my prediction is the PAF will select CAMM-ER, the navy was very satisfied at its performance with simulated brahmos intercepts.
It could actually go either way. PAF can integrate CAMM-ER into spada, and i know for a fact, they wanted to replace the ASPIDE missiles with something else, (skydragon 50 was the initial, very retardedly ambitious plan), hence CAMM-ER could fit quite well.
On the other hand, IRIS-T SLM could fit in well with the Current TRML based radars we have in large quantities, so literally, could go either way, both are a great option.
SL-AMRAAM could also be tied into TPS-77 MRR.
Total LIE! Dr.A.Q.khan never said that for nuclear tech. Its a huge disservice you are doing to Pakistani scientists who in 70s to 90s worked with a sole mission to make Pakistan nuclear power. Nuclear field is such field that no country, even your best friend won't like to see another nuclear power in the world. Pakistan became nuclear power ONLY because of its own human resource. Dr.A.Qkhan was great at procuring stuff and sending his team members for knowledge seeking to various parts of world . Often those missions were in Western countries (and were very risky). Why would they do it if they had China available to help in everything ??
People often confuse nuclear commercial power plants and mix them with nuclear weapon tech. Chinese contribution is STRICTLY LIMITED to nuclear commercial power plants setups. and Yes China / Korea helped in missile stuff. Ghauris were initially Koreas help, Shaheen's earliest version had chinese help. Ghauris wasn't completely Nodong as people allege. The whole control system was written at KRL, and various others bits but it was a starting point.
In the end, make sure never to spread this propaganda that china helped Pak become nuke power. Its massive disservice to all the scientists who literally dedicated their lives and sacrificed a lot for this endaveour. China did helped in missile tech and nuclear commercial power plants which are monitored by IAEA too for safety regulations.
100%. The real guts of the nuclear program was our indigenous effort to build the entire nuclear fuel cycle. In the 1950s or so, there was a cadre in Pakistan that urged the government to buy out the entire cycle via the open market as India was doing, but our leaders didn't see urgency - and once India did its tests, the entire market was closed to us. China wasn't going to help us with the cycle either. Hence, it was an indigenous effort led by Dr. M.A. Khan at PAEC with Dr. A.Q. Khan via KRL coming in to initially supporting the wider project but then later helping us accelerate via HEU. China did help with some very specific areas to move the program along, but again, we also got favours from Switzerland, Germany, etc as well. But NO ONE, I repeat NO ONE, was going to help or be implicated in selling the fuel cycle to us.
Speaking of high and dry, lets see, what happened in 65? Who stopped the spares and who came to fill in the void after. Fast forward to 71, who's promised fleet didn't show up? Kargil, why was PAF unable to challenge IAF dropping LGBs on frontlines?
How did Pakistan fill the void of those cancelled F-16s? If not for the joint dev of Jf-17 we would be a 300 F-7 fleet airforce by the 2010s. There's a limit to how much one can spin this stuff man. Sheesh, I wish you guys could sit down with the likes of Shahid Latif and Kaiser Tufail.
If PAF is again flirting with US offensive equipment... fool me once shame on you, fool me again.. Aik bil se do bar dhas, phir dhas dhas dhas..
The US provided us the military aid on the terms that we focus on the western borders, i.e., Soviet Union. From day 1, the US (like the UK before it) was against Pakistan picking a fight with India and wasn't going to arm us in ways that could disrupt the balance with India. In fact, give the books "Eagles of Destiny" a read because the authors discuss how the US also offering the F-104 to India around the same time as us.
US sanctions were the consequence of not abiding by US interests, if not contravening those interests (by disturbing India).
That said, those risks exist with the Chinese as well. In the hey-day of their economic growth in the 2000s and even early 2010s, China was NOT enthusiastic about releasing disruptive military technology to Pakistan. Rather, China's policy was for Pakistan to maintain good ties with India for the sake of regional stability and trade (India was and still is a key market for China).
It started to change once the US revised its Asia Pacific strategy and India began being a little more confrontational with China. However, the Indians are now walking that back a bit, and, to New Delhi, the goal is give China the incentive to stop arming Pakistan as much. It won't be very obvious now, but give it a few years and we'll see this become a major risk.
Basically, the point is, we need to be aware that NONE of these powers, from the US to China, are going to care about OUR interests. We HAVE to stand on our on two feet, but in lieu of our own industrial capacity and economic clout, the most we can do is ensure we're not throwing all of our eggs into ONE basket, be it China or US, and gradually work for indigenization with middle powers who have comparable high-level issues as we do.
And how would a AESA version, with serious MAWS and longstick of the Cheetah develop? Would something in the class of J-10 plus a dual pulse missile be available in 2025?
I know block 70/72 was available, but did you see the price on that thing. Not to mention, Amraam-D would never come with it.
Atlas Group was already working on a more capable Cheetah variant called the 'Super Cheetah' in the 1990s. They had acquired and tested a variant of the RD-33 on the platform and the results were good. The issue was that to make it work from an operational standpoint, they would've needed to develop the Cheetah platform further. By this point, Atlas was already manufacturing new wings, canards, and radomes for the Cheetah, but using the Mirage III's fuselage as-is. The next step, so as to make it work with the RD-33 properly, would've been to build the fuselage from scratch. So, in an effect, you would've had a new fighter aircraft.
Essentially,
@arslank01's underlying point is that if we just applied some critical thinking and not had a motu becharu mindset, we could have initiated our own fighter program with the South Africans in the 1990s.
By that point, the PAF had a way deeper level of understanding on the Mirage III/5 airframe (via MRF) and know-how to build new frames also existed (via RSA). The key now would've been to build a phased development cycle, as South Africa was already doing: Phase 1 could be an aggressive M3/M5 upgrade like the Cheetah that would've given BVR and PGM capability. Phase 2 could be a new-build fighter project centered on the RD-93 via the Super Cheetah program. Phase 3 would be further design and development work to produce a 4.5-gen fighter, likely clean-sheet, but with distant lineage to the Cheetah. By Phase 3, you will have developed a strong domestic foundation for original aircraft R&D and been experts with a certain mode (e..g, delta wing config).
The tragedy here is that we Pakistanis DO know how to be creative, and innovative, and visionary. We DID achieve something through our nuclear program by indigenously building the entire nuclear fuel cycle on our own. Folks have no clue how DIFFICULT that is when your sanctioned up the @ss. Genuinely collaborating on fighter development was doable for us, but, due to one issue or another, our programming wasn't led by scientists and engineers, hence the gaps we're facing with the JF-17.
You really think A- darter could be any where as good as the Pl-15? Out range the meteor? A-darter promises would have taken shape just like the R-77s did for India, because both share a small, funding depleted set of users.
Does that look like a ramjet.. Im glad we didnt go down that route.
A-Darter is a 5th-gen WVRAAM like the PL-10E.
The more apt comparison to the PL-15 would be the Denel Marlin program, which was centered on new-gen dual-pulse motor rocket tech like the PL-15.
If we had bought into the Marlin and gotten the IP, we'd have no trouble developing our own modern AAM and SAM tech.