Theoretically, you are quite right. We may come up against better ways to spend the money and that would be the end of all this. However, this is quite unlikely. I am quite sure that we are not going to see some guns being inducted. I have tried to explain (not to much avail) that how the guns are likely to be inducted in batches. The initial purchase will likely be of a limited number and then we will DECIDE whether to build on that or not, meaning, we may even decide NOT TO!! However i also think that in news, it will be leaked as "Pakistan selects a NEW replacement gun for WHOLE army...." that wont be the case in reality. The reason for this batch wise induction is mainly that we will like to use these in actual war situation. Also this will give us a better insight into the gun that we will be making, a chance to study and learn all the lessons from it. As per my discussion with a few people who are relevant in all this, there still is some support for a local gun. How influential that can be is something only time can tell. But there sure are people in key posts that still think about a local design. Anyway, to put this simply and try to explain this once again, with hope of getting out fan boys realize what is actually happening rather then believing in twitter kids, there will be different parts and steps of evaluation process, field trials are just one of them. A decision will be made based on evaluation in all these steps. The decision may also be classified as a "primary selection" with thousands of guns bought, made, studied and used by the forces and the main decision to continue with the same only to come afterwards.
Lolz,
what senior army guy? Was his son acting as his correspondent telling you what papa said at evening tea?
Also dear, NEVER forget that this is not like our grocery shopping. There are unforeseen expenditures, there are emergencies, there are priorities that may keep on changing depending on situation. Finding a replacement of gun might be our priority today however if something have changed, that may make a fighter jet or a tank or SPH more important and we will suddenly be more focused on that. Plus by cost, please try to understand that it is not the unit cost people are talking about. The cost of doing business with a certain group/country can be higher than some other. That too keep on changing depending on you relations, geo-politics and what not. Please try and understand that "MONEY is always relvant" and is always an issue and will ALWAYS be a factor effecting the decision. Again, IT IS NOT THE UNIT cost but the cost of the business deal! What offer one brings to the table will always have a significant weight!