The only 1 thing which PAF did not achieve is reverse engineering of the Mirage III/V engine.
Brother, reverse engineering is easier said than done
As an example, a small high pressure fuel injector (similar to what we are using in the IC engines of our cars) is also used in the combustion chamber of a jet engine. This small single injector itself is a sub assembly of different components and many such sub assemblies combine to form the whole engine.
So, when we talk of reverse engineering, we are talking about recreating all the thousands of parts involved, each and every one of them, because Snecma for sure is not going to give it for obvious reasons.
Recreating thousands of parts means, recreating their drawings first which could have tolerances in 0.001mm ranges. One no-go part means, the others wouldn't fit.
The production of so many individual parts is bloody expensive due to the absense of industry of scale. So the EU and US mainly try to commonize parts used in different industries and products to reduce their costs. Similarly, R&D costs are commonized across products. Like a dual-use oil pump, fuel pump, HP injectors, HP fuel lines etc etc.
For a poor country like us, it doesnt make any sense. Even Sweden is just an integrator of Gripens. Apart from their core competencies, they outsource it all from the EU and US.
There is a reason the chinese who are the best in reverse engineering stuff are still facing problems going forward with their jet engines.
