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Four Ways Pakistan Can Shoot Drones
Posted by Express Pakistan on May 1st, 2011
Drone attacks are a major cause of inflaming anti-American fury in the Pakistani nation. Relations between Islamabad and Washington have strained in few recent months due to rising number of drone attacks and innocent civilian casualties caused by them. Pakistan has repeatedly protested these attacks as they are an infringement of its sovereignty and because civilian fatalities have also resulted, including women and children. Daniel L. Byman of the Brookings Institution suggests that drone strikes may kill 10 or so civilians for every militant killed, which would represent a civilian to combatant casualty ratio of 10:1. Byman argues that civilian killings constitute a humanitarian tragedy and create dangerous political problems, including damage to the legitimacy of the Pakistani government and alienation of the Pakistani populace from United States of America.
Drone attacks have raised another debate amongst various circles i.e. whether Pakistan has the capability to stop the drone attacks militarily. In a recent statement, the Interior Minister Rehman Malik has apparently self-proclaimed F-16s cannot shoot down drones. Ex Chief of the Air Staff, Air Chief Marshal Tanvir Mahmood Ahmed said on November 25, 2008 that Pakistan Air Force (PAF) is fully capable to stop drones flights and missile strikes. He said that it was up to the government to decide whether it wanted to benefit from PAF capabilities and deter the aggressors violating territorial integrity of the country. Air Chief Marshal made these remarks while speaking to newsmen during IDEAS-2008 exhibition at the Expo Center. Another supporting statement was issued by present COAS Air Chief Marshal Rao Qamar Suleiman while talking to media persons on the sidelines of the passing out parade at the PAF Academy Risalpur. He said PAF is capable of shooting down US drones, but the final decision in this regard rests with the government and Parliament.
In order to analyze the capability of Pakistan to shoot the drones, we need to understand how a drone operates.
Drones do not carry any pilot on board and are controlled by a man sitting on Ground Control Station using a satellite based datalink. Ground Control Station may be located close to the border or miles away in Pentagon. The service ceiling (maximum density altitude) of an MQ-1 Predator drone is 25,000 ft (7,620m) and the service ceiling of an MQ-1 Reaper drone is 50,000 ft (15,000m).
* The possible methods of stopping the drone attacks are to destroy the Ground Control Stations, kill the drones on ground before they even take off, Jam or destroy the communication link between drones and Ground Control Stations and Intercept the drones violating Pakistans airspace using Surface to Air missiles or Interceptor aircrafts. I am astonished why people have even the slightest of ambiguity why Pakistan cannot stop drone attacks militarily. We must be clear in our minds that the decision of any offensive military action against the drones has to come primarily from the Pakistani government. This will be the stupidest decision as it might be considered as an official declaration of war against our ally in the global war on terror. The only wise solution to halt drone attacks is through diplomatic channel and on humanitarian grounds. Still there is no doubt Pakistan can easily shoot the drone, which is just another plane.
The first possible way of destroying the drone as it violates Pakistans airspace is to target the Ground Control Station from where it receives necessary guidance. The Ground Control Station is normally located just across the airfield from where the drone operates. Targeting the Ground Control Station will cause the drone to crash as it fails to receive any signal from the ground controller. Ground Control Station can be targeted by any Surface-to-Surface missile i.e. Hatf, Ghauri and Shaheen. It is also possible to destroy the drones on ground before they take off using any of the above mentioned missiles.
The second option involves killing the drone without air encounter or even firing anything towards the drone. Drones receive communication signals from their Ground Control Stations through a satellite based datalink. It is possible to jam or intercept the communication link between the drone and the Ground Control Station. Pakistan has an option to choose the most suitable Electronic Warfare suite from its inventory to intercept the guidance signal and get the drone down unguided. This is the most viable option as Pakistan would not like to lose any precious aircraft or a missile in its inventory for a drone.
The third available option is to fire a Surface-to-Air missile towards a drone violating our territorial integrity. Pakistan has a wide range of Surface-to-Air missiles which can easily target American drones within their effective range. One such air defense system is SPADA 2000 which can detect and engage highly agile hostile aircrafts and missiles at almost all altitudes. I strongly believe that American Predators can never get away from Surface-to-Air missiles fired from SPADA 2000 system.
The last option is to scramble air defense alert F-16 interceptors to engage approaching drones. Drones are not very agile and do not carry any weapons for self defense. Hence they can be very easily gunned down by F-16s. In my opinion, flying an F-16 to kill a drone is not a very wise and cost effective solution.
Pakistan should not opt to stop drone attacks militarily. Government should continue persuading USA and the world to stop these attacks as they will eventually prove counter productive. At the same time, Islamabad should continue to badger Washington to give it armed drones with transfer of technology. Pakistani government is already following the diplomatic channel for protesting the US drone strikes. The protests were made on the grounds that the drone attacks violated Pakistans sovereignty and were counterproductive as the civilian casualties were radicalizing not only the affectees but also others in the tribal areas and beyond. Now that the president and the army chief have for the first time offered condolences to the families of those killed in the March 17 drone strike in North Waziristan and the dead and the injured are being compensated, it is the right time to formulate a proper policy on the subject. The government needs to come clean on the US drone attacks because the issue wont go away.
