Pakistan Defense Minister Syed Naveed Qamar said Pakistan intends to build unmanned aerial vehicles. Qamar made the statement in discussions with Pakistani media, the News International reported Thursday, October 18, 2012. Pakistan's indigenous UAV industry is centered on the state-owned defense enterprise Pakistan Aeronautical Complex in Kamra, east of Islamabad.
PAC has begun manufacturing Falco UAVs in collaboration with the Italian company Selex Galileo. While initially the Falco UAV system is designed purely for aerial reconnaissance and information gathering, PAC intends the vehicles eventually to be upgraded to be equipped with weapon systems to carry out offensive operations, similar to U.S. UAVs.
Pakistan originally wanted to buy UAVs from the United States but Islamabad was rebuffed in its requests, leading PAC to attempt to develop an indigenous variant. However, technical issues have slowed development of the Pakistani program.
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