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Pakistan’s Private Sector Needs Transparent Testing Regulations and Capacity Support

Pakistan’s June 2026 DIPRA Ordinance created a defence-industrial regulator with the power to licence private R&D and open public test ranges to private companies. What it has not produced is a published route a company can actually follow. The result is that a private firm can now develop weapons lawfully, yet still cannot establish where it may test them without risking arms, explosives, and airspace controls it has no way to map in advance.

Large overhead sign reads 'CAVALIER GROUP' in yellow letters on a dark backdrop at an indoor exhibition, with a crowd of attendees below.

This article is a continuation of a series explaining the obstacles stopping Pakistan’s private sector from properly supporting the country’s defence requirements.

In the previous analysis, Quwa examined how Pakistan’s procurement policies – namely the “no cost, no obligation” requirement – have largely undermined the incentive for private investors to raise production capacity and engage in research and development (R&D).

In that article, this author stated:

To put it briefly, “no cost, no obligation” means that if a private company responds to an armed forces requirement with an indigenous solution, the state will neither fund nor co-fund the development of that solution nor commit to buying the resulting product.

The private company must finance the engineers, prototypes, testing, tooling, and refinement, while the state retains the freedom to walk away at the end of the process. Therefore, the state carries little of the development risk and provides no certainty that a successful program will generate an order.

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Bilal Khan

Bilal Khan

Founder of Quwa, Bilal has been researching Pakistani defence industry and security issues for over 15 years. His work has been cited by Pakistan's National Defence University (NDU), the Council of Foreign Relations, Bulletin of Atomic Scientists, Centre of Airpower Studies and many others. He has a Hons. B.A in Political Science and Masters of Interntional Public Policy from Wilfrid Laurier University in Waterloo, Ontario, Canada.

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