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Pakistan Defence Review: News/Procurement Updates Plus

This is a review of ancillary Pakistani defence news topics with short-hand analysis to provide clarity and context. In March 2018: 3 Turkish T129 attack helicopters took part at the Pakistan Day Parade; ASELPOD spotted on the JF-17; the JF-17 participating in Gulf Shield; a sign of SUPARCO’s Space Vision 2040 being in full-swing; and how Pakistan’s naval deterrence efforts are still a work-in-progress

By Bilal Khan · · 9 min read

This is a review of ancillary Pakistani defence news topics with short-hand analysis to provide clarity and context. In March 2018: 3 Turkish T129 attack helicopters took part at the Pakistan Day Parade; ASELPOD spotted on the JF-17; the JF-17 participating in Gulf Shield; a sign of SUPARCO’s Space Vision 2040 being in full-swing; and how Pakistan’s naval deterrence efforts are still a work-in-progress

3 TAI T129 ATAKs at March 23rd Parade

The Turkish Army sent three of its T129 ATAK attack helicopters to participate in the Pakistan Day military parade on 23 March. However, it would be premature to connect the gesture to Pakistan inking its long-awaited contract for 30 T129s with Turkish Aerospace Industries (TAI).

Like the MILGEM Ada corvette deal, the T129 deal is contingent on the availability of a line-of-credit from Turkey to back the sale. Basically, Pakistan will use the loan to get the production process started and, in turn, repay the loan over fixed installments over a mutually agreed-upon time-period. However, a Turkish analyst stated that TAI and Pakistan are still waiting for approval from Turkey’s Export-Import Bank.[1]

However, the Daily Sabah reports – citing an anonymous, but well-placed source – that the Pakistani T129 deal is “months, if not weeks” away from being inked in earnest. Originally, Alan Warnes learned that TAI was aiming to announce this contract as a firm deal at the 2018 Farnborough Air Show in July.[2] However, once the deal is inked, TAI promised that it will begin delivering the helicopters relatively soon.

If inked, there are several key ‘treads’ emanating from this deal. First, TAI invited Pakistan Aeronautical Complex (PAC) to support the T129 with some parts manufacturing work (which will feed TAI).[3] Second, it will complete Pakistan’s recapitalized high-altitude helicopter fleet, which saw the Airbus Helicopters H125M and Leonardo AW139 assume the scout/light-utility and medium-utility roles, respectively.[4]

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