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The UK hands over 7 refurbished Sea King helicopters to Pakistan
The Pakistan Navy has taken delivery of seven refurbished Westland Sea King helicopters from the U.K on Thursday, May 25.
In an official press release by the Pakistani High Commission in London, the formal handing over ceremony was attended by Pakistan’s High Commissioner to the UK Syed Ibne Abbas, the U.K. Ministry of Defence’s representative Christopher Bob Richardson and Pakistan Navy officials.
Pakistan bought the helicopters in 2016 and contracted the maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) firm Vector Aerospace to refurbish and prepare the aircraft for delivery in 2017.
Notes & Comments:
These will join the Pakistan Navy’s six Sea King Mk. 45 helicopters, which are shore-based assets used for multiple roles, among them search-and-rescue, troop transport, anti-submarine warfare and anti-ship warfare. The specific model of these additions is not known, nor is it clear if this recent batch will supplant the Pakistan Navy’s existing Sea King fleet.
29 Comments
by Quraishi
Such purchases in light of whats going on in the region is a joke.
Economic power and military power go hand in hand, the assumption that pakistan can sustain military power without economic powerhouse is a fantasy.
by John Rue
This is like buying that ages old expensive vehicle where mainteance will cost more than its purchase cost. What PN will really achieve by acquiring these valuable assets? Can Mi-17 not be considered for this role? Can Pakistan afford to have so many different copters , american, russian, european, chinese and turkish.
by Bilal Khan
The PN already operates Sea Kings. So they’re basically re-utilizing the existing maintenance and operating infrastructure.
by Abid
What john is saying that these helicopters will require more maintenance than others like old cars.
by Bilal Khan
To an extent, but some aspects may have been managed from the onset – e.g. swapping engines, replacing worn aerostructures with zero-hour ones, drawing on a still ubiquitous supply of spare parts. All of these are standard procedures when buying used.
by U
I think a couple of months ago there was news of even Qatar giving some Sea Kings to Pakistan.
I believe Pak Navy is increasing its fleet size, which is good as this is what it can afford, better than having nothing for similar roles. Pak Navy already has the support infrastructure for ” Sea Kings ” so this will help increase capability.
by Steve
Well NS and Co have their work cut out then. 5.28% growth rate is not enough but it’s a start. Need to sell more stuff abroad and pay more taxes and appoint clever professional economic managers with a rock solid governance mechanism, but that’s a separate discussion.
by Abdul Rashid
Your always trying to squeeze more taxes out of Pakistanis LOL!
by Steve
That’s because almost nobody pays tax. Most experts say less than 1% that is absolutely unbelievable. You can’t squeeze anything out of a spoiled public who expect everything for nothing. How is the government going to fund health, education, infrastructure, military, etc etc. Indirect tax or corporation tax can only go so far. We have no oil or gold mines. People in advanced countries pay 10-45% of income in tax. We Pakistanis never developed a habit of paying which is one of the many malaises affecting society. Rulers have a duty to educate the masses so they stop bad habits of stealing and corruption, such as stealing electricity or gas. But unfortunately this current lot are hopeless. God does not come with a bag of money to help people who don’t want to help themselves. Lol
by Abdul Rashid
“Rulers have a duty to educate the masses so they stop habits of stealing and corruption”.
Good point but I see a slight problem there. The masses need to be first convinced the leaders are not themselves corrupt. There’s lot of mud-slinging in Pakistani politics. The common man does not know who to trust if anyone.
by Steve
Totally agree. Maybe Imran next time?? Not going to happen though.
by Abdul Rashid
Not sure who next. I’m not accusing any leader or party of corruption or vouching for their honesty. Just that public perception appears to be the leaders are corrupt. As long as that perception remains, I can’t see the masses cooperating with demands to pay more taxes.
by Abdullah Aman
Nobody pay taxes what the hell are u taking about how much indirect tax normal Pakistani pays u have any idea
If you are taking about direct taxes on that I will agree
by Shakeel
Excellent point Abdul, you are absolutely correct.The defunct system needs to be under the microscope – hence we buy stripped assets for flyaway prices such as the Sea King above. Makes you wanna cry. O God help us.
