Donatello
RETIRED TTA
- Joined
- Dec 10, 2009
- Messages
- 10,531
- Reaction score
- 23
- Country
- Location
In the cruel, cutthroat world of the international arms merchants it is always crucial to tell a serious buying expedition from window-shopping. But there are no longer any doubts about the intentions of the Pakistani military delegations currently surveying the arms bazaar. The word is out: Pakistan is back in the market after a long absence, flaunting a shopping list as long as the Hindukush and, more significantly, it has the megabucks to buy more bang for its armed forces. The shopping spree has important implications for India, where the focus has so far been concentrated on the US arms aid package rather than Pakistan's commercial acquisitions.
There is still speculation about the origin of the cash but none about the key items on the shopping list. It includes new improved HAWK (Hughes All-the-Way Killers) missiles, self-propelled artillery, Multiple-Launched Rocket Systems (MLRS), counter-battery artillery and mortar radars, armoured personnel carriers, collaborative arrangements for domestic production of main battle tanks and fighter aircraft and, above all, the latest M1 A1 Abrams tanks, the pride of the US Armoured Corps and the tank most coveted by the NATO armies.
All this is in addition to the finalisation of the purchase agreement for three Type 23 frigates from Britain's Yarrow Ship Builders for which Pakistan is collecting money. One of these, HMS Argyll, will be bought off-the-shelf while two more are to be assembled in Karachi. A decision is to be taken shortly on a western collaborator for co-production of the up gunned T-59 tank. The Grumman Corporation has already been given a multi-million dollar contract - surprisingly by China's Chengdu Aircraft Corporation - to conduct a study to upgrade the Chinese F-7M airguard fighter based on the MiG-21 and to be co-produced at the Pakistani aeronautical complex at Kamra under licence from 1989 onwards. Grumman has been asked to rebuild the aircraft with a multi-mode radar and General Electric has already bagged a $85 million (Rs.105 crore) contract to upgrade the electronics.
Underlining their latest obsession to co-produce high-tech equipment much in the way India does, Pakistan has also floated a tender of sorts in the international small arms market to produce a 5.56 mm replacement for its infantry's 7.62 Heckler and Koch and Chinese AK-47 rifles. Interestingly, India too has decided to do just the same.
Defence experts discern a clear pattern in the Pakistani campaign. "They know fully well the gaps in their own order of battle vis-a-vis India and are trying to plug them." says one. He points out that while air defence will be taken care of with the goodies that the arms aid package brings, the Pakistanis need to make some investments of their own to neutralise at least partly India's main advantage in having an indigenous armament industry. The quest for the Abrams M1 A1 tank is part of that drive.
While media attention has been focussed for more than a year on the proposed new US arms package and its Airborne Warning and Control Systems (AWACS) element, several Pakistani military delegations have quietly visited the US and evaluated the Abrams tank. According to highly reliable sources, the Pakistanis have made their choice. "The Pakistanis covet the Abrams just as much as the AWACS or the F-16s, as a force-multiplier and also a prestige weapon. They will do anything to get it," says a highly-placed source in the armament industry directly involved in the Pakistani inquiries.
The Pakistanis look at the Abrams M1 A1 as a crucial element in their plan to restore the balance on the ground, particularly in terms of armoured strength which is overwhelmingly in India's favour. Apart from much larger numbers, the Indian cavalry has the T-72 main battle tank and the improved Vijayantas and T-55s, to which the Pakistani T-59s and M-48s are no match. Indian intelligence sources have, for some time, been confirming the Pakistani plans to raise a third armoured division, and ideally they would like to build their new strike spearhead around the Abrams.
With its gas-turbine engine, the Abrams is supposed to be capable of out manoeuvring any other main battle tank in the world. Its armour is still considered inferior to the reactive armour used in the Soviet T-80s but is much better than the T-72s, the best that India has. The 120 mm gun packs imposing firepower, thanks to the tank's highly acclaimed thermal-imaging and computerised laser sighting systems.
They give it a true all-weather capability and the ability to fire accurately at full combat speeds. "With the M1 A1 we have kept tank technologies on the fast-track," says a spokesman of General Dynamics Land Systems, the tank manufacturers. It is also considered the first tank truly capable of fighting in a Nuclear, Biological and Chemical (NBC) environment. Curiously, another item on the shopping list is 10,000 gas masks, indicating a build-up for chemical warfare.
From the US Administration's point of view, the most significant fact is that the Pakistanis are proposing to buy the tanks by paying cash down, and not as part of the aid package which would result in detailed questioning by Congress. "This is the first time in two decades that the Pakistanis are offering to make a major purchase on their own in the American market," says a senior Pentagon official.
