Pakistan Air Defence System put in danger by China

Colombo [Sri Lanka] July 20 (ANI): Pakistan’s air defence systems deployed on its eastern border is in danger due to technical failures. The system purchased from China for millions of USD is now plagued with several technical failures.

Rusiru Waduge, writing in News 19 said that the Pakistan Army officials have raised a red flag over persistent problems experienced in Chinese made weapons systems but China has so far been slow to respond to the concerns of its ‘all-weather’ ally.

The Chinese-built portable air defence systems, artillery rocket systems and surface-to-air missile systems, bought at a cost of several million dollars, are riddled with technical and operational deficiencies.

As a result, several hundred man-portable Air Defence Systems (MANPADs), both launchers and missiles, are effectively moth-balled, leaving a serious gap in air defence on its borders, wrote Waduge.

The Chinese-made FN-16 MANPADS is designed to intercept low altitude and ultralow altitude air targets like enemy helicopters and low-flying aircraft and unmanned aerial vehicles under visual conditions.

But most of these systems are handicapped by defective surface-to-air night aiming and battleground signalling systems. Without these systems, the MANPADs are literally blind. As many 850 such systems have been declared non-functional by the army officials, reported News 19.

The Chinese manufacturer, Wuhan Infrared Co Ltd, instead of quickly replacing or repairing the systems, has appointed an allied firm, Valiant Technologies, to sort out the mess. Equally serious problems afflict over 500 QW 18 MANPAD launchers imported from China bought at a heavy price.

These systems are supposed to counter aerial threats and has a range of 6 km with a speed of 600 metres per second. It boasts of high antijamming and multitracking capability, says Waduge.

These MANPADs form part of a larger contract of 1300 systems with China Precision Machinery Import-Export Corporation (CPMIEC). About 500 of these systems were inducted into the Pakistan Army in 2016. Numerous deficiencies were found in these systems during biennial functional testing of these systems at the army base workshops since July 2019.

The army has asked CPMIEC to replace at least 47 of these systems along with one base control unit and one training simulator.

As per News 19, the story of multiple launch artillery systems, A100, bought from China, is quite similar, manufactured by the China state-run Aerospace Long-March International Trade Co (ALIT).

The A100, incidentally rejected by the Chinese Army, was inducted in Pakistan Army but during various field trials, the army found the system wanting in many respects. The Chinese manufacturer was apprised of these problems and asked for immediate repair replacement.

The representative of the Chinese company, after a detailed examination, concluded that the systems had to be replaced as they were beyond repairs.

These problems are causing a serious headache in the forward air defence positions of Pakistan Army which comes on top of the persisting issue of defective Chinese-made LY80 surface-to-air missile systems, wrote Waduge.

Moreover, large numbers of other weapons including missiles, rocket launchers, which have bought from China, have met with several technical issues.

According to the sources, many of such weapons are out of repair. Therefore, air safety and security of Pakistan is in enormous danger, said Waduge. (ANI