by jamshed_kharian_pak
Armed Forces Of Islamic Republic Of Pakistan are busy doing a fantastic job, State Of IR Pakistan’s Security Guaranty by Allah Swt and Our Armed Forces of course Pakistanis are watching good news
by Aman
We need Industrialization !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
by Steve
Indirect taxes are fine but no substitute for direct income tax of which the stated figure is 0.56% of the population. Probably government salaried people. Are you fine with that figure? My point is development and military costs money. Higher earners like business people, landlords, and high earning professionals should all pay. Otherwise we can forget about all the nice weapons we are taking about.
by Kazmi
Creativity is always superior than criticism. People sitting at the top are well aware of the threats and financial limitations of the country and hopefully are in better position to make the appropriate decisions. So, it,s unwise to criticize without having requisite information and substantial material on the subject.
by Ali Afzal
Thanks to UK…. we had very few sea kings so these 7 will help us a lot…. really thanks to UK !
by Aaif khan
Indians have the same mentality of not paying taxes. But our govt has come a long way. The govt has forced the people to pay tax by connecting electricity & gas bills with Permanent Account Number and IT file has been made compulsory for almost every business activity. Attracted loans are being provided for home/business and for fast purchase consumer goods on the condition of IT file. So Everyone is making IT file to get benefits of attractive loan scheme. Even in rural areas peoples are now paying taxes.
by Aaif khan
In India there are about 15 types of indirect taxes. My internet bill is 480 but it cost me 595 after adding upto 7 types of taxes.
by Omar Dar
Pakistan has the same problem. Although the unified GST was introduced 20 years ago in Pakistan, we have been unable to move ahead from there. Now the government has applied extra taxes to non-filers for things such as car registration and bank transactions. Do you know the reaction of the common people? They either pay extra taxes to stay as non-filers or else have jumped out of the banking system entirely! LOL. It is amazing that many will forego probable income just because they will have to pay a percentage as taxes.
by Omar Dar
I wanted to know one thing. Who owned these helicopters originally? I read some news articles about a year ago which said that either Bahrain or Qatar had transferred its Sea King helicopters to Pakistan. It is possible that Pakistan got those refurbished from the UK and those are now being commissioned.
by Omar Dar
They are not a joke. Pakistan is well ahead of what is happening in the region, or else Pakistan would’ve been attacked by now. These sea kings are magnificent helicopters and are more than enough for our short shoreline. The air force has also done a great job of managing the JF-17 program and while India is stuck with the Tejas, Pakistan is well on its way to replace its legacy fighters with a modern fighter. For the economy, the CPEC is roaring ahead. We should have confidence in our beautiful country. Long live Pakistan!
by middleway1
Pakistanis donated billions to Edhi because they knew the money would be well spent. I don’t see why they wouldn’t pay their taxes if they felt the money would spent honestly instead of lining the pockets of corrupt officials. I don’t live in Pakistan, but I don’t blame them.
by GSLV mk3
Lol right you would know about 7 Indian taxes.
Can you please name those 7 taxes Mr aif Khan from India.
by Steve
We are of course pleased to hear that. I don’t live in Pakistan but every step in the right direction is good. Indirect taxes are inherently unfair as they affect the lower income people more and the rich get away with not paying. Direct taxation is badly needed.
by Headstrong
This guy has been trying very hard to claim he’s Indian for a while now. Yet, it’s obvious he knows nothing about the country save what could be read in some biased textbooks elsewhere. Nobody on this forum really takes him seriously, with many assuming he’s a local for obvious reasons. Best ignored
by Omar Dar
The UK armed forces are currently retiring the Sea King from service and these seven machines seem to have been acquired from that lot. Pakistan also might receive ex-Qatar helicopters when their replacements are finally inducted in a couple of years. Overall, This looks like a very good plan to build up a fleet of capable heavy helicopters.