Pakistan to get high-tech air defence system

[EagleEyes]

Pakistan to get high-tech air defence system
By Hanif Khalid

ISLAMABAD: As per President Musharraf's directives Pakistan will acquire a high-tech air defence system next year, but it must come with transfer of technology, an official told The News.

"China and a European country have offered Pakistan High-to-Medium-Altitude Air Defence System, Low-to-Medium-Altitude Air Defence System, Medium-Altitude Air Defence System and Short-Range Air Defence System," said an official, who wanted not to be named. "The two countries have also offered to set up a project in Pakistan for manufacturing short- medium- and high-range air defence systems," he added.

The official said a former PAF chief had sent a summary to President Musharraf for the purchase of a high-altitude air defence system from a European country without transfer of technology, but the president rejected it.

"The summary has been rejected because Pakistan's adversary has MiG-25, MiG-29, SU-27 and SU-30 fighter planes which are capable of flying at an altitude of more than 25km," he added.

India has these aircraft since 2002 whereas the PAF has no effective weapon system to save major cities of the country and defence installations from any attack by such planes, the official said.

"Had the organisations engaged in developing nuclear-capable missiles indigenously been tasked with the development of a system to overcome this shortcoming, the country would have until now achieved the capability of hitting planes at an altitude of 25-29 kilometres," he remarked. "But no attention has been paid towards this aspect of the country's air defence capability."

The official said that Pakistan has radars that can detect aircraft flying at an altitude of 25-29 kilometres but the country still lacks a weapon system to hit such planes. He said the country needs to install at least one battery of an ultra-modern air defence system on four sides of major cities or military installations for security.

According to the official, one battery of such a defence system would comprise 16 vehicles, including two radar carriers, six missile launching vehicles and six support vehicles and thus each battery would cost $40-50 million.

A short-range air defence system can shoot down an enemy plane up to five kilometres and medium-range system is capable of hitting and attacking aircraft up to 25 kilometres while a high-range air defence system can hit an enemy plane at a distance of 90 kilometres, elaborated the official.

http://www.thenews.com.pk/top_story_detail.asp?Id=5036

 

[Neo]

Yessss!
This is what we need right now and with full ToT!

Don't want to speculate but do you have an idea which european country or system he's talking about?

How capable is the chinese system?

 

[Quwa]

I can think of Spada 2000 and IRIS-T SL, both were displayed at IDEAS 2006. However I believe multiple European countries and firms will be involved in Pakistan's Air Defence program. This is my theory:

The Pakistan Armed Forces want to procure an air defence system that would be locally produced at home. To get local manufacturing capability from Europe, we would need to procure a huge number. Suppose if the PAF chooses IRIS-T for use on F-16, JF-17 & Mirage and IRIS-T SL. If the PA decides to replace the RBS-70 & Anzas with the IRIS-T SLS and if PN chooses IDAS, and makes it a mainstay sub-launched weapon. Under such a circumstance the requirement would be big enough to warrant local production of IRIS-T and its variants in Pakistan.

However IRIS-T SL is a short to medium range SAM system, Pakistan still requires a medium and medium to high-range SAM. As a result I think we are looking at another European firm from a different country. Potential options would include the Spada 2000, which was a front-runner - but may have changed. Musharraf rejected one of the European SAM proposals, and IMO that is likely Spada 2000 since Air Chief Kaleem Sadaat mentioned PAF's interest, and he was the former chief.

MBDA was also present at IDEAS 2006, and MBDA wants to export to the SAMP-T medium-range SAM system. SAMP-T uses the Aster 30. As a long-term prospect, I think the SAMP-T is better and the PAF would probably think similarly. If Pakistan makes the Aster 15 & 30 missiles standard on the Navy and land Air Defence, that too may warrant us some local manufacturing capability.

For long-range SAMs I think we're going the China route. The American PAC-3 was displayed at IDEAS 2006, and according to the official the system is open to all countries. However a request would need to be improved by the U.S government. With the democratic congress in power, I doubt we'll get approval for the PAC-3 - let alone local manufacturing. So IMO we will likely go to the HQ-9/FT-2000 route with local manufacturing and development capabilities.

The good part of the Chinese system is that we can locally manufacture it as well as give any modifications, upgrades and improvements we deem necessary at home. Our long-range SAM would be our prime asset against nuclear ballistic missiles, we should know everything about it and ensure we have total control over it. As a result, the Chinese HQ-9/FT-2000.

HQ-9/FT-2000 might be young now, but by the end of AFFDP-2019 - when it is in full Pakistani service - Chinese technology would have come a far way. At the end of the day Pakistan would have complete autonomy in its long-range SAM capabilities.

 

[Bull]

"Had the organisations engaged in developing nuclear-capable missiles indigenously been tasked with the development of a system to overcome this shortcoming, the country would have until now achieved the capability of hitting planes at an altitude of 25-29 kilometres," he remarked. "But no attention has been paid towards this aspect of the country's air defence capability.

