Pakistan: Domestic Drones Ready (A report published in New York Times November, 2014)

The Pakistani military deployed its first fleet of domestically developed drones on Monday. The new Burraq and Shahpar drones will be used by Pakistan’s army and air force, the military said in a statement. It was unclear whether the aircraft are armed or unarmed, and military officials did not immediately respond to a request for comment. 

 

Pakistani Burraq Drone In-Flight

 

Pakistan has struggled with a lack of precision munitions and advanced targeting technology, according to Pakistani military officials and civilians involved in the domestic drone industry. Even if Pakistan had the technology, the small drones it has developed would have trouble carrying the kinds of missiles fired by the American aircraft. The Pakistani drones also have much more limited range than those developed by the United States. 

 

 Chinese CH-3 UCAV at Air Show

The announcement coincided with a move by the Pakistani police in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa Province to prevent activists who were protesting against American drone strikes from blocking trucks carrying NATO troop supplies to and from Afghanistan. The federal government has also criticized American drone strikes, but the actions by the police on Monday indicated that the government had decided to intervene to stop the NATO blockade in order to avert a dispute with the United States and other NATO countries.

Pakistan-Made Drones Successfully Fight Taliban, A VOR Report

Tehrik-i-Taliban (TTP) has suffered a terrible blow from the Pakistan-made drones this Tuesday, US military experts and foreign delegates impressed by the achievements of the country’s military technologies. TTP targets in Tirah and Mir Ali have been recently eliminated, a terrible blow to the umbrella organization that provokes unrest in the region. Taliban were astounded by the efficiency of the strikes, judging from the enemy’s radio intelligence after the attack, Islamabad sources state. The CIA chief Brennen has recently been to Rawalpindi, and naturally it made a lot of people wonder if Pakistan Army received intelligence help from the US. But a senior security official explained it was a courtesy and insisted that Pakistan had used its own ‘parindahs’ (birds) to deal with the Islamists.

 

Pakistani Made Shahpar Drone

 

This statements are tough to deny, since back in November 2013 Washington cared to speak on the matter in detail, going far as to grant Pakistan the most flattering approval one could imagine. “After years of preparation, the Strategically Unmanned Aerial Vehicles were formally announced by Gen Ashfaq Kayani, chief of Pakistan’s military. The drones, called ‘Burraq and Shahpar’, will not be armed and are to be used only for surveillance, military officials said.” “It is a landmark and a historic event, wherein a very effective force multiplier has been added to the inventory of the armed forces,” the Pakistani military said, noting that the accurate data by the Pakistani drones was the lion’s share of the success. Brig Muhammad Saad, a former senior officer in the Pakistani military confessed the Pakistani already had a certain type of drones before 2012, but they were not as advanced as the new ones are.

Skeptics insist that Pakistan still has a lot to learn if the country’s army wants to explore the full potential of the drone technology. Still, some of them reluctantly note that even the current type of drones can be equipped with unsophisticated weaponry that will help the Pakistani forces to outmaneuver their Islamist enemies. The foreign delegates from the allied countries were impressed by Pakistani achievements when last shown the results of the work, the official at the four-day International Defense Exhibition and Seminar said. “They were briefed about a UAV (unmanned aerial vehicle) that can be armed and has the capability to carry a weapon payload.” The official said Pakistan wanted to prove that he can protect himself from acts of aggression and terrorism, especially to his allies like Turkey and the Gulf, and is likely to continue the development of the drone technology in the future.

Pakistan deploys first home-made drones

Pakistan launched its first domestically produced drones on Monday, as police cracked down on demonstrators protesting US drone strikes targeting Islamic militants on Pakistani territory.

The new drones are called the Burraq and Shahpar and will be used by the Pakistani army and air force, the military said in a statement on Monday, although they did not specify if the drones will be armed or unarmed.

Shahpar (Image from gids.com.pk)

The statement from the military comes as the police prevented protesters trying to block trucks carrying NATO supplies to and from troops stationed in neighboring Afghanistan.

The protests began on Saturday when the Pakistani cricket star turned politician Imran Khan led thousands of demonstrators to block a road used to ship goods to and from Afghanistan in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province in northwestern Pakistan.

Khan’s political party, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf, has said it will block NATO trucks until the US ends drone strikes. His group has been a vocal critic of US drone strikes but only began direct action last Saturday. 

Activists of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf (PTI) arrive to attend a protest rally in Peshawar on November 23, 2013 (AFP Photo / A Majeed)

And on Sunday members of his party stopped trucks and roughed up drivers at a toll on the outskirts of Peshawar, the provincial capital of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. Police were present at the scene but did not attempt to stop the protesters.

But police officer Behram Khan said as of Monday police would only permit peaceful protests by the side of the road and would not allow people to stop trucks as happened Sunday. He added that they had opened an investigation into the activist’s actions on Sunday that could lead to criminal charges.

The CIA began targeting Islamic militants in drone strikes in Pakistan’s tribal North West regions in 2004. They have been a highly controversial because of their violation of Pakistani sovereignty and the number of civilian casualties. Estimates of the number of civilians killed because of US drone strikes vary widely between 290 and almost 900. 

 
But the issue is complicated because the Pakistani government is known to have sanctioned some drone attacks but not others.

Instead of carrying out the attacks themselves, Pakistan has asked the US to provide it with armed drones, saying that they would be more effective in carrying out attacks on militants. However, Washington has refused because of the sensitive nature of the technology used in drones and doubts whether Pakistan can reliably target US enemies.

For its own part Pakistan has been trying to develop its own drones but has struggled with the advanced technology required for their manufacture. Pakistani military officials speaking on condition of anonymity told AP that they have been struggling with the precision munitions required in drones and of developing a done large enough to carry accurate missiles and with a long enough range.