I won’t get into the political aspects of this, but to sum up my opinions in regards to the technical stuff. Yes, PAs armored fleet is in significant trouble right now, that has been apparent for years due to Ukraines declining industry and the lack of development of our own.
There’s a reason half the AK1 orders were canceled in favor of VT4, why Pakistan has been trying to put Chinese ERA and power packs into AKs, why Pakistan got ToT for VT4 etc. because they realized a few years back that all reliance on Ukraine was a death trap.
And while some significant progress was made to indigenize the parts imported from Ukraine (The entire FCS, GCS, auto-loader and dozens of other spare parts of the UD and AK series previously imported from Ukraine were localized by HIT and CARE), it wasn’t good enough, because we simply don’t have the technology to make powerpacks and are still totally reliant on Ukraine for those (our own fault for never developing industry).
So unless PA finds another solution, all tanks with Ukrainian engines and transmissions are running on borrowed time. This was all very clear before the war, but the war accelerated this issue in a way the PA wasn’t prepared for at all.
The long term solution is to replace everything with VT4s and Chinese components, everything in the AK included, but to extend this to AZ and UDs is likely too difficult, and PA might have to retire and downsize it’s fleet if HIT isn’t able to finish the aforementioned alternatives or if there’s a lack of funds (which there is).
On the other hand, the Indian tank fleet has also been significantly impacted, but because of the other side of the coin, Russia refusing to supply parts and tanks to fund its own war, and India also failed to fully indigenize their tanks, so both armies are not doing too well, particularly when it comes to armor.
I guess what you could take away from this is, Bajwa absolutely meant what he said. Why he said it, especially to the enemy, at such a time and in such a way, is not for me to comment on, all I can say is, regardless of your affinity for the forces, they’re the ones getting f*cked by his statement the most.
Given how unlikely a war between the two nations is though, regardless of all the warmongering, I think the bigger issue with Pakistans forces, and the country as a whole, is still all that’s going on inside it right now, and not the fact that we don’t have the right oil for our tanks. Our tanks are of no use with or without the right oil if we’re too busy fighting ourselves.