Posted by Express Pakistan on May 1st, 2011
Drone attacks are a major cause of inflaming anti-American fury in the Pakistani nation. Relations between Islamabad and Washington have strained in few recent months due to rising number of drone attacks and innocent civilian casualties caused by them. Pakistan has repeatedly protested these attacks as they are an infringement of its sovereignty and because civilian fatalities have also resulted, including women and children. Daniel L. Byman of the Brookings Institution suggests that drone strikes may kill 10 or so civilians for every militant killed, which would represent a civilian to combatant casualty ratio of 10:1. Byman argues that civilian killings constitute a humanitarian tragedy and create dangerous political problems, including damage to the legitimacy of the Pakistani government and alienation of the Pakistani populace from United States of America.
Drone attacks have raised another debate amongst various circles i.e. whether Pakistan has the capability to stop the drone attacks militarily. In a recent statement, the Interior Minister Rehman Malik has apparently self-proclaimed F-16s cannot shoot down drones. Ex Chief of the Air Staff, Air Chief Marshal Tanvir Mahmood Ahmed said on November 25, 2008 that Pakistan Air Force (PAF) is fully capable to stop drones flights and missile strikes. He said that it was up to the government to decide whether it wanted to benefit from PAF capabilities and deter the aggressors violating territorial integrity of the country. Air Chief Marshal made these remarks while speaking to newsmen during IDEAS-2008 exhibition at the Expo Center. Another supporting statement was issued by present COAS Air Chief Marshal Rao Qamar Suleiman while talking to media persons on the sidelines of the passing out parade at the PAF Academy Risalpur. He said PAF is capable of shooting down US drones, but the final decision in this regard rests with the government and Parliament.
In order to analyze the capability of Pakistan to shoot the drones, we need to understand how a drone operates.
Drones do not carry any pilot on board and are controlled by a man sitting on Ground Control Station using a satellite based datalink. Ground Control Station may be located close to the border or miles away in Pentagon. The service ceiling (maximum density altitude) of an MQ-1 Predator drone is 25,000 ft (7,620m) and the service ceiling of an MQ-1 Reaper drone is 50,000 ft (15,000m).
* The possible methods of stopping the drone attacks are to destroy the Ground Control Stations, kill the drones on ground before they even take off, Jam or destroy the communication link between drones and Ground Control Stations and Intercept the drones violating Pakistans airspace using Surface to Air missiles or Interceptor aircrafts. I am astonished why people have even the slightest of ambiguity why Pakistan cannot stop drone attacks militarily. We must be clear in our minds that the decision of any offensive military action against the drones has to come primarily from the Pakistani government. This will be the stupidest decision as it might be considered as an official declaration of war against our ally in the global war on terror. The only wise solution to halt drone attacks is through diplomatic channel and on humanitarian grounds. Still there is no doubt Pakistan can easily shoot the drone, which is just another plane.
The first possible way of destroying the drone as it violates Pakistans airspace is to target the Ground Control Station from where it receives necessary guidance. The Ground Control Station is normally located just across the airfield from where the drone operates. Targeting the Ground Control Station will cause the drone to crash as it fails to receive any signal from the ground controller. Ground Control Station can be targeted by any Surface-to-Surface missile i.e. Hatf, Ghauri and Shaheen. It is also possible to destroy the drones on ground before they take off using any of the above mentioned missiles.
The second option involves killing the drone without air encounter or even firing anything towards the drone. Drones receive communication signals from their Ground Control Stations through a satellite based datalink. It is possible to jam or intercept the communication link between the drone and the Ground Control Station. Pakistan has an option to choose the most suitable Electronic Warfare suite from its inventory to intercept the guidance signal and get the drone down unguided. This is the most viable option as Pakistan would not like to lose any precious aircraft or a missile in its inventory for a drone.
The third available option is to fire a Surface-to-Air missile towards a drone violating our territorial integrity. Pakistan has a wide range of Surface-to-Air missiles which can easily target American drones within their effective range. One such air defense system is SPADA 2000 which can detect and engage highly agile hostile aircrafts and missiles at almost all altitudes. I strongly believe that American Predators can never get away from Surface-to-Air missiles fired from SPADA 2000 system.
The last option is to scramble air defense alert F-16 interceptors to engage approaching drones. Drones are not very agile and do not carry any weapons for self defense. Hence they can be very easily gunned down by F-16s. In my opinion, flying an F-16 to kill a drone is not a very wise and cost effective solution.
Pakistan should not opt to stop drone attacks militarily. Government should continue persuading USA and the world to stop these attacks as they will eventually prove counter productive. At the same time, Islamabad should continue to badger Washington to give it armed drones with transfer of technology. Pakistani government is already following the diplomatic channel for protesting the US drone strikes. The protests were made on the grounds that the drone attacks violated Pakistans sovereignty and were counterproductive as the civilian casualties were radicalizing not only the affectees but also others in the tribal areas and beyond. Now that the president and the army chief have for the first time offered condolences to the families of those killed in the March 17 drone strike in North Waziristan and the dead and the injured are being compensated, it is the right time to formulate a proper policy on the subject. The government needs to come clean on the US drone attacks because the issue wont go away.
if i was you, i would delete the above post instead of looking like a fool & do some research!
