araz
PDF THINK TANK: CONSULTANT
- Joined
- Jun 14, 2006
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Well judging by the relative success of the the two countries programs. I would suggest that Pak has taken the correct path. That is to say improve upon designs that are already there.
Indigenous is only of value IF the project is delivered on time and at a cheaper price to imports. Otherwise all it is , is a ego boosting effort.
Oh and for the record reverse engineering a Cruise missile in 5-6 years is no mean feat (after all what is the point of reinventing the wheel?)
AsSalam oAlaikum.
I think we need to take a reality check here. India bashing aside, whether we have had more or less success than them is a difficult question to answer. The fact remains that technologically we Pakistanis are at a lower rung of development than the Indians. India has been assembling Aircrafts since 60s whereas we are today in a position to assemble our first/second aircraft with minor input into building some components.
Having progressed from this level, India has decided to develop its own systems and incorporate them into its forces. Now this is where all the problems arise. It is technically a more advanced stage. Even the Swedes designing Saab Gripen had a lot of problems resulting in the loss of their prototype. The Chinese lost their J10 and needed to go through a phase of extensive redesign. So the J10 project, without its engine has lasted over two decades and is now coming to fruition.
The question is why do nations do it. A logical answer is national pride. However a much more potent reason is even if a project fails, people learn a lot from it and go on to do bigger and better things.
Even the Americans cannot say that all of their projects are successful. You can write books about all the failures that they have had and how it has cost lives before the problem was corrected , or the project scrapped. The other reason for failure may be various vested interests whos interests lie in continuous buying from a source so that they can get their cut backs. Brothers, when it comes to cold hard cash, the powers that be go to great lenghts to save guard their own interests.
To me it seems that we are laughing prematurely. eventually, we will climb the next rung of designing our own products and will have our own sets of failures. To be charitable now may save us some embarrassment later on.
WaSalam
Araz