{"id":2580,"date":"2013-11-25T17:01:57","date_gmt":"2013-11-25T23:01:57","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/peaceeconomyproject.org\/wordpress\/?p=2580"},"modified":"2013-11-25T17:01:57","modified_gmt":"2013-11-25T23:01:57","slug":"pakistan-unveils-its-own-military-drones-as-protests-continue-against-u-s-attacks","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/peaceeconomyproject.org\/wordpress\/pakistan-unveils-its-own-military-drones-as-protests-continue-against-u-s-attacks\/","title":{"rendered":"Pakistan unveils its own military drones, as protests continue against U.S. attacks"},"content":{"rendered":"

by\u00a0Tim Craig<\/a>\u00a0and Haq Nawaz Khan, The Washington Post
\nclick here for original article<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

KABUL \u2014 Pakistan\u2019s military unveiled two domestically produced drones Monday, even as the country is facing growing protests over\u00a0U.S. drone strikes<\/a>\u00a0on Pakistani soil.<\/p>\n

After years of preparation, the Strategically Unmanned Aerial Vehicles were formally announced by Gen. Ashfaq Kayani, chief of Pakistan\u2019s military. The drones, called Burraq and Shahpar, will not be armed and are to be used only for surveillance, military officials said.<\/p>\n<\/article>\n

\n
The development of the drones, thought to have a range of about 75 miles, represents a milestone for the country\u2019s military and scientists, Pakistani and Western analysts said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is a landmark and a historic event, wherein a very effective force multiplier has been added to the inventory of the armed forces,\u201d the military said in a statement.<\/p>\n

For years, Pakistan\u2019s military has seen up-close the effectiveness of\u00a0the U.S. drone campaign<\/a>, which has included hundreds of strikes within the country\u2019s borders. When the United States began using armed drones after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, then-Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf asked President George W. Bush\u00a0to supply drone technology to his country<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The United States declined, setting in motion the nuclear-armed nation\u2019s homegrown effort to develop the technology.<\/p>\n

Pakistan\u2019s military first revealed its drone technology at a trade show last year, but Monday\u2019s formal unveiling coincides with an ongoing farewell tour by Kayani, who is retiring after two terms as army chief.<\/p>\n

Brig. Muhammad Saad, a former Pakistani military senior officer familiar with the subject, said the country already had less-sophisticated drones for intelligence gathering, with a range of about six miles. The newer models, he said, will prove useful for the \u201ccollecting of more operational intelligence\u201d that could help guide helicopter gunships and fighter jets to specific targets.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is a great achievement, and the drones can be used instead of surveillance jets and fighter jets that would be costlier [to fly] than drones,\u201d Saad said.<\/p>\n

Saad and other observers said Pakistan is still years away from being able to develop armed drones. Still, Monday\u2019s announcement is likely to unnerve Pakistan\u2019s neighbors, including India and Afghanistan.<\/p>\n

Peter W. Singer, a military hardware and analysts at the Brookings Institution, said most surveillance drones can be armed, though they will lack the precision of U.S.-developed models.<\/p>\n

\u201cAlmost any unmanned system can be armed in a crude style, such as dropping a bomb or even turning it into an equivalent of a cruise missile that you fly into the target,\u201d said Singer, adding that the announcement will probably add to growing fears about proliferation of drone technology.<\/p>\n

The Pakistani military\u2019s announcement comes as the country is facing growing discontent in some parts over recent U.S. drone strikes, including an attack this month that killed\u00a0the leader of the Pakistani Taliban<\/a>.<\/p>\n

In the aftermath of strike, as well as one last week that killed\u00a0several commanders affiliated with the Haqqani militant network<\/a>, protests continued Monday in Pakistan\u2019s Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province.<\/p>\n

Since Saturday, supporters of the province\u2019s chief political leader, Imran Khan, have been attempting to disrupt NATO supply convoys traveling to and from landlocked Afghanistan. The protesters set up checkpoints on at least three suspected supply routes, requiring truck drivers to verify they are not carrying goods for the NATO mission in Afghanistan.<\/p>\n

On Sunday, some truck drivers were dragged out of their vehicles by protesters, but local police said Monday that they would try to guarantee safe passage.<\/p>\n

Spokesmen for the NATO mission in Afghanistan did not respond to requests for comment.<\/p>\n

Provincial ministers in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government also marched in protest at the U.S. Consulate in Peshawar on Monday.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have told the U.S. that no more drone strikes on our land will be tolerated,\u201d said Sirajul Haq, a senior government minister.<\/p>\n

At the federal level, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif has repeatedly condemned the strikes but has vowed that NATO supply routes will remain open.<\/p>\n

After last week\u2019s strike, Sharif\u2019s government issued a statement saying that it has the capability to shoot down U.S. drones. \u201cHowever, we are a responsible state and do not want to take any decisions in haste,\u201d said Rana Tanveer Hussain, the minister of defense production.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Khan reported from Peshawar. Shaiq Hussain in Islamabad, Pakistan, contributed to this report.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/article>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

by\u00a0Tim Craig\u00a0and Haq Nawaz Khan, The Washington Post click here for original article   KABUL \u2014 Pakistan\u2019s military unveiled two domestically produced drones Monday, even as the country is facing growing protests over\u00a0U.S. drone strikes\u00a0on Pakistani soil. After years of preparation, the Strategically Unmanned Aerial Vehicles were formally announced by Gen. Ashfaq Kayani, chief of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2581,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"nf_dc_page":"","om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[8],"tags":[168],"class_list":["post-2580","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-drones"],"acf":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/peaceeconomyproject.org\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/11\/5293498e91f04.jpg?fit=445%2C480&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/peaceeconomyproject.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2580","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/peaceeconomyproject.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/peaceeconomyproject.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/peaceeconomyproject.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/peaceeconomyproject.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2580"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/peaceeconomyproject.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2580\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2582,"href":"https:\/\/peaceeconomyproject.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2580\/revisions\/2582"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/peaceeconomyproject.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2581"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/peaceeconomyproject.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2580"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/peaceeconomyproject.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2580"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/peaceeconomyproject.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2580"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}