As a matter of fact, the possibility of the Abrams sale was specifically queried by Congress in its written questionnaire to the Pentagon on the question of arms aid to Pakistan. The Pentagon cleverly tried to sidetrack the question but gave an indication of the shape of things to come and said in writing: "Pakistan has not specifically requested M1 A1 tanks in this programme. Their military planners realise the need to upgrade a tank force that is overwhelmingly 1950s vintage Chinese-made armour.... but the debate in Pakistan over the decision on what specific tank or mix of tanks to request under this programme has apparently not been made." It is easy to conclude from this that the Pentagon knew the Pakistani plans in advance and that the decision not to make the Abrams part of the aid package was perhaps deliberate.
While General Dynamics refuses to confirm or deny its negotiations with the Pakistanis, highly-placed sources maintain that the discussions are now centred on the price. Normally the tank carries the price-tag of $3.5 million apiece, but the Pakistanis are quoting as little as $2.5 million, offering in exchange to raise the order to 300 tanks.
Given Pakistan's state of foreign exchange reserves and other economic compulsions, experts feel the order, which may be to the tune of nearly a billion dollars, may be at least partly underwritten by Saudi Arabia. It is in this context that significance is attached to General Zia-ul-Haq's sudden, unscheduled visit on May 23 - which he described as a "minor pilgrimage" - to that country. It is also no coincidence that Saudi experts too are evaluating the Abrams.
Opinions vary as to what the introduction of the tank would do to the power balance in the subcontinent. Although Indian experts are somewhat alarmed, western - particularly American - experts assert that the tanks will be too few to make much difference. "By the time the Pakistanis get their M1s, India will have at least 800 T-72s in service, perhaps some T-80s and even their first regiment of Arjunas. The Pakistanis will thus still be bothering about protecting themselves from the highly-mechanised Indian strike formations," says a Pentagon official.
In fact, such is the keeness in military circles here to sell the tank to Pakistan that tell-tale reports of Soviet T-80 deliveries to India, quoting Pentagon's satellite intelligence evidence, have already begun to surface in the armament press which functions in incestuous contact with the military-industrial complex. The argument is that since India is getting the best the Soviets have, there is no harm in selling M1s to the "poor Pakistanis". Also mentioned is the fact that in a recent evaluation, it was found that most Pakistani bridges in the forward areas are too weak to take the Abrams weight, and the purchase would necessitate a massive bridge-building exercise. In trials too, the tank has shown up technical problems in sandy terrain. The Pakistanis have asked General Dynamics to sort these out.
For an order as large as the Pakistanis are likely to place, General Dynamics will certainly sort these out as long as the payments are in hard cash and free of Congressional and legal encumbrances as in an aid package. In India this could mean a revaluation of its own tank acquisition plans and a greater urgency than shown so far to get the Arjuna into operation on schedule.
Source:
Pakistan back in the market to buy more bang for its armed forces : DEFENCE - India Today
There is still speculation about the origin of the cash but none about the key items on the shopping list. It includes new improved HAWK (Hughes All-the-Way Killers) missiles, self-propelled artillery, Multiple-Launched Rocket Systems (MLRS), counter-battery artillery and mortar radars, armoured personnel carriers, collaborative arrangements for domestic production of main battle tanks and fighter aircraft and, above all, the latest M1 A1 Abrams tanks, the pride of the US Armoured Corps and the tank most coveted by the NATO armies.
All this is in addition to the finalisation of the purchase agreement for three Type 23 frigates from Britain's Yarrow Ship Builders for which Pakistan is collecting money. One of these, HMS Argyll, will be bought off-the-shelf while two more are to be assembled in Karachi. A decision is to be taken shortly on a western collaborator for co-production of the up gunned T-59 tank. The Grumman Corporation has already been given a multi-million dollar contract - surprisingly by China's Chengdu Aircraft Corporation - to conduct a study to upgrade the Chinese F-7M airguard fighter based on the MiG-21 and to be co-produced at the Pakistani aeronautical complex at Kamra under licence from 1989 onwards. Grumman has been asked to rebuild the aircraft with a multi-mode radar and General Electric has already bagged a $85 million (Rs.105 crore) contract to upgrade the electronics.
Underlining their latest obsession to co-produce high-tech equipment much in the way India does, Pakistan has also floated a tender of sorts in the international small arms market to produce a 5.56 mm replacement for its infantry's 7.62 Heckler and Koch and Chinese AK-47 rifles. Interestingly, India too has decided to do just the same.
Defence experts discern a clear pattern in the Pakistani campaign. "They know fully well the gaps in their own order of battle vis-a-vis India and are trying to plug them." says one. He points out that while air defence will be taken care of with the goodies that the arms aid package brings, the Pakistanis need to make some investments of their own to neutralise at least partly India's main advantage in having an indigenous armament industry. The quest for the Abrams M1 A1 tank is part of that drive.
