Pakistan got the ToT for 'assembling Agosta'....it still needed to import components from France. The MESMA AIP is a wonder of engineering, very few countries in the world can build it on their own
Hi donatello!
TOT is a misnomer! it is a very very loose term whose meaning can be interpreted in many ways.Since i am into aerospace research,i wish to cast some light on the nature of this word "TOT".
1)TOT might refer to license production of foreign systems at home- in this case,they would export you knock down kits and you'd simply assemble it in your country.
2)TOT might also mean,you BUY(i stress the word BUY) the respective IPRs associated with any defense systems- this is very very costly affair,for instance just the IPR of russian liquid ramjet in brahmos might easily cost well over 2000cr INR!But this allows the purchasing country to morph that IPR into their own technology.
I would like to add that TOT comes with a lot of clauses as in if you can morph it into your own system or not.For instance you can not copy the design and arrangement of ignitors in russian can-annular/annular styled combusters (turbofan engines)- now you'd ask why is "arrangement" such an important thing?Well the answer lies in it's ability to prevent combustion instability from occurring! In case of an IPR, there is no other way but to BUY it from the respective country!
Another important aspect is the level of maturity of the local industry to absorb(assimilate) foreign technology and indigenize the sub-systems or produce something new based on that- thats where pakistan still lacks and to some extent india too lacked(at least till mid-early 2000s).Take the case of ogasta construction in pakistan- well the french couldnt have simply transfered the blue prints of lets say
(a) the metallurgical process by which they create various tiles
(b) metallurgical process by which they create special submarine grade steel.
(c) design of their AIP
(d) design and construction of propellers
(e)design of various other sub-systems viz missile ejection system,armaments that are all covered under various IPRs!
and here by blue prints i mean IPRs,patents etc.
Things aint really as simple as they appear my friend,hard cash speaks,the more you cough out,the more they share-but sharing also has limitations.!