The guys (and girls) who designed and built this are all my juniors or classmates. Although I agree that the design is a few years behind what is currently available commercially, but we have to realize that if a small group of 18-20 year olds can do this job for around a million rupees, then we have a significant underutilization problem where we are unable to extract the maximum benefit from our young, dynamic, innovative and creative millennials.
Mind you, the design and manufacturing required them to follow established safety practices, develop detailed cost analysis reviews, design reports etc.
Its a pity that this valuable engineering design and management experience that these young people have will probably never be used for the advantage of the country. I am fully aware that most of these young engineers (including myself) will jump at th chance of leaving Pakistan for some other country immediately upon graduation, simply because our talent and creativity is not valued here.
The government doesn't not even have the sense or vision to develop a comprehensive National Unmanned Aerial Systems Policy. And the armed forces much rather prefer to fulfill their UAV requirements in-house through cumbersome bureaucracy and mediocre design practices. If they start giving out development contracts to private industry, it would create an ecosystem in which we can even have startups who focus on UAV hardware and design, giving all these young and brilliant people an avenue to channel their talents and passion into a source of benefit and pride for their country.