Pakistan unveils first domestically built drones, Burraq and Shahpar
After years of criticism and outrage over the United States use of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), or drones, over the skies of Pakistan, the military announced Monday the deployment of the country’s first locally made drones.
“Pakistan today inducted the first fleet of indigenously developed strategic UAVs named Burraq and Shahpar in the army and air force,” the military announced in the statement.
The announcement coincided with a move by Pakistani police to prevent activists protesting U.S. drone strikes from blocking trucks carrying NATO troop supplies to and from neighboring Afghanistan.
The Pakistani government has called the US drone attacks a breach of its territorial integrity and urged the United States to end them as soon as possible.
According to a Winnipeg Free Press report, Pakistan has also been racing to develop its own armed drones but has struggled with a lack of precision munitions and advanced targeting technology, according to 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.
Even if Pakistan had this technology, the small drones it has developed would have trouble carrying the kinds of missiles fired by U.S. Predator and Reaper unmanned aircraft. The Pakistani drones also have much more limited range than those developed by the U.S.
