China rises to Pakistan's
defense By Syed Fazl-e-Haider
QUETTA, Pakistan - Islamabad and Beijing
have pledged to expand and consolidate bilateral
ties in the area of defense.
In a meeting
last week with visiting Chinese Admiral Hu Yanlin,
political commissar of the Chinese navy, Pakistani
Defense Minister Rao Sikandar Iqbal thanked the
Chinese government for its continued support of
the modernization plans of Pakistan's armed
forces. The two sides underlined the need for long-term
sustainable relationship in
defense.
Chinese assistance to Pakistan
has been instrumental in strategic projects such
as the JF-17 aircraft, F22 frigates and al-Khalid
tank. Pakistan-China defense relations cover the
defense industry and joint defense production and
development. The Pakistan Air Force (PAF) plans to
buy new Chinese-made J-10 fighters in big numbers.
Last year, the signing of the US$600 million
frigate deal was considered a milestone in the
defense cooperation of Pakistan and China.
Islamabad has increased the defense budget
for the current financial year to Rs275 billion
($4.5 billion) from Rs250.2 billion last year.
Separate allocations have been made for
the purchase of JF-17 aircraft from China.
Announcing a 10% increase in the defense budget,
the government vowed to have credible deterrence
and invincible defense to ensure protection of the
country's ideology and economic independence.
China is Pakistan's main supplier of
military equipment, and it has been strengthening
the defense industry of the South Asian country.
This March, two jointly developed JF-17s
arrived in Pakistan for further tests and flight
evaluation. The flight evaluation to be conducted
by PAF will be a great deal of help in improving
the performance of aircraft, facilitating the
maturity of JF-17s and making the aircraft more
competitive and reliable. The JF-17 had its first
public appearance in Islamabad on March 23, during
a National Day Joint Services Parade flyover.
The two sides tested the first prototype
in August 2003, while another test flight was made
in Chengdu, Sichuan province, the following month.
The flight tests of prototype aircraft in China
have been moving ahead smoothly. Last year,
President General Pervez Musharraf inspected the
JF-17 factory and assembly line in Sichuan. With
its advanced design, state-of-the-art
manufacturing technology, Mach 1.6 speed, advanced
avionics and excellent handling capabilities, the
JF-17 is on a par with the world's most advanced
light fighter jets.
The production was
completed in a record period of four years. China
National Aviation Corp officially signed the
development contract in 1999. The project
initially suffered a setback due to imposition of
economic sanctions against Islamabad in 1999 after
1998 nuclear tests. The sanctions hindered
acquisition of avionics and weaponry for the
aircraft.
The FC-1 fighter was also
developed under a joint venture of China and
Pakistan by the Chengdu Aircraft Industry Corp. It
is a lightweight multi-purpose fighter based on a
MiG-33 design and powered by a single Klimov RD-93
turbofan engine. It is capable of
beyond-visual-range air-to-air combat, as well as
laser-guided weapons delivery. Though primarily
developed for Pakistan, it provides a low-cost
replacement for many developing countries that are
currently operating the aging MiG-21/F-7 and
Northrop F-5 series.
FC-1 was originally
known as the Super-7, which was the first fighter
jet completely designed and manufactured by China.
It was China's new-generation fighter that
improved systems for attacking ground targets. Its
advanced radar positioning and operating systems
gave the plane greater flexibility and better
close-range maneuverability than previous designs.
Development of the Super-7 upgrade was slowed with
the end of US technical assistance in1989.
China has developed the FC-1 as a
substitute for the Super-7. The $500 million FC-1
project has support from the China National
Aero-Technology Import and Export Corp, mainly for
export to replace the 120 F-7M/P fighters
currently in service. The deal to manufacture 150
FC-1 jets was struck when Musharraf visited China
in 1998.
In April 2005, the Pakistan
Aeronautical Complex formally opened its JF-17
production facility at its Kamra factory.
Production started that year, and the first four
locally built aircraft were handed over to the PAF
last December. The PAC plans to deliver four more
aircraft this year. Serial production is planned
to start this year, turning out 20 aircraft
annually.
New frigates too In
May, Pakistan signed a $600 million defense deal
with China, which includes construction of four
F22P frigates for the Pakistan Navy, upgrading of
the Karachi dockyard, and transfer of technology
for indigenous production of a modern surface
fleet. Under the deal, three frigates will be
built in Shanghai, and the fourth will be
constructed at Karachi dockyard, which will also
be upgraded to enable Pakistan to build its own
frigates later.
The first frigate is to be
delivered to Pakistan next year and the other
three by 2013 along with transfer of technology.
The frigates will be equipped with helicopters
specially designed for surface-to-surface and
surface-to-air missiles along with numerous
associated self-defense systems. This was the
first time that the two navies reached a
high-level collaboration to augment the surface
fleet.
The Pakistani opposition parties
accuse the government of fudging figures and
understating defense-related allocations. They
claim that the defense budget is actually far more
than the Rs275 billion shown in official
documents. The opposition parties call the
ever-increasing military allocations without
parliamentary oversight unjustified. They stress
the need for carrying out an audit of defense
expenditures by Parliament to examine whether and
how much of the military budget has been used to
enhance defense capability.
Syed
Fazl-e-Haider, sfazlehaider05@yahoo.com,
is a Quetta-based development analyst. He is
the author of six books, including The
Economic Development of Balochistan, published
in May 2004.
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