While media attention has been focussed for more than a year on the proposed new US arms package and its Airborne Warning and Control Systems (AWACS) element, several Pakistani military delegations have quietly visited the US and evaluated the Abrams tank. According to highly reliable sources, the Pakistanis have made their choice. "The Pakistanis covet the Abrams just as much as the AWACS or the F-16s, as a force-multiplier and also a prestige weapon. They will do anything to get it," says a highly-placed source in the armament industry directly involved in the Pakistani inquiries.
The Pakistanis look at the Abrams M1 A1 as a crucial element in their plan to restore the balance on the ground, particularly in terms of armoured strength which is overwhelmingly in India's favour. Apart from much larger numbers, the Indian cavalry has the T-72 main battle tank and the improved Vijayantas and T-55s, to which the Pakistani T-59s and M-48s are no match. Indian intelligence sources have, for some time, been confirming the Pakistani plans to raise a third armoured division, and ideally they would like to build their new strike spearhead around the Abrams.
With its gas-turbine engine, the Abrams is supposed to be capable of out manoeuvring any other main battle tank in the world. Its armour is still considered inferior to the reactive armour used in the Soviet T-80s but is much better than the T-72s, the best that India has. The 120 mm gun packs imposing firepower, thanks to the tank's highly acclaimed thermal-imaging and computerised laser sighting systems.
They give it a true all-weather capability and the ability to fire accurately at full combat speeds. "With the M1 A1 we have kept tank technologies on the fast-track," says a spokesman of General Dynamics Land Systems, the tank manufacturers. It is also considered the first tank truly capable of fighting in a Nuclear, Biological and Chemical (NBC) environment. Curiously, another item on the shopping list is 10,000 gas masks, indicating a build-up for chemical warfare.
From the US Administration's point of view, the most significant fact is that the Pakistanis are proposing to buy the tanks by paying cash down, and not as part of the aid package which would result in detailed questioning by Congress. "This is the first time in two decades that the Pakistanis are offering to make a major purchase on their own in the American market," says a senior Pentagon official.
As a matter of fact, the possibility of the Abrams sale was specifically queried by Congress in its written questionnaire to the Pentagon on the question of arms aid to Pakistan. The Pentagon cleverly tried to sidetrack the question but gave an indication of the shape of things to come and said in writing: "Pakistan has not specifically requested M1 A1 tanks in this programme. Their military planners realise the need to upgrade a tank force that is overwhelmingly 1950s vintage Chinese-made armour.... but the debate in Pakistan over the decision on what specific tank or mix of tanks to request under this programme has apparently not been made." It is easy to conclude from this that the Pentagon knew the Pakistani plans in advance and that the decision not to make the Abrams part of the aid package was perhaps deliberate.
While General Dynamics refuses to confirm or deny its negotiations with the Pakistanis, highly-placed sources maintain that the discussions are now centred on the price. Normally the tank carries the price-tag of $3.5 million apiece, but the Pakistanis are quoting as little as $2.5 million, offering in exchange to raise the order to 300 tanks.
Given Pakistan's state of foreign exchange reserves and other economic compulsions, experts feel the order, which may be to the tune of nearly a billion dollars, may be at least partly underwritten by Saudi Arabia. It is in this context that significance is attached to General Zia-ul-Haq's sudden, unscheduled visit on May 23 - which he described as a "minor pilgrimage" - to that country. It is also no coincidence that Saudi experts too are evaluating the Abrams.
Opinions vary as to what the introduction of the tank would do to the power balance in the subcontinent. Although Indian experts are somewhat alarmed, western - particularly American - experts assert that the tanks will be too few to make much difference. "By the time the Pakistanis get their M1s, India will have at least 800 T-72s in service, perhaps some T-80s and even their first regiment of Arjunas. The Pakistanis will thus still be bothering about protecting themselves from the highly-mechanised Indian strike formations," says a Pentagon official.
In fact, such is the keeness in military circles here to sell the tank to Pakistan that tell-tale reports of Soviet T-80 deliveries to India, quoting Pentagon's satellite intelligence evidence, have already begun to surface in the armament press which functions in incestuous contact with the military-industrial complex. The argument is that since India is getting the best the Soviets have, there is no harm in selling M1s to the "poor Pakistanis". Also mentioned is the fact that in a recent evaluation, it was found that most Pakistani bridges in the forward areas are too weak to take the Abrams weight, and the purchase would necessitate a massive bridge-building exercise. In trials too, the tank has shown up technical problems in sandy terrain. The Pakistanis have asked General Dynamics to sort these out.
For an order as large as the Pakistanis are likely to place, General Dynamics will certainly sort these out as long as the payments are in hard cash and free of Congressional and legal encumbrances as in an aid package. In India this could mean a revaluation of its own tank acquisition plans and a greater urgency than shown so far to get the Arjuna into operation on schedule.
Source:
Pakistan back in the market to buy more bang for its armed forces : DEFENCE - India Today
