Pakistan struggles to develop its own armed drones

The Denver Post

Visitors in Karachi, Pakistan, look at a model of the country's unmanned drones at an exhibition of its defense aircraft Thursday. Meanwhile, Pakistan is secretly racing to develop armed drones. (Shakil Adil, The Associated Press)

Pakistan, frustrated with U.S. refusals to provide it with armed drones, is secretly racing to develop its own aircraft — but struggling in its initial tests with a lack of precision munitions and advanced targeting technology. China, one of Islamabad's closest allies and Washington's biggest rivals, has offered to help by selling Pakistan armed drones it developed. But industry experts say there is still uncertainty about the capabilities of the Chinese aircraft. The development of unmanned combat aircraft is especially sensitive in Pakistan because of the widespread unpopularity of the hundreds of U.S. drone strikes against Taliban and al-Qaeda militants in the country's rugged tribal region bordering Afghanistan. The Pakistani government denounces the CIA strikes as a violation of the country's sovereignty, although senior civilian and military leaders are known to have supported at least some of the attacks in the past. Pakistani officials also call the strikes unproductive, saying they kill many civilians and fuel anger that helps militants recruit additional fighters — allegations denied by the U.S. Pakistan has demanded that the U.S. provide it with armed drones, claiming it could more effectively carry out attacks against militants. Washington has refused because of the sensitive nature of the technology and doubts that Pakistan would reliably target U.S. enemies. The U.S. has held talks with Pakistan about providing unarmed surveillance drones, but Islamabad already has these aircraft in operation, and the discussions have gone nowhere. Inaugurating a defense exhibition in Karachi last week, Pakistani Prime Minister Raja Pervaiz Ashraf indicated Islamabad would look for help from Beijing in response to U.S. intransigence. "Pakistan can also benefit from China in defense collaboration, offsetting the undeclared technological apartheid," Ashraf said. Pakistan has also been working to develop armed drones on its own, said Pakistani military officials and civilians involved in the domestic drone industry, all of whom spoke on condition of anonymity because of the classified nature of the work. Pakistan first began weapons tests seven to eight months ago with the Falco, an Italian drone used by the Pakistani air force for surveillance that has been modified to carry rockets, said a civilian with knowledge of the secret program. Pakistan lacks laser-guided missiles like the Hellfire used on U.S. Predator and Reaper drones and the advanced targeting system that goes with it, so the military has been using unguided rockets that are much less accurate.