Hi Araz, engine tech was offered a long time ago, and there is no reason to link it to a tank purchase. Whatever money they want for engine tech can simply be paid without having to purchase a tank. If this was the case, then VT-4 would not be on trial as well. Nor would it take 2 years of tank trials.
Everything being said has serious logical flaws - "we don't have money - we cannot produce enough tanks - we don't have funds - we cannot outsource bottlenecked subsystems - we don't have money for a local tank but we want to purchase a foreign tank that costs more to buy and operate".
About corruption -
Are the politicians the only corrupt people in Pakistan? Or have military brown sahibs become quasi-business people too? When there is a problem - the solution is to blame the corruption of the politicians.
Fact is that Pakistan has always been corrupt and sold out - from the moment that the armed services of the British Raj and their civil service changed their flags and supposedly their loyalty from Britain to Pakistan, and then proceeded to takeover the country. From Ayub Khan to Musharraf, who now is a billionaire.
But that doesn't fully explain the problem, IMHO of why this need exists in purchasing Oplots. Everything being said is rationally flawed.
PS: I've visited many Pakistani industries all over Punjab conducting a survey for an IMF funded project and even have the opportunity to see Kamra and seen Mirages being rebuilt in the 1990s. I've never been to HIT though.
