War in Frontier Drives Pakistan's Efforts To Boost Protection - Defense News
War in Frontier Drives Pakistan's Efforts To Boost Protection
ISLAMABAD - Heavy casualties from roadside bomb attacks during anti-Taliban operations have led Pakistan's state-owned Heavy Industries Taxila (HIT) to increase vehicle protection and develop an indigenous mine-resistant, ambush-protected (MRAP) vehicle, the Burraq.
Military spokesmen have acknowledged the considerable casualties caused by improvised explosive devices (IEDs). This is echoed by South Asia analyst Brian Cloughley, who is familiar with some of the countermeasures employed.
"The Army's casualties from IEDs in [Khyber Pakhtunkhwa/Federally Administered Tribal Areas] began to increase in 2006, and countermeasures were taken, including local upgrades, less use of unarmored vehicles and introduction of more [armored personnel carriers] from the eastern frontier," he said.
He also said HIT concurrently increased production of the U.S. M113.
Initial efforts to counter the IED threat by acquiring MRAP vehicles from the U.S. were unsuccessful because of the high cost of overseas options, said Haris Khan of the Pakistan Military Consortium. Therefore, during the initial anti-Taliban operations, troop movements were carried out in soft-skinned vehicles (trucks and pick-ups), which offered no protection against small-arms, sniper, mine, IED and RPG-7 attacks.
The M113 was better protected but not the ideal response.
"The M113's armor doesn't provide much protection from small-arms' fire, never mind IEDs of the size that are now being employed by the insurgents," Cloughley said.
HIT responded by developing a lighter bar-armor package for fighting vehicles that has been fitted to the M113 and the Type-59II, which along with the Al-Zarrar tank, is used for mobile direct-fire support.
Earlier this month, at a conference organized by Defence iQ, a military forum, HIT chairman Lt. Gen. Ayyaz Salim Rana specifically cited Dragunov/SVD-armed snipers as a danger to the operators of turret-mounted heavy machine guns. In response, HIT developed a sheet-metal shelter to allow the heavy machine gun to be fired from under armor.
The Army also has deployed HIT's Mohafiz security vehicle, based on the British Land Rover Defender 110. The Mohafiz does not offer much protection against IEDs or mines. A slightly less armored variant of the Defender, the British Snatch vehicle, has been heavily criticized for its lack of protection in Afghanistan and Iraq.
To counter the IED/mine menace, HIT developed the Burraq, a four-wheel-drive MRAP first seen on state media briefly in February 2010.
Despite being denied the opportunity to publicly unveil the Burraq at the canceled IDEAS2010 show in December, HIT still refused to give any information. Still, Cloughley has praised it as "a step in the right direction." From his initial observations, Khan said, "it can accommodate at least eight or perhaps even 12 men," and probably weighs about 12 to 15 tons. He said the main benefit of the Burraq is its obvious V-shaped hull and raised compartment to protect the crew against mines and IEDs. He also said that, like the Mohafiz, it would provide "basic protection against 7.62mm armor-piercing bullets, though it may have the capacity to have additional armor fitted to withstand 14.5mm or even RPG-7 rounds."
He also observed that the Burraq used the same wheels as the Mohafiz, which perhaps indicates HIT tried to use as many existing subsystems from the smaller vehicle as possible to hurry the Burraq into service.
"It is certainly geared toward fighting in the rough terrain of northwest Pakistan," Cloughley said.