U.S. officials, underscores the schizophrenic relationship with one of America's most crucial counterterrorism allies. Publicly, officials credit Pakistani collaboration with helping kill and capture numerous al-Qaida and Taliban leaders. Privately, that relationship is often marked by mistrust as the two countries wage an aggressive spy battle against each other.
The CIA has repeatedly tried to penetrate the ISI and learn more about Pakistan's nuclear program; and the ISI has mounted its own operations to gather intelligence on the CIA's counterterrorism activities in the tribal lands and figure out what the CIA knows about the nuclear program.
Bumping up against the ISI is a way of life for the CIA in Pakistan, the agency's command centre for recruiting spies in the country's lawless tribal regions. Officers there also co-ordinate Predator drone airstrikes, the CIA's most successful and lethal counterterrorism program. The armed, unmanned planes take off from a base inside Pakistani Baluchistan known as "Rhine."
"Pakistan would be exceptionally uncomfortable and even hostile to American efforts to muck about in their home turf," said Graham Fuller, an expert on Islamic fundamentalism who spent 25 years with the CIA, including a stint as Kabul station chief.
That means incidents such as the one involving nuclear fuel rods must be resolved delicately and privately.
"It's a crucial relationship," CIA spokesman George Little said. "We work closely with our Pakistani partners in fighting the common threat of terrorism. They've been vital to the victories achieved against al-Qaida and its violent allies. And they've lost many people in the battle against extremism. No one should forget that."
Details about the CIA's relationship with Pakistan were recounted by nearly a dozen former and current U.S. and Pakistani intelligence officials, all of whom spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the matter.
An ISI official denied that the agency runs double agents to collect information about the CIA's activities. He said the two agencies have a good working relationship and such allegations were meant to create friction between them.
But the CIA became so concerned by a rash of cases involving suspected double agents in 2009, it re-examined the spies it had on the payroll in the Afghanistan-Pakistan region. The internal investigation revealed about a dozen double agents, stretching back several years. Most of them were being run by Pakistan. Other cases were deemed suspicious. The CIA determined the efforts were part of an official offensive counterintelligence program being run by Gen. Ahmed Shuja Pasha, the ISI's spy chief.
Pakistan's willingness to run double agents against the U.S. is particularly troubling to some in the CIA because of the country's ties to longtime Osama bin Laden ally Gulbuddin Hekmatyar and to the Haqqani network, a Pakistan-based Taliban faction also linked to al-Qaida.
In addition to its concerns about Pakistan's nuclear program, the CIA continues to press the Pakistanis to step up their military efforts in North Waziristan, the tribal region where Hekmatyar and Haqqani are based.
CIA Director Leon Panetta talked with Pasha about ISI's relationship with militants last year, reiterating the same talking points his predecessor, Gen. Michael Hayden, had delivered before him. Panetta told Pasha he had needed to take on militant groups, including those such as Hekmatyar and Haqqani, a former U.S. intelligence official said.
But the U.S. can only demand so much from an intelligence service it can't live without.
Recruiting agents to track down and kill terrorists and militants is a top priority for the CIA, and one of the clandestine service's greatest challenges. The drones can't hit their targets without help finding them. Such efforts would be impossible without Pakistan's blessing, and the U.S. pays about $3 billion a year in military and economic aid to keep the country stable and co-operative.
"We need the ISI and they definitely know it," said C. Christine Fair, an assistant professor at Georgetown University's Center for Peace and Security Studies. "They are really helping us in several critical areas and directly undermining us in others."
Pakistan has its own worries about the Americans. During the first term of the Bush administration, Pakistan became enraged after it shared intelligence with the U.S., only to learn the CIA station chief passed that information to the British.
The incident caused a serious row, one that threatened the CIA's relationship with the ISI and deepened the levels of distrust between the two sides. Pakistan almost threw the CIA station chief out of the country.
A British security official said the incident was "a matter between Pakistan and America."
The spate of Pakistani double agents has raised alarm bells in some corners of the agency, while others merely say it's the cost of doing business in Pakistan. They say double agents are as old as humanity and point to the old spy adage: "There are friendly nations but no friendly intelligence services."
"The use of double agents is something skilled intelligence services and the better terrorists groups like al-Qaida, Hezbollah, provisional Irish Republican Army and the Tamil Tigers have regularly done. It's not something that should be a surprise," said Daniel Byman, a foreign policy expert at the Saban Center at Brookings Institution.
Nowhere is the tension greater than in the tribal areas, the lawless regions that have become the front line in what Panetta described on Sunday as "the most aggressive operations in the history of the CIA."
The area has become what's known in spy parlance as a wilderness of mirrors, where nothing is what it appears. The CIA recruits people to spy on al-Qaida and militant groups. So does the ISI. Often, they recruit the same people. That means the CIA must constantly consider where a spy's allegiance lies: With the U.S.? With Pakistan? With the enemy?
Pakistan rarely — if at all — has used its double agents to feed the CIA bad information, the former U.S. officials said. Rather, the agents were just gathering intelligence on American operations, seeing how the CIA responded and how information flowed.
Former CIA officials say youth and inexperience among a new generation of American officers may have contributed to the difficulties of operating in the tribal regions, where the U.S. is spending a massive amount of money to cultivate sources.
After the 2001 terrorist attacks, the CIA dispatched many young officers to Pakistan and Afghanistan to recruit al-Qaida spies. Young officers sometimes unwittingly recruited people who had been on Pakistan's payroll for years, all but inviting Pakistan to use their longtime spies as double agents, former CIA officials said.
The Pakistanis "are steeped in that area," Fuller said "They would be tripping over a lot of the same people."
Many former CIA officials believe a lack of experience among agency officers led to the bombing in Khost, Afghanistan, last year that killed seven CIA employees. The CIA thought it had a source who could provide information about al-Qaida's No.2, Ayman al-Zawahiri, who was believed to be hiding in the tribal lands. But the person turned out to be a double agent wired with explosives.
Ironically, the CIA steered the source to Khost because officers were concerned ISI would spot him if they brought him to Islamabad for questioning or possibly even arrest him because he was an undocumented Arab.
But experience isn't always the problem.
One example of how the suspicious relationship constrains operations was the CIA's base in the remote town of Miram Shah in North Waziristan. U.S. military and CIA officers worked with the ISI together there, under the protection of the Pakistani army, which kept the base locked down.
The two intelligence agencies sometimes conducted joint operations against al-Qaida but rarely shared information, a former CIA officer said. Haqqani spies were well aware the CIA was working there, and the base frequently took mortar and rocket fire.
Two former CIA officers familiar with the base said the Americans there mainly exercised and "twiddled their thumbs." Just getting out of the base was so difficult, U.S. personnel gave it the nickname "Shawshank" after the prison in the movie "The Shawshank Redemption."
The CIA closed the base last year for safety reasons. None of that tension ever spilled into the public eye. It's the nature of intelligence-gathering
 

