In March 2017, Pakistan and South Africa signed a memorandum-of-understanding (MoU) to facilitate the “acquisition of defence equipment as well as cooperation in Research and Development (R&D), Transfer of Technology, Co-production/Joint Ventures in public as well as private sector.”[1] On the surface, the MoU was geared towards enabling South Africa to secure a stable, long-term source of revenue and, in turn, to provide Pakistan a means to affordably acquire – and domestically develop – defence technology.
In fact, defence collaboration between Pakistan and South Africa dates back to the mid-to-late 1990s, i.e. when the Pakistan Air Force (PAF) worked with Kentron to secure the H-2 and H-4-series of guided stand-off weapons (SOW) and, according to many reports, the Ra’ad air-launched cruise missile (ALCM).
However, despite the apparent potential synergy between Denel Group’s offerings – especially those of Denel Dynamics – and the Pakistani armed forces’ munition needs, Pakistan has not availed the renewed opportunity, especially one endorsed by Cape Town itself.
Background: South Africa-Pakistani Defence Cooperation
Arguably, the peak of bilateral defence collaboration between Pakistan and South Africa had occurred in the late 1990s and early 2000s. In 2003, the PAF announced that it test-fired the H-2 and H-4, a series of air-to-surface glide bombs with ranges of 60 km and 120 km, respectively.[2] Given these specifications, it appears that the H-2 and H-4 are locally-built variants of Denel’s Raptor I and Raptor II.
In 1999, Denel had even offered the PAF a complete suite of air-to-air munitions for use from the Super-7 – i.e. the JF-17 Thunder. The package had included the A-Darter high off-boresight air-to-air missile (HOBSAAM) and T-Darter active radar-homing (ARH) beyond-visual-range air-to-air missile (BVRAAM).[3]
In response, then PAF Chief of Air Staff (CAS) Air Chief Marshal (ACM) Parvaiz Mehdi Qureshi stated, “We would also like to develop something ourselves in collaboration with others.”[4] ACM Qureshi’s statement implied that the PAF was willing to domestically develop and produce its own munitions for the JF-17.
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