We are living in very fascinating times, and a time of immense change in terms of the world's economy, technology and military power. As as we know Pak Armed forces, and especially the PAF, have sworn by US military technology. It gave our smaller forces an advantge over a larger India equipped with mainly Soviet and European weapons and it often came free or highly subsidised. This has been case for last 70 years.
Now US weapons and tech are still the the best in the world. F-35, Aegis ships etc
This is now changing and the world is changing rapidly. Something that I think Pak Mil realised about 10 years ago. We still have the option to buy P-8, more F-16s or pay our own money for AH-1Zs.
We chose not to for a very good reason and bought Chinese tech, which was not as advanced but came free of strings and could be bought in more numbers.
Now here is the crux of the matter. In 20 year or maybe even much sooner. US Weapons technology may no longer be the best in the world. Already US has admitted China is ahead in areas like missiles, EW etc
The generation after F-35, F-22, J-20 and FC-31 will be where China will surpass US and Europe. by a very very wide margin if current trends are anything to go by. China will be the world's largest economy by 2028 and probably the world's largest defence spender by than too.
Now as we know PAF has to plan now to defeat threats in 2040-2050. Chinese are designing tech with the aim to defeat US in a war. Now imagine Pakistan is China's number one ally and often the first country to be given access to new Chinese weapons.
That puts us in an incredibly strong position vis a vis India. This is the logic behind Project AZM and the reason why 10 years from now we may well see it flying in PAF colours and why it will probably be one step ahead of FC-31. At that time some forum members on here will still be telling us IAF are signing for 83 LCA MK1As very soon....
The future is increasingly multi-polar in my view with USA, UK, Russia and China pulling strings in whatever ways each can.
It is important to respect those countries which are good to Pakistan, but Pakistan should learn to chart its own course to prosperity by seeking constructive bilateral relationships with multiple countries around the world. This course will grant Pakistan
options and
flexibility to manage its affairs in the long-term. -----
[1]
Irrespective of all the posturing for public consumption, why China chooses to trade with as many countries as possible? Ponder over this. True levels of strength and prosperity are tied to socioeconomics. Rest is noise.
China have come a long way in terms of developing technologies but I would caution in regards to Western advances. Their scientific bases of knowledge are well-developed and Chinese have learned a great deal from them. Whether China remains on good terms with much of the West in the future (or not) remains to be seen but Western scientific bases of knowledge will not loose traction unless the entire hemisphere becomes unproductive which is unlikely. People continue to strive for betterment everywhere.
American technological advances remain significant irrespective of the impression a few Think Tanks have given in their reports. China still does not have anything on par with
Trident II D-5 class for instance. China have certainly developed an assortment of missiles in pursuit of its overarching A2AD strategy but it wasn't signatory to
NTI to begin with. However,
be mindful of misleading comparisons to influence foreign policy decisions. Should USA choose to EXIT from NTI, there is no telling what they can deploy at a rapid pace but they have quietly deployed an
arsenal of low-yield nukes on short notice as a reminder. Western advances in
the domain of Electronic Warfare are also significant but much in this regard remains classified. USA have tested
a sixth generation prototype recently while other countries do not have anything at par with American 5th generation designs in service yet. There is much more to expand on and discuss in fact but I will leave it here.
Western hemisphere seems to be in bad shape due to fallout of COVID-19 in the present but this dynamic won't last. Vaccines are emerging at a rapid pace and this period of crisis will come to pass as well.
WE should not write off other powers because of what happened in the past. Things are not rosy for anybody in life and they won't be countries by and large as well. Therefore,
[1] is the way forward. Pakistan's geopolitical acumen will be stress-tested in the coming years in view of Indo-USA dealings but Pakistan must grow a thicker skin and learn to extract from all quarters to its benefit. Cold War(s) ruin pawn nations and not help them attain prosperity. My 2 cents.
