Arabs are already manufacturing their own tanks Egypt manufactures 90% of Abrams tank,
Under the terms of this first MoU some 40 per cent of the tank's components would be manufactured in Egypt with the remainder being produced in the US and shipped to Egypt for final assembly.
Egyptian production of the United States M1A1 Abrams MBT (Egypt) - Jane's Armour and Artillery
Pakistan itself doesn't manufacture all parts of Al-Khalid tanks, for instance the engine is imported.
Yes, the engine of the Tank is imported from Ukraine, however, unlike Western suppliers, Ukraine isn't the type of country that would cut off spare parts. Also, Pakistan has already imported all of the Ukrainian engines for the next batch of Al-Khalids to be manufactured.
We have our own plans, but supporting Pakistani military industry financially is all Muslims duty including Arabs.
It's not only about supporting Pakistani Military Industry, rather its all Muslim Military Industrial complexes pooling their resources and working together, sharing knowledge and know how, coming up with our own Tanks, Jets, Submarines, Battle Ships, Aircraft Carriers, made as a result of all the engineers and expertise from our countries combined. Of course, this will require a lot of financial backing, but that is something Arab countries are not lacking in.
Yes, I agree that they should invest money in arms industry, but buying best arms is not wasting money.
Indeed, buying best arms is not wasting money, but from whom you buy those arms is what decides if its a waste of money or not. A weapon could be state of the art, but if its critical components are prone to arms embargoes or sanctions then what good is it when you need it most during time of war? Even a rock would prove to be a better weapon.
Here's a little story of our experience and the lessons we learned:
We too overlooked the fact that one day, after the Soviets are defeated and the west no longer needed us, our F-16's would become useless, and that was where we were proved wrong and therefore learned our lesson. There was always that perception within our leadership and even the common man that American weapons are the best and we have them therefore we have an edge over our adversaries, but alas, we were proven wrong when the Americans imposed sanctions on our country and cut off the critical components supply for our F-16's, therefore rendering them useless.
When india and Pakistan had a border conflict in 1999, in the mountains of Kargil, the IAF (indian air force) had a free reign over the battle zone and faced no opposition from our air force because we had nothing capable enough to defend our ground forces from the relentless pounding of indian precision guided munitions dropped by the IAF ground attack jets which were escorted by BVR capable MiG's.
Most of our F-16's were in their hangars and were not in fly worthy condition due to lack of spare parts, the few that could fly were only able to do so because the other F-16's were cannibalised for their spare parts and critical components. These fly worthy F-16's were only to be used to defend Pakistan's nucclear facilities from a joint indo-israeli strike therefore they couldn't be used in the theater of war in support of our ground troops.
So, its better to have a JF-17 that can defend our skies whenever the need arises, and a Al-Khalid that meets are requirements, and same applies to our other home made weapons as well. They might not be a Eurofighter Typhoon, F-15, or a Leo Tank, but at least they will function during time of war.