nandu

Senior Member
Joined
Oct 5, 2009
Messages
1,913
Likes
163
Pakistan, China sign contract to build frigate

Friday, July 16, 2010

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan is going to enter the realm of ship-building as the country is likely to initiate the indigenous production of fast-moving platform for carrying missiles and heavy weaponry in collaboration with China, said Managing Director Karachi Shipyard Admiral Rao Iftikhar on Thursday.

Apprising the Special Committee of the Public Accounts Committee, he said the first fast attack craft was being constructed in China while another one would be built in Pakistan that would take two years. Rao Iftikhar said under the contract signed between the two countries, another two such craft would be constructed later.

The Karachi Shipyard MD told the committee that the shipyard has earned a profit of Rs 400 million. Rao Iftikhar said Pakistan had also signed a 20-year agreement with China for up-gradation of installations of naval forces.

http://www.thenews.com.pk/daily_detail.asp?id=251059
 

ajtr

Tihar Jail
Banned
Joined
Oct 2, 2009
Messages
12,038
Likes
723
Drones, Not So Much. F-16s? Yes, Please.

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan — Pakistanis widely welcomed the news that their nation had received three F-16 fighter aircraft from the United States over the weekend. Dawn, considered the most prestigious English news daily of the country, ran a front-page article in its Sunday issue.

Pakistanis are fascinated, if not obsessed, with F-16 fighter jets.

It is the best fighting aircraft in the fleet of the Pakistan air force, allowed to be flown by only the country's best pilots. Video of F-16 fighter aircraft roaring through the skies figures prominently in the air force's inspirational anthems.

The sale of F-16s to Pakistan was suspended in the 1990s as an indication of the deteriorating relationship between the countries.

A couple of years ago, Maj. Gen. Shaukat Sultan, who was then heading the media wing of the military, stressed in an interview that if America wanted to improve its image, it should expedite the delivery of F-16s.

It wasn't just a simple wish of the military boys for their toys. The aircraft also serve as an effective diplomatic and public-relations tool.

