A Pragmatic Vision for Project Azm Plus

The central goal of Pakistan’s ‘Project Azm’ is the development of a fifth-generation fighter aircraft (FGFA). Since the first announcement of Project Azm in 2017, the Pakistan Air Force’s (PAF) Air Staff Requirements (ASR) for the FGFA seem to have undergone several iterations.

For example, the 2017-2018 Ministry of Defence Production (MoDP) yearbook makes reference to a ‘next-generation fighter aircraft’ (NGFA) instead of an FGFA. The MoDP adds that the “first cycle of conceptual design phase was completed.” However, in 2019, the PAF Chief of Air Staff (CAS) Air Chief Marshal (ACM) Mujahid Anwar Khan said the ASR was for a “twin-engine, single-seater, boasting the likes of super-cruise and laser weapons (directed energy weapons).”

The inclusion of laser weapons in the ASR is telling as no fifth-generation aircraft includes such systems, which are slated to be part of sixth-generation aircraft. Thus, the ASR alludes to a fighter program that is actually a 5+ generation or sixth-generation aircraft, but this bound to take decades for development.

However, the rather optimistic timelines given for testing and inducting Azm’s FGFA seem to suggest that it is indeed a fifth-generation aircraft. The unclear – and often changing – nature of the stated objectives and timelines for the program points to issues with planning and benchmarking of local capabilities.

Although the desire to develop an FGFA domestically is admirable, it is impractical for most nations. The exceptions are superpowers with turnkey industrial capabilities, such as the United States. However, even the United States, which has the most advanced and well-funded aerospace industries in the world, opted to develop the F-35 with a consortium of allied nations after their experience with the F-22.