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Featured Pakistan's Shahpar II UAV Unveiled

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The Shahpar series of UAVs is designed to be unarmed, and purely for surveillance. People are free to correct me if I'm wrong.

The Buraq UCAV is the only locally made armed drone, of course with heavy Chinese technical input.
There is no hard point on its wings
 
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The Shahpar series of UAVs is designed to be unarmed, and purely for surveillance. People are free to correct me if I'm wrong.

The Buraq UCAV is the only locally made armed drone, of course with heavy Chinese technical input.
Take what I have to say with a grain of salt as my point of reference is some years old but I can at the very least speak to the intention of the Shahpar-II program. Not surprisingly, Shahpar-II was started to address the deficiencies of Shahpar-I, which are:
1. Lack of SATCOM (range limitation)
2. Lack of endurance
3. Lack of weapon carriage capability

See this post from 2015 for reference:
The NDC has their Burraq which is a license production of the CH-3. This turned out to be the faster approach (obviously) and hence you saw it suddenly appear, be tested and be operationalized. On the other hand we have been seeing the shahpar for a long time and it hasn't seen much action (a squadron was inducted this year though) and IS NOT armed.

So in this race of sorts the burraq won. BUT I hear AWC is working on a Shahpar-II (Yes you heard it first here) which is supposed to be larger in size than the Shahpar, have a hump like a predator (ie a satellite link) and be armed.




The design looks like a logical progression, at least from the outside, and the specs seem to be a good 25-30% improvement across the board.
Agreed. I am especially fascinated by the aerodynamic design which seems to be a sign of technical maturity (comparing Shahpar-I to Shahpar-II).

I wonder how much better the sensors are, and if its still using an Austrian Rotax engine like the first Shahpar does (Rotax 912 engine).
Total guesswork here but I do not think those things are that much different.
Sensors: Possible upgrade but I have 0 idea.
Engine: Likely the same, perhaps supercharged or something - because we don't have better options and the performance increase is in part due to improved aerodynamic design.



Private companies in Pakistan have a lot of stuff to offer...and great thing is they are working with Military too..
Not a private company. Private company ki yeh auqat lol.


Imagine if it can be converted into a suicide drone 😄...
It's too big and expensive for that kind of role. Maybe something like Uqaab or Huma can be converted to a suicide drone but Shahpars I and II are full-sized UAVs.
 
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Imagine if it can be converted into a suicide drone 😄...
Nope, too big and too expensive.

Loitering munitions tend to be small in size, not this big, and carry an explosive warhead. It functions similar to a cruise missile in theory, but is meant for more tactical direct battlefield roles, where soldiers are being targeted by heavy fire from enemy forces. We saw this in the Azerbaijan-Armenia war, where loitering munitions were used to target artillery, tanks, and fox holes full of Armenian soldiers (including sabotage teams) that were directly targeting small groups of Azerbaijani soldiers.
Take what I have to say with a grain of salt as my point of reference is some years old but I can at the very least speak to the intention of the Shahpar-II program. Not surprisingly, Shahpar-II was started to address the deficiencies of Shahpar-I, which are:
1. Lack of SATCOM (range limitation)
2. Lack of endurance
3. Lack of weapon carriage capability

See this post from 2015 for reference:






Agreed. I am especially fascinated by the aerodynamic design which seems to be a sign of technical maturity (comparing Shahpar-I to Shahpar-II).


Total guesswork here but I do not think those things are that much different.
Sensors: Possible upgrade but I have 0 idea.
Engine: Likely the same, perhaps supercharged or something - because we don't have better options and the performance increase is in part due to improved aerodynamic design.




Not a private company. Private company ki yeh auqat lol.



It's too big and expensive for that kind of role. Maybe something like Uqaab or Huma can be converted to a suicide drone but Shahpars I and II are full-sized UAVs.
I agree.

I guess its a wait and see situation now.

I wonder if Pakistan is still relying on a Chinese missile, or if it is working on a domestic solution.
 
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I saw the first Shahpar in 1997/8 I think - during the days GIDS was under the KFC on phase V or VI in DHA Karachi.
Also the days when RC pilots were being recruited to train our military on operating these things.
 
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Take what I have to say with a grain of salt as my point of reference is some years old but I can at the very least speak to the intention of the Shahpar-II program. Not surprisingly, Shahpar-II was started to address the deficiencies of Shahpar-I, which are:
1. Lack of SATCOM (range limitation)
2. Lack of endurance
3. Lack of weapon carriage capability

See this post from 2015 for reference:






Agreed. I am especially fascinated by the aerodynamic design which seems to be a sign of technical maturity (comparing Shahpar-I to Shahpar-II).


Total guesswork here but I do not think those things are that much different.
Sensors: Possible upgrade but I have 0 idea.
Engine: Likely the same, perhaps supercharged or something - because we don't have better options and the performance increase is in part due to improved aerodynamic design.




Not a private company. Private company ki yeh auqat lol.



It's too big and expensive for that kind of role. Maybe something like Uqaab or Huma can be converted to a suicide drone but Shahpars I and II are full-sized UAVs.

Can’t Pakistan approach Turkey for their UAV engines? I am sure Turkey might even share IP with Pakistan allowing these engines to be made locally and scaled up to other projects such a as cruise missiles and more mature drone designs.
 
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Can’t Pakistan approach Turkey for their UAV engines? I am sure Turkey might even share IP with Pakistan allowing these engines to be made locally and scaled up to other projects such a as cruise missiles and more mature drone designs.
What reason would Turkey have to share its IP with Pakistan so that Pakistan can compete with Turkey?
 
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What reason would Turkey have to share its IP with Pakistan so that Pakistan can compete with Turkey?

Pakistan is Turkey’s biggest arms importer. Turkey itself has invited Pakistan on all its marquee projects from the TFX to its next generation submarine programs. In fact, Turkey itself has benefited from manufacturing GE engines for the past few decades, so it’s hard to imagine it turning down a Pakistani request to absorb the technology. It depends on some creativity and open mindedness from Pakistan’s part. But I will be extremely surprised if Turkey turns down a Pakistani request.

Turkey has already signed a deal with Pakistan to collaborate on cruise missiles. @Bilal Khan (Quwa)
 
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