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WEEKLY NEWSLETTER
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Pakistan
Index
Pakistan began with virtually no military production
capability, and, because of its limited economic means and
lack
of foreign markets, there is little prospect of the
country's
ever developing industrial facilities that could cover its
equipment needs. However, it has taken a series of partial
steps
in some of the most crucial fields and aspired to become
selfsufficient , at least in such basic areas as aircraft
overhaul and
modernization and tank and helicopter sales. Symbolic of
Pakistan's determination to move to a degree of
self-sufficiency
was the creation of the Ministry of Defence Production in
September 1991.
The Ministry of Defence Production has been responsible
for
promoting and coordinating a patchwork of military
production
facilities that have developed since independence. The
oldest of
these facilities is the Pakistan Ordnance Factory at Wah
Cantonment, near Rawalpindi, established in 1951, to
produce
small arms, ammunition, and explosives. During the period
of
reliance on United States supply, there was little
attention
given to domestic production, but after the assistance
cutoffs in
1965 and 1971, Pakistan--with China's help--set about
expanding
its facilities, including the modernization of Wah. The
Heavy
Industries at Taxila was established in 1971 as an
equipment
rebuilding facility, followed in 1973 by the Pakistan
Aeronautical Complex at Kamra, north of Islamabad. The air
force
assembled Chinese F-6s and French Mirages; produced the
Mushshak
trainer, which was based on the Swedish SAAB
Safari/Supporter;
maintained radar and avionics equipment; and in the
mid-1990s was
in the process of developing the Karakorum jet trainer in
a joint
project with China.
The ministry also includes seven other specialized
organizations devoted to research and development,
production,
and administration. Total personnel strength in 1993 was
more
than 50,000, including 2,600 professionals. The government
estimated annual production in the early 1990s at US$500
million
including about US$30 million in exports. For example,
Mushshaks
were provided to Iran as light trainers and observation
aircraft.
Exports ranked high among the ministry's goals.
The navy is supported mainly by a facility at the
Karachi
Shipyard, which has limited production capacity and in
1994 had
to its credit only an 831-ton tanker and a prototype
200-ton
coastal patrol vessel. In 1987 development of a submarine
repair
and rebuild facility at Port Qasim was begun.
Pakistan's nuclear program is shrouded in secrecy, but
there
is little doubt that nuclear weapons have been produced or
at
least have reached the developmental stage of a final
"turn of a
screw"; and, although the program is believed to have been
technically arrested in 1992, the capability to produce
weapons
exists. Estimates put the inventory at between seven and
fifteen
weapons, at least some of which are deliverable by airdrop
from
C-130 or F-16 aircraft. Although F-16s supplied by the
United
States had the electronic wiring removed (necessary for
launching
nuclear weapons), some United States observers reported
that
Pakistanis could easily overcome this technological
obstacle.
In the early 1990s, Pakistan was also engaged in a
missile
development program, for which it had received substantial
Chinese assistance. The Hatf-1 surface-to-surface missile,
which
can carry a payload of up to 500 kilograms as far as
eighty
kilometers, was introduced in 1992; the Hatf-2, which
could be in
service by 1995, also carries a 500 kilogram payload but
has a
300 kilometer range. In 1994 there were unconfirmed
reports of a
longer range Hatf-3 missile under development.
Data as of April 1994
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