Indian 'South Block' has been running with cash bags to US Congressmen and defense pundits for years in order to block the sale of Attack Helicopters to Pakistan.Since 2002 Pakistan has been requesting the US for the sale of AH-64D Apache Longbow or AH-1Z Viper as a primary requirement. Pakistan's old AH-1F/S Cobras are handicapped. Their ability to detect and kill Taliban insurgents at night is next to nothing. With dumb rockets and a gun with no credible night ops capabilities, it can only fulfill a limited number of roles.
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| AH-64D Apache Longbow. |
Pakistani military officials say that Indians have lobbied so hard to block the sales of these copters that they added provisions in their own Apache purchase that Pakistan won't be sold this capability even when its direly needed in the full knowledge of CENTCOM and Pentagon. The Indians ditched Mi-28E and angered Russia for keeping AH-64D or AH-1Z away from being sold to Pakistan. Pakistani officials are of the opinion that the insurgents attack checkposts at night and Cobras can't operate effectively at night. Milimeterwave radar, motion sensor integrated, thermal, infrared electro optical targeting turrets along with integrated avionics, Datalink and HMS are the core requirements for effectively tracking and killing the Taliban at night and day.
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| AH-1Z Viper. |
Pakistani experts believe that India is lobbying so hard to give the Taliban, which is its proxy a tactical advantage over the Pakistani forces. The US has refused to sell both Apache and Zulu due to Indian lobby. They are even trying to block the sale of US made Turboshaft engines to Turkey, which wants to sell its T-129 ATAK gunship to Pakistan which has similar capabilities to AH-1Z and Apache. Pakistan needs to make it clear if the US is going to clear those gunships or engines for Turkish gunships. If the US wants to toe the Indian line and give the animals who massacre our kids a tactical advantage, we should opt for Mi-28NE from Russia and cease all counter-terrorism cooperation with US.
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| Mi-28NE Havoc. |
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| TAI T129 ATAK Multi-Role Helicopter. |
Source: Pakistan Defence