The office of Anne W. Patterson, the United States ambassador in Islamabad, issued a statement Sunday calling the weekend induction of first three of the 18 F-16s 'a historic milestone' of relationship between Pakistan and the United States. It was, the statement said, "both a symbolic and tangible demonstration of our strong partnership and the U.S. intent to stand beside Pakistan over the long-term as an important ally and friend."

The induction ceremony took place at Shahbaz Air Base near Jacobabad in southern Pakistan.

Pakistani officials sounded equally ecstatic. Air Chief Marshal Rao Qamar Suleman, the Pakistani air chief, welcomed the F-16s as "a dream that came true" while underscoring their importance in the "war against terror," according to The News, a leading English daily.

Pakistan is paying $1.4 billion for the jets and an additional $1.3 billion to upgrade its existing fleet, according to reports in local news outlets.

Officials say the aircraft will be used for precision strikes against militant hide-outs in the country's tribal regions straddling the border with Afghanistan.

Ironically, those who oppose American policies towards the country, including drone strikes, also welcomed the induction of American-manufactured fighter aircraft.

Zaid Hamid, a self-styled defense analyst known more for his conspiratorial and sensational commentaries regarding American influence in Pakistan, praised the delivery of the aircraft in a newsletter as "Alhamdulillah (thanks to Allah), another technological milestone achieved by Pakistan air force.":emot15:
 

DaRk WaVe

Regular Member
Joined
Nov 20, 2009
Messages
809
Likes
97


ISLAMABAD: Pakistan is looking for buyers for the JF-17 Thunder multi-role fighter jets it has co-produced with China.

An official told Dawn on Saturday that funds generated through the sale of the combat aircraft would be used in efforts to modernise Pakistan Air Force which was already emerging as a potent outfit with the recent induction of force multipliers.

He said that besides Turkey, some countries of the Middle East and Africa were taking keen interest in acquisition of the aircraft.

He said that two JF-17 Thunder aircraft of the PAF, manufactured at the Pakistan Aeronautical Complex, Kamra, had flown to the United Kingdom to participate in the forthcoming Farnborough Air Show 2010, scheduled to be held between July 19 and 25.

The JF-17 Thunder is an all-weather and multi-role combat aircraft that has potential to be the mainstay of any modern air force.

The sources said the serial production of JF-17 Thunder had already started and ultimately some 250 aircraft would be inducted in the fighter fleet of the PAF.



The first squadron of JF-17 has already joined the fighter fleet and the second squadron will be inducted by the end of the year.

They said the PAF had invested in the force multipliers like air-to-air refuellers, unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) and airborne early warning and control (AEW&C) aircraft to enhance its capacity and capability to undertake complex operations.

He said that efforts to enhance capacity of the PAF would continue in the wake of growing importance of air power which played a vital and decisive role in war situations.

The source observed that participants of the Farnborough Air Show would prove to be a good forum for interacting with people interested in JF-17 Thunder and booking orders for supply of the potent combat aircraft.

The Farnborough International Airshow (FIA) is one of the world's most iconic global aviation events.

FIA holds a prominent position in the aerospace calendar taking place on a biennial basis (once every two years) over one week in July.

The first five days of the show are traditionally trade days only, followed by a weekend where the exhibition is opened up to the public.

The most recent airshow, FIA 2008, was a record-breaking year for business with $88.7 billion worth of orders announced during the show.

The 2008's event featured 165 aircraft in static displays and spectacular flying displays and the public weekend attracted a staggering 153,000 visitors. The upcoming Farnborough International Airshow is certain to be the most exciting to date.

With its existing exhibition halls, flying displays and UAV pavilion, FIA 2010 will evolve its business theme to include a number of new networking initiatives such as a themed conference and seminar programme, a 'meet your buyer' event and a day dedicated to the International Futures for Youth.

Additionally, FIA 2010 will feature a dedicated 'Space Zone' and enhanced UAV presence.
 

DaRk WaVe

Regular Member
Joined
Nov 20, 2009
Messages
809
Likes
97

7/17/2010 - NELLIS AIR FORCE BASE, Nev. -- Members of the Pakistan Air Force arrived at Nellis Air Force Base July 16 to participate in Red Flag 10-4. The U.S. Air Force is hosting approximately 100 Pakistan Air Force pilots, maintainers and support personnel at the world's premier large force employment and integration exercise July 17-31. This is the Pakistan Air Force's first time participating in Red Flag. Also participating will be fighter pilots and support personnel from the U.S. Air Force, U.S. Navy, U.S. Marine Corps, Royal Saudi Air Force, and the Republic of Singapore Air Force.

