HAIDER
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Wednesday, February 26, 2014
WASHINGTON: Pakistan is making extensive and precise use of its own indigenous drones in the current surgical strikes against the Taliban, security officials and experts confirmed on Tuesday.
A top official said ground intelligence, combined with accurate data by the Pakistani drones, had made it possible to take out the TTP targets in Tirah and Mir Ali recently, creating a scare among the TTP ranks not seen before.
Sources in Islamabad say the telephone chatter after these strikes had shown that the Taliban were in disarray as they were telling each other if such precise strikes continued, they would be eliminated without even a fight.
A senior security official, when asked by me whether in the latest touch and go visit by the CIA chief Brennen to Rawalpindi, had the Pakistan Army asked for intelligence help from the US drone apparatus to pinpoint the TTP hideouts, the response was ‘no’.
“The CIA chief’s visit was just a courtesy call on the army chief but Pakistan is using its own ‘parindahs’ (birds) for the strikes that have been conducted. We have effective drones that can help immensely in such situations.”
The official was referring obviously to the capability Pakistan had announced in 2012 and confirmed in November 2013 when two locally-produced drones were displayed at an arms exhibition in Karachi.
According to a Washington Post report of the event on Nov 26: “After years of preparation, the Strategically Unmanned Aerial Vehicles were formally announced by Gen Ashfaq Kayani, chief of Pakistan’s military. The drones, called ‘Burraq and Shahpar’, will not be armed and are to be used only for surveillance, military officials said.”
“The development of the drones, thought to have a range of about 75 miles, represents a milestone for the country’s military and scientists,” the Post quoted Pakistani and Western analysts.
“It is a landmark and a historic event, wherein a very effective force multiplier has been added to the inventory of the armed forces,” the Pakistani military then said in a statement.
Pakistan’s military first revealed its drone technology at a trade show in 2012, but in November last year the formal unveiling coincided with an ongoing farewell tour by Gen Kayani, who was retiring after two terms as army chief, the Post reported.
Brig Muhammad Saad, a former senior officer in the Pakistani military familiar with the subject, was quoted as saying that the country already had less-sophisticated drones for intelligence gathering, with a range of about six miles.
The newer models, he said, will prove useful for ‘collecting more operational intelligence’ that could help guide helicopter gunships and fighter jets to specific targets. This is a great achievement, and the drones can be used instead of surveillance jets and fighter jets that would be costlier to fly.”
Experts say Pakistan is still years away from being able to develop armed drones but Washington Post quoted Peter W Singer, a security analyst at the Brookings Institution, saying most surveillance drones can be armed, though they will lack the precision of US-developed models.
“Almost any unmanned system can be armed in a crude style, such as dropping a bomb or even turning it into an equivalent of a cruise missile that you fly into the target,” said Singer, adding that the announcement will probably add to growing fears about proliferation of drone technology.
In November of 2012, London’s Guardian newspaper reported that military officials had briefed some of Pakistan’s closest allies about efforts by the army to develop its own combat unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV).
“The foreign delegates were quite excited by what Pakistan has achieved,” said the official, who was closely involved with organising the four-day International Defence Exhibition and Seminar (Ideas). “They were briefed about a UAV that can be armed and has the capability to carry a weapon payload.”
The official said Pakistan wanted to demonstrate to friendly countries, principally Turkey and the Gulf, that it can be self-sufficient in a technology that is revolutionising warfare and which is currently dominated by a handful of countries that do not readily share the capability.
A Pakistan Army colonel, who had just finished a tour of the country’s border region, was quoted by the Guardian as saying such small drones were a vital tool. “We have these small drones, but not enough of them and we do not always get them when we have operations,” said the colonel in Nov 2012. “They are excellent for observing their movements and deployments.”
But now it is 2014 and the Pakistan Army has as many of these birds as it needs. This will be the latest and the most effective tool in this fight against terrorism.
Military using made-in-Pakistan drones against TTP - thenews.com.pk
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Pakistan to deploy its own UAVs over FATA
Farhan Bokhari, Islamabad - IHS Jane's Defence Weekly
Pakistan is to deploy at least 20 "indigenously developed" unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) equipped with "reconnaissance and offensive capabilities" across the country's Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA), a senior Pakistani government official has told IHS Jane's .
The UAVs will be deployed along the Afghan border ahead of the US drawdown from Afghanistan by the end of 2014.
The development is important for the country's army-led security services for two reasons. First, in recent years Pakistan has tried to acquire UAVs from the United States despite the controversy over their use in targeting suspected militants in FATA, notably in the North Waziristan region, but has had its requests refused. Second, the Pakistani UAV programme continues to attract global interest over the extent to which Pakistan's 'indigenously produced' UAVs rely on Chinese components.
In November 2013 IHS Jane's reported the introduction of a fleet of UAVs by Pakistan's army and air force following the first formal acknowledgement that the programme existed. The Inter-Services Public Relations office described the induction as a "landmark and historic event" and revealed that two different types of UAV, the Burraq and the Shahpar, would enter service. At the time no information was given on the number of platforms to be introduced.
IHS Jane's has previously reported that the 470 kg medium-range Shahpar is produced by Pakistan's Global Industrial & Defence Solutions (GIDS), but bears more than a passing resemblance to the China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation (CASC) CH-3.
IHS Jane's also reported in 2010 that China was preparing to deliver 20 systems, along with the CASC FT-5 65 kg-class 'small diameter bomb', to Pakistan in 2011.
According to GIDS, the Shahpar is powered by a 100 hp Rotax piston engine and has a maximum speed of 150 km/h and an endurance of 7 hours. It is said to be capable of day and night surveillance.
No details are available on the Burraq, although some analysts believe it might also be based on the CH-3. Pakistan also operates a batch of Selex ES Falco medium-altitude tactical reconnaissance UAVs.
ANALYSIS
Acquiring UAVs, notably those with offensive capabilities, will be a significant morale booster for Pakistan's armed forces, which see the absence of a UAV platform even remotely resembling the offensive capabilities of more advanced US UAVs as a major gap. A Western diplomat in Islamabad told IHS Jane's that any offensive capability in future UAVs "will help Pakistan demonstrate that it is filling the gap in an important area". While cautioning that initially Pakistan's UAVs "will not have the strike capability of American drones [UAVs]", he added that "a growing capability in this area could still make a difference [to the operational capabilities of the Pakistan Army] in FATA".
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