Pakistan has developed an impressive capability to design and build drones or unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), some of which are being used to spy on al Qaeda and Taliban militants and listen in on their phone calls. The Pakistan Air Force (PAF) currently fields two UAV squadrons and has plans to boost the number up to six.
In addition to the Bravo+ UAV, which, according to PAF chief Air Chief Marshal Tanvir Mahmood Ahmed, has been built indigenously, the air force will also receive the Falco UAV produced by SelexGalileo of Italy. The two systems will be used mainly for aerial reconnaissance and information gathering, although the PAF will later also induct UAVs equipped with weapon systems to carry out offensive operations.
"This capability we are developing fairly rapidly; we are becoming mature. It is part of our operations now and I look forward to seeing this in real operations by [the] beginning [of] 2009," said ACM Tanvir Ahmed.
Meanwhile, Pakistani sources said that in the current war against terror al-Qaida and Taliban fighters not only use mobile and satellite phones for communication, but also sophisticated military radios. This has led to the development of SIGINT [signals intelligence] capabilities for small drones and robotic blimps by companies like EastWest Infiniti aimed at capturing such conversations.
For more on this article, please click on the following link: Pakistan develops impressive UAV capabilities: Domain-b
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment