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Bilal Khan and contributor Syed Aseem Ul Islam revisit Aseem’s 2021 Quwa analysis, How Pakistan Can Design a Loyal Wingman Drone, to ask whether its core argument has aged well — and conclude that it largely has. Rather than pursuing a crewed fifth-generation fighter under Project Azm, they argue that the Pakistan Air Force’s realistic path to next-generation air power runs through a family of stealthy unmanned combat aerial vehicles (UCAVs): a low-cost, two-to-three-tonne “loyal wingman” and a heavier Kizilelma-class drone fighter. The conversation works through Baykar’s growing relevance and Kizilelma’s export momentum, the gap in Türkiye’s catalogue that Pakistan could fill, the roles NESCOM and NASTP might play, and how runway-independent, rocket-launched drones could reshape strike, air defence, and naval missions — with the XQ-58A Valkyrie as a recurring benchmark.