The Pakistan Air Force will also participate in Green Flag 10-9 at Nellis Air Force Base, scheduled for Aug. 6-20. Pakistan Air Force participation in these premier international exercises builds international air force cooperation, interoperability, and mutual support. It is also significant as both a tangible and symbolic demonstration of the deepening U.S.-Pakistan strategic relationship.
 

EagleOne

Regular Member
Joined
May 10, 2010
Messages
886
Likes
87
China-Pak in MoU to Develop stealth Variant on JF-17 Thunder

China and Pakistan have reportedly signed a memorandum of understanding to develop a stealth version of a light-weight fighter aircraft being jointly produced by them to match MiG-21 warplane, a work horse of the Indian Air Force.

JF-17 Thunder, also known as FC-1, being jointly built by Kamra-based Pakistan Aeronautical Complex (PAC) and Chengdu Aerospace Company (CAC) today made its first appearance at an international air show having flown in here after making refueling stops in Saudi Arabia and Turkey.

The plane, which has been in development in one form or another since 1991, is a symbol of cooperation between China and Pakistan and the first assembled version brought out by the Kamra plant, delivered in November last year, according to 'Show News,' a special issue of defence journal Aviation Week for the Farnborough Air Show.

"The two (countries) have also reportedly signed a memorandum of understanding to develop a stealth variant of the JF-17 Thunder," it said.

The journal said that Pakistan Air Force (PAK) is expected to acquire around 250 JF-17s, but this may be a split of 100 in the JF-17 configuration, being displayed at the air show here, and 150 of the stealth multi-role combat aircraft (MCRA) between 2015 and 2025.

A Russian-built Klimov RD-93 engine — a specialised single-engine fighter variant of the Mig 29's RS-33 powerplant, powers the plane. The first prototype of the warplane flew in 2003 and the first two Chinese-made versions were handed over to the PAF in March 2007.

Show organisers said that the two JF-17 fighter planes would not fly as part of the air show. "The aircraft has not completed its full release to service in Pakistan," the journal said, quoting a member of the flight control committee.

"Although that full release is only month away, the PAF is also today in what is for them new territory. Farnborough is their very first event of this kind ever," it said.

http://news.outlookindia.com/item.aspx?687957
 

ajtr

Tihar Jail
Banned
Joined
Oct 2, 2009
Messages
12,038
Likes
723
General Atomics Wins Approval to Sell First Predator Drones in Middle East



General Atomics Aeronautical Systems Inc., the privately held maker of Predator drones, said it has won U.S. approval for an export version of the unmanned plane that Saudi Arabia and Pakistan are interested in buying.

"There's interest from Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Egypt and the United Arab Emirates," Frank Pace, president of the Poway, California-based company, said in an interview at the Farnborough Air Show near London today. The U.S. recently approved the company's request for an unarmed version of the Predator drone for export to countries beyond the NATO block, Japan, Australia and New Zealand, Pace said.

The company may sell as many as 100 of the so-called Predator XP models that is approved for export, Pace said. General Atomics has sold about 435 Predator series of drones. The average price of the plane ranges from about $4 million for the basic model to about $15 million for the latest Avenger version, according to spokeswoman Kimberly Kasitz.

"Saudi Arabia is a huge country and if they want to cover the country well they alone could get 50 aircraft," Pace said.

The export version of the Predator, based on the model used by the U.S. Army and the Air Force, will lack the ability to carry weapons and will be designed only for surveillance and reconnaissance missions, Pace said.

General Atomics also builds the Predator B model with extended range and a newly launched Predator C or Avenger version that can evade enemy radar. Boeing Co., Northrop Grumman Corp., and Lockheed Martin Corp., also make unmanned air vehicles used by the U.S. military for surveillance and armed missions.
 

nitesh

Mob Control Manager
Senior Member
Joined
Feb 12, 2009
Messages
7,550
Likes
1,307
Is MTCR dead:

http://www.mtcr.info/english/guidelines.html

Greatest restraint is applied to what are known as Category I items. These items include complete rocket systems (including ballistic missiles, space launch vehicles and sounding rockets) and unmanned air vehicle systems (including cruise missiles systems, target and reconnaissance drones) with capabilities exceeding a 300km/500kg range/payload threshold; production facilities for such systems; and major sub-systems including rocket stages, re-entry vehicles, rocket engines, guidance systems and warhead mechanisms.
I think predator has much larger range then above stated figures
 

Latest Replies

Global Defence

New threads

Articles

Top