Defence spending exceeds budgetary allocation
ISLAMABAD (April 16 2008): Procurement of Swedish military technology, and JF-17 Thunder aircraft from China for Pakistan Air Force has increased Defence budget by 27 percent to Rs 350 billion from Rs 275 billion allocated in the 2007-08 budget, official sources told Business Recorder here on Tuesday.
Finance Minister Ishaq Dar, in his briefing to the Cabinet a few days ago had disclosed that the government had spent additional Rs 38.5 billion on procurement of defence equipment and aircraft under the Armed Forces Development Program (AFDP) for which not a single penny was allocated in the 2007-08 budget.
"Previous government did not allocate a single penny under AFDP in the budget but later on projected Rs 75 billion for this purpose, of which Rs 38.5 billion has already been paid to procure early warning system from Sweden and JF-17 Thunder from China," sources said.
An official of Finance Ministry confirmed that the government had projected Rs 75 billion over and above the allocated defence budget for procurement for military hardware, of which Rs 38.5 billion has already been paid.
"PAF has seriously lagged behind over the years, mainly due to various geo-political and economic constraints. In order to redress this capability deficit, PAF has very carefully evaluated the hi-tech options against well-defined air staff requirements," sources said.
It is not clear when it was decided to purchase these very expensive items: at the time of the budget, when this item was deliberately kept out to show a lower deficit or at a later time by the PAF for which approval must have been sought by the President.
Attempt was made to contact Secretary, Defence, Kamran Rasool, and PAF spokesman Sarfraz Ahmad, but no response was received. The government had allocated Rs 275 billion for defence in the federal budget, of which Rs 170.2 billion has already been spent during July-February against the projections of Rs 167.5 billion.
On April 12, 2006, federal cabinet had decided to purchase 98 hi-tech aircraft from the United States and China besides missiles and other equipment to improve the capabilities of Pakistan Air Force (PAF). When the proposal had been approved, PAF's combat fleet consisted of around 350 aircraft.
The bulk of its inventory comprises old Mirages and Chinese-origin A-5, FT-6 and F-7 aircraft. With the exception of F-7 PGs, most of these aircraft are more than 20 years old and are scheduled to retire between 2008 and 2015.
Foreseeing this retirement schedule and the known difficulties associated with replacing all old aircraft with western equipment, PAF embarked upon the co-development of JF-17 aircraft. The induction of JF-17 had been planned so as to have a systematic replacement of the retired fleet.
According to an official document, exclusively obtained by Business Recorder, mixed package of hi-tech aircraft and equipment, being purchased from USA and China, is as under: FC-20 aircraft (36), SD-10 BVR missiles (300), F-16 A/B, ex-Pakistan (26), F-16 C/D (18 with an option for 18 more), BVR, 500(American), targeting pods 18 and joint direct attack munitions (500). The expenditure on the entire package would be met from PAF share in Armed Forces Development Program (AFDP-2019), the document says.
The Cabinet, according to the document, has allowed PAF to set up Joint Working Group (JWG) with CATIC for procurement of 36 FC-20 aircraft. The government would also help PAF in securing long-term credit financing for the FC-20 aircraft from Chinese government, besides allowing PAF to initiate a Letter of Request (LoR) for the F-16 package and equipment through the Defence Ministry.
While the US F-16 C/D and Swedish Grippen qualified against the PAF requirements, the Chinese FC-20, in its present state, lagged behind due to the lack of advanced avionics systems and weapons. For the future, however, PAF termed it as a good option with very promising growth potential to become one of the frontline fighters to face the challenges of the 21st century, the sources maintained.
Business Recorder [Pakistan's First Financial Daily]