Why foreign seller and a ToT?

Give it out to the organistion which developed successfully the shaheen,hatf,babur and a host of other indigeneous missiles.

It took them only months to develop and successfully test the babur system.

So just give it to them,they would be ready in a few months,dont sweat.

 

[Neo]

The Chinese KS-1A batteries:

 

[Neo]

Upgraded Chinese KS-1 SAM revealed

Yihong Zhang JDW Correspondent
Beijing
Additional reporting Christopher F Foss JDW Land Forces Editor

The China National Precision Machinery Import and Export Corporation (CNPMIEC) is upgrading the KS-1 low- to high-altitude surface-to-air missile (SAM) system to the enhanced KS-1A standard.

The KS-1 SAM was developed some time ago to supplement the older CNPMIEC HY-2 (Hongqi-2) SAM that entered People's Liberation Army (PLA) service in 1967 and is similar in many respects to the Russian Almaz S-75 (NATO designation: SA-2 'Guideline') family.

It is believed that the KS-1 SAM entered service around 1996 and is known to have been offered on the export market, although there are no known export sales.

The PLA currently deploys two versions of the KS-1, static and semi-mobile. The latter consists of a 6 x 6 cross-country truck on the rear of which is mounted a turntable with two KS-1 SAMs in the ready-to-launch position. A typical battery would consist of one radar and guidance station and four launchers with eight missiles ready to fire and 18 in reserve. The original radar, the SJ-202, was similar in some respects to that used in the HY-2 SAM with guidance of the radio command type. The original version of the KS-1 missile weighed 900kg at launch and has a maximum speed of 1,200m/sec with a minimum range of 7,000m and a maximum range of 42,000m. It can engage targets travelling at a maximum speed of 750m/sec and manoeuvring at a maximum of 4.5g at an altitude of 1,640ft to 82,000ft.

The new version of the KS-1 SAM features a trailer-mounted phased-array radar that is very similar to the one used by the US Raytheon Systems AM/MPQ-53 Patriot SAM system.

Analysts speculate that China has acquired this technology from abroad, perhaps from Israel, which has had a number of undisclosed programmes with China, including aerospace, armoured vehicles and missiles as well as their associated subsystems.

Other sources have claimed that the exterior features of the new search/track radar are actually something between AN/MPQ-53 and that used with China's recently acquired Russian Almaz S-300-PMU1 (SA-10D 'Grumble') SAM system.

The new radar is claimed to enable the KS-1A system to engage up to three targets at once.

The missile has also been improved by upgrading the dual thrust solid-propellant motor and it now has a maximum stated range of up to 50km and a maximum effective altitude of 88,560ft. It is not known whether the high-explosive fragmentation warhead of the missile with its radio-frequency proximity fuze has been improved.

It is understood that key parts of the upgraded KS-1A SAM have already been completed with the current research and development activities mainly directed for future research and technological applications.

http://www.janes.com/defence/land_forces/news/jdw/jdw010109_4_n.shtml

 

[Tang0]

Well that is all great, but why do you suppose Israel would potentially anger its greatest ally by selling of technology they learned from the U.S to China? It is for the simple reason that having a bunch of SAM batteries won't really stop a modern air force. UAV's can act as bait for artillery and cruise missiles, while HARM weapons systems are old news. Israel destroyed the SAM capabilities of Syria in the 80's without a great deal of trouble, despite the fact that Syria had some of the most modern Soviet equipment. Patriot missile batteries only managed to hit 60% of incoming scuds, despite their huge radar signal and high trajectories. Pakistan does not have expensive SAM batteries because military planners know that they would be taken out fairly quickly in the event of a war, and be extremely expensive to boot. They would really only exist to provide a sense of comfort to the citizens, and possibly take out high flying bombers and cruise missiles should India try some type of devastating nuclear first strike. Now, more mobile short range batteries are a different story, since they can be easily hidden and used to take out helicopters and ground attack jets that would come in the second wave. Those aircraft are extremely vulnerable to ground fire, and can dish out alot of damage if allowed to operate with impunity.

 

[EagleEyes]

Why foreign seller and a ToT?

Give it out to the organistion which developed successfully the shaheen,hatf,babur and a host of other indigeneous missiles.

It took them only months to develop and successfully test the babur system.

So just give it to them,they would be ready in a few months,dont sweat.

Ballistic & cruise missiles are not air defence systems.

 

[AgNoStiC MuSliM]

Why foreign seller and a ToT?

Give it out to the organistion which developed successfully the shaheen,hatf,babur and a host of other indigeneous missiles.

It took them only months to develop and successfully test the babur system.

So just give it to them,they would be ready in a few months,dont sweat.

And who said the Shaheen and babur were "developed and tested in months"? Other than you of course.

 

[IceCold]

And who said the Shaheen and babur were "developed and tested in months"? Other than you of course.

Dont you get it AM,Isnt that enough that Bull wrote it. What more do you need to get you convinced that babur and shaheen were indeed developed in months.