When the war on terror began, Pakistan requested predator drones for the Pakistan Air Force (PAF) so that the Pakistanis could monitor the 2500 kilometer long Durand Line. The request was refused. Pakistan also requested helicopters, and asked the USA to launch a satellite for Pakistan. The requests fell on deaf ears. Pakistan also requested 80,000 M-16s or Klashnikovs for the Frontier Corps who are still using WW2 vintage rifles. The guns have still not arrived.
However Pakistan was asked to “Do More.”
Pakistan as a Major Non-Nato Ally (MNNA) and a founding member of SEATO and CENTO has not been given a single Predator or Reaper. Pakistan has an indigenous UAV capacity, but its drones cannot fire armaments.
At present the laser guided technology helps it to identify targets and then relay that information to a helicopter gunship or a plane.
Islamabad is in desperate need of UAV that can fire at the target. Need predicates development, and necessity is the mother of invention. It is like being under sanction.
Pakistan was under sanctions when it designed and built the JF-17 Thunder with the Chinese. Now the latest UAVis being built with Turkish and Chinese help. Pakistan’s latest UAV is called the Burraq named after a mythical flying horse.
ISLAMABAD — After years of watching U.S. drones operate along its Afghan border, Pakistan is working on its own Predator-like unmanned aerial vehicle to undertake the same mission, sources here said. The sources said the country’s air force and government-owned defense conglomerate, the National Engineering and Scientific Commission, are flight-testing a new-design aircraft to be equipped with a NESCom-designed laser designator and laser-guided missiles. The Burraq UAV is named for a winged horse creature in Islamic tradition, similar to Pegasus.
According to local news reports, Pakistan is focusing its unmanned aircraft efforts on upgrading various older UAVs with Chinese help. But the sources note that no domestically produced UAVis large enough to heft both a missile and a targeting system. The military’s most capable UAV is the air force’s Selex Galileo Falco, which can laser-designate targets for other platforms but cannot deliver munitions.
Officials with the Ministry of Defence and Ministry of Defence Production here refused to confirm or deny the program’s existence. A spokesman for the military’s Inter Services Public Relations said it was “not ready to give a statement on the issue at this time.” One former air force officer said the notion of a Pakistan-developed hunter-killer UAV is credible. “You only have to see our track record,” said Kaiser Tufail, a retired air commodore. “We have some fantastic achievements in the field of defense.”
Tufail said Pakistan needs such a weapon. Anti-terror operations on the frontier require “hours and hours of round-the-clock reconnaissance,” married with the ability to strike quickly when a target is spotted, he said. Help from China? Analysts were more dubious about Pakistan’s ability to produce a laser-guided missile, but they noted that help might be found in China or Turkey. Turkey, with whom Pakistan has an agreement to cooperate on UAV development, is seeking an armed UAV, preferably the Predator or MQ-9 Reaper. This UAVmay someday be armed with the UMTAS infrared guided anti-tank missile being developed by the Turkish firm Roketsan to arm the T-129 attack helicopter.
Pakistan could simply produce China’s new CH-3 unmanned combat air vehicle, “or co-produce any number of Chinese components to assemble a unique UCAV,” said Richard Fisher, China specialist and senior fellow at the International Assessment and Strategy Center in Washington. “China has also developed the unique AR-1, a 45-kilogram, laser-guided attack missile, apparently designed specifically for light winged or helicopter UCAVs,” he said. Pakistan reported developing armed UAV By Usman Ansari – Staff writer, Saturday May 9, 2009
The Burraq is based on the Falco – SELEX GALILEO technology. We produce information on the Selix Galileo so that an adequate comparision can be made with the Burraq.
The FALCO UAV System is a Medium Altitude Endurance & Tactical UAV designed for optronic and electronic surveillance roles. The basic mission is target detection, localization, identification and designation through its on-board sensors suite which typically include a thermal imager, a color TV Camera and a spotter, or a laser designator.
The best features of the FALCO System include automatic take-off and landing (with STOL performance), fully redundant and fault-tolerant control systems, digital buses and control link equipment, automatic area surveillance modes and near-real-time target image processing.
The Burraq also uses the design if the Pegasus HALE UAV. The information on the Burraq is similar to the information on the Hale.
Until today, the use of unmanned aircraft has been hindered by the sheer size of the wingspan needed to carry the weight of the payload. With payloads often weighing up to 100 kg, the wingspan required would extend to 60 or 70 metres, creating a total weight of as much as 1000 kg. Aircraft with this weight and wingspan will not become operational for the next couple of years due to issues of air traffic control, safety regulations and technological hurdles such as the development of appropriate fuel cell technology.
We bring you Pegasus, an integrated approach to mission-specific payload, aircraft, control systems and data processing technology. By developing a new generation of ultra light and extremely compact remote sensing equipment, we have been able to reduce the aircraft wingspan to just 16 metres and total flying weight to a mere 18 kg. Furthermore, because these aircraft are designed to be raised into place using the same kind of balloon that is used for weather sounding, no airstrips are required and air control regulations do not apply. The aircaft are taken up in an almost vertical position and reach their operational altitude within 90 minutes. Once in place, the solar powered engines are started and the aircraft is ready to act on instructions received from ground control. The recorded images are then sent to the central database at the ground station from where they are sent on to the customer. Using highly sophisticated software technology, the data can also be processed and analysed, and delivered in a wide variety of graphical and mapped formats, as required.
Pakistan has been using its own drones which it has been manufacturing for a decade.
http://pakistanibychoice.wordpress.com/2009/05/17/a-complete-detailed-analysis-of-pakistan-made-drones-and-uavs/
http://www.irandefence.net/showthread.php?t=21360
Posted 10 months ago on 21 Jul 2011 14:00
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