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Pakistani delegation on official visit to Czech Republic
Pakistan’s Minister of Defence Production (MoDP) Rana Tanveer Hussain is on an official visit to the Czech Republic, along with the Additional Secretary of the MoDP Maj. Gen. Tariq Ghafoor, to promote Pakistan’s defence industry. The two-member delegation left on October 30 to undertake the three-day visit.
According to Pakistan’s state-owned Associated Press of Pakistan (APP), the MoDP delegation will meet with the Czech Republic’s Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Martin Tlapa and the Deputy Minister of Defence Tomas Kuchta. The MoDP will also visit Aero Vodochody and OMNIPOL.
Notes & Comments:
The Czech defence industry has the following interests in the Pakistani market. First, to follow-up on the letter-of-understanding (LOU) Česká zbrojovka (CZ) had signed with Pakistan Ordnance Factories (POF) in November 2016 to negotiate the sale and transfer-of-technology of small arms to POF. It is believed that the LOU was signed in reference to the Pakistan Army’s rifle trials of 2016, wherein the CZ-807 modular – i.e. 7.62×39 mm and 5.52×45 NATO – assault rifle was tested. The current status of Pakistan’s program is not known, but in April of this year, CZ did confirm signing the LOU during a promotional event in Pakistan.
PBS Velká Bíteš had exported its TJ100 miniature turbojet engine to Pakistan’s National Engineering & Scientific Commission (NESCOM). The TJ100, which has a thrust of 1.25 kN, powers target drones. In terms of technical specifications, the PBS TP100 turboprop engine could be a potential option to power Pakistan Aeronautical Complex’s (PAC) medium-altitude long-endurance (MALE) unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV), which is being developed under ‘Project Azm’ (resolve).
The MoDP’s visit to Aero Vodochody could suggest that the Czech aircraft manufacturer is interested in marketing its newly revived L-159 advanced jet trainer to the Pakistan Air Force (PAF). It does not appear that the PAF is interested in such a platform. In 2015, the PAF’s Chief of Air Staff (CAS) stated that current lead-in fighter-trainer (LIFT) platforms are over-equipped for the role, with operating costs close to those of the JF-17 and F-16. For the L-159 to draw the PAF’s interest, it would have to maintain markedly lower acquisition and operational costs, whilst also providing substantive performance gains over the K-8.
Considering the MoDP’s intent to promote Pakistan’s defence industry interests in this vist, it is plausible that Pakistan is interested in collaborating with Aero Vodochody, perhaps in subassemblies or spare parts manufacturing. If not partnering, then learning from Aero Vodochody on how to enter the subassemblies and parts manufacturing space, especially for commercial aircraft, could be of value to Pakistan in its efforts to grow its aviation industry (Kamra Aviation City). Aero is a risk-sharing partner in the Embraer KC-390 tanker-transport program, it produces the KC-390’s rear fuselage.
OMNIPOL is a defence trading, consulting and support services company. Besides marketing various Czech defence solutions, including the VERA-NG passive sensor system, OMNIPOL is also a supplier of machinery for defence manufacturing purposes. With POF and Heavy Industries Taxila (HIT) gearing to upgrade their respective facilities, the MoDP could be potentially be interested in engaging OMNIPOL for solutions. HIT is already using CNC (computer numerical control) machines from Škoda Machine Tool. The MoDP might also be interested in forging partnerships between OMNIPOL and Pakistani companies, especially in terms of jointly engaging third-party markets.
8 Comments
by sami shahid
No need to buy that training Aircraft. Our K-8 air craft is good enough and we just need to Arm it. We should buy CZ-806 or 807. That’s what we need.
by ali amanat
I think the most interesting is VERA NG radar if possible and miniature turbo jet engines .
by Mani Hussain
It’s about time Pakistan invested heavily in its high level technical universities , colleges & it’s own research programmes.
The strength of any nation is to stand in its own feet , in-house manufacturing & to high highly educated people. Thus was the case with Germany, Japan , USA etc.
Spending limited country’s finance on expensive foreign purchases is not smart, in fact it’s more than stupid .
by Omar Dar
It is not as simple as what our fraud politicians claim to be. If there is a lack of opportunities, the highly trained people will simply migrate to other countries. An example of this can be found with the UAE airlines snapping up PIA engineers, who had been trained by PIA after heavy investment. So we have to build the economy, invest in infrastructure such as motorways and then upgrade our universities.
It is also important to note that it is very expensive to develop systems locally. All of India’s domestic projects have turned out to be significantly more costly than its imported weapons systems.
In the meantime, it is quite reasonable to import complex weapons from abroad. When our economy has become strong enough, we can work on indigenous projects.
by ali amanat
Very true and its very unfortunate that localR&D is at zero level we have no development and production culture after 70 years even we cant design an engine of any system skilled and educated ppls are going out how can we expect from our bureaucratic and corrupt system to come out with such a critical system only solution is to collaborate with local investors and vendors give them confidence and share your knowledge and enhance their capabilities to meet the future challeges not buy of the shelf.
by TZK
Market economy will not produce industrial base as there is no tradition and Pak will simply import from PRC. Only hope is foreign investment but without technical skills base it is likely to be in service sector. Govt intervention is needed and should establish industry which will employ and so will encourage people to obtain technical education. Privatise and establish another industry type and so on. They can start with compulsory military service for 17-18 year olds. Probably too much to ask of Pak!
by Omar Dar
Pakistan is lucky to have a highly motivated volunteer army and has avoided the curse of conscription. I wonder why you think that would be a great “ask” for Pakistan.
by TZK
There is marginal military and no economic benefit for enlisting for say a year of military training with regular army. I would not enlist into the regular army but form separate body staffed by retired servicemen and teachers to conduct training. Of course this would require organisation something which govt will find difficult. There is long term benefit in improving basic education depending on the training since the educational system is ineffective. The biggest enemy is ignorance and lack of self discipline, you could resolve many of societies problems in one generation. A good example is Turkey and a number of other nations have it even though there is no immediate military need.