Based on its purchase for 52 Kornet-E units in 2017-2018, it appears that the Pakistan Army is moving to modernize its anti-tank guided missile (ATGM) inventory.
The current mainstays of the Army’s anti-tank missile stocks are the Bakhtar-Shikan (based on the Chinese HJ-8) and BGM-71 TOW. Both of these are optically tracked, wire-guided anti-tank missiles that can launch from land (via infantry and vehicles) and air (using the AH-1F/S Cobra attack helicopter).
However, for the future, the Army is evidently moving towards wireless ATGMs that use semi-active laser homing (SALH) and, potentially, other types of seekers for greater deployment flexibility.
In addition, the ATGMs the Army evaluated – or is in the process of evaluating – generally offer more range than the TOW or Bakhtar-Shikan, potentially by a factor of more than 2X.
Besides an extensive induction run, it will be worth seeing if Pakistan standardizes on a specific ATGM so that it could domestically manufacture it through the long-term (and supplant its older ATGM stocks). Or as an alternative, pursue an ATGM project of its own in parallel to the imports.
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