Pakistan was the fifth-largest importer of major arms from 2021 to 2025, and 80% of those imports came from China, according to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI). The Chinese share stood at 73% from 2016 to 2020.
Though fiscally constrained, Pakistan still runs multi-billion-dollar procurement cycles, and those cycles are predictable. The Pakistan Air Force (PAF) will undertake the next major one in the 2030s, largely to replace its F-16A/B Block-15s and to build its next-generation air warfare system-of-systems.
Supply-side export controls explain part of why those cycles keep landing in China. However, the demand-side habits of the Pakistan Navy (PN), Pakistan Army (PA), and PAF also deter the non-Chinese original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) that are still willing to sell to – and build with – Pakistan.
Those habits recur in three areas. The first is unlicensed maintenance, repair, and overhaul (MRO) work at Pakistan Aeronautical Complex (PAC), including on the Pratt & Whitney Canada PT6 engine line.
The second is running original conversion programs without the airframe OEM, as the PN is doing with the Sea Sultan long-range maritime patrol aircraft (LRMPA) and Embraer’s Lineage 1000E.
The third is a security-control regime that keeps the National Engineering and Scientific Commission (NESCOM) and Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission (PAEC) away from willing partners, among them Turkish Aerospace, Leonardo, and Bombardier.
Quwa Pro
See Where Emerging Defence Markets are Moving
Quwa Pro goes beyond tracking programs and equipment by explaining the policies, incentives, industry dynamics, and competitive pressures shaping South Asia's defence markets.
