I think you misread Mastan since from what I gather he is appreciating the fact that the JF-17 is a combination and evolution of proven designs...maybe I misread but I did not see where he was chiding the PAF for not being original.
However, the complacency he talks about, well, I am in the military research loops and I know that there are equal propotions of people of two kinds, those who are really pushing the envelope, and those who would still rather use the lota to wash themselves(figuratively speaking). I too have suffered a lot of frustrations when listening to block headed procurement officers and yet have been left pleasently surprised an equal number of times by engineers in other departments.
But the fact remains that many local entrepreneurs with much better products have been snubbed by the military for foreign solutions.. most because of kickbacks.. and in other cases ignored due to lack of vision.
Look at it this way, 5 years ago, the PAF still had no actual UAV program and despite having 3 local manufacturers with good products it chose to start with Falco systems.
Infact most of IDS, Satuma and even NESCOMs sales were to Sri Lanka and an unnamed African country.
The usage of UAV's was spurred on only after drone attacks started increasing and the PAF command thought.. "Oh.. they are pretty effective".
As far as the local Universities are concerned, I was in one of the top three in current rankings, and frankly the syllabus sucked. It sucked bad. What is taught is irrelevant to anything in the market or to development. Infact, I am responsible for making the life of my Director and Head of department very miserable so they would release funds for embedded chips used in signal processing.. a must for signal processing courses.
And not to boast, but me and my project partner and I have written a new course outline for the lab as well.
Only now have I heard that two other universities have begun implementation such methods of teaching as well.
Most if not all of my batch mates had jobs in mind which involved commercial software writing, something even a 15yr old can do.. or watching monitors for errors, and if they are very bright.. maintaining equipment using OP's written by goras. What do you expect, they aren't given any hands on training, they arent given motivation to do something new. I know PIAS students as well, and unless one of their lecturers decided to take a student under his belt and groom him.. most dont know jack.
Off course the western universities wont give you admission in those places, look what happened the last time they did, you stole nuclear secrets, built an atomic bomb.
But knowledge must be procured from somewhere, and when those that had it back in the 70's and 80's screamed out to those that mattered.. "please, take what I have learned and record it, change how you teach the future generations so when they come they will be taught what I learned just as well as I was taught.." NOBODY listened.
Sadly the washcloth mentality prevailed, bureaucratic red tapes, and general apathy for the nations future led to any attempt at building a strong knowledge base wasted or snubbed.
Most of those that go outside, stay outside..why.. because universities abroad care for their students, they do eveything possible to ensure that the student is happy.. after all.. he/she pays a lot, here in Pakistan, its the opposite, the university does everything possible to ensure the student is always on the brink of suicide.. those that rote.. they pull ahead.. only those lucky enough to have their potential recognized get the opportunities, others are left unemployed and worrying about their future.
Look at the open houses of most universities here, the display is pathetic, the university staff themselves are clueless which project would suit which employer better..
A student from say warwick.. is introduced to the work environment a year before he graduates, once he does, his university pushes for his employment, they build PR with employers enough to make sure the guy or girl is preferred. Then that person has a job and is on his way to be settled.. can he/she expect the same here??
Water may have moved under the bridge in 30 years, but a lot of that 30 year old water is still standing and stagnating all around us...
Sorry for the extreme off topic rant.
The JF, the Shaheen series,,Babur, the Bakhtar Shikan.. are all examples of Pakistani ingenuity.. taking the best of a good thing and making something much better like it.
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