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| Al-Khalid MBT (Wiki Info - Image: Wiki Commons) |
By Ankit Panda
The crisis in Ukraine may cause a headache for Pakistani defense procurement.
Contagion from the Ukraine crisis could affect its ability to honor defense contracts signed with Pakistan. In recent weeks, eastern Ukraine has devolved into chaos as Russia backed separatists continue to fight the central government. Additionally, the loss of Crimea to Russia earlier this year affected Ukraine’s ability to manufacture important defense-related materials and disrupted supply chains.
According to Defense News, the Ukrainian government is unconvinced that it will fail to meet contract obligations to Pakistan. It has reassured Pakistan via its ambassador Volodymyr Rakomov that all obligations will be met. The ambassador met with the Pakistani Minister for Defense Production Tanveer Hussain in late April and he said that “All factories are in full swing and there are no problems of legitimacy in Ukraine as portrayed.”
Ukraine manufactures the engines that are used in Pakistan’s Al-Khalid (MBT-2000) series of tanks. About 500 of these tanks were in use by the Pakistan Army as of 2009. The tanks were jointly developed by China and Pakistan in the 1990s and now are a major component of Pakistan’s land-based conventional forces. According to sources cited by Defense News, including a former Australian defense attache in Islamabad, the Pakistani Army is particularly concerned about its Ukrainian Al-Khalid tank engines.
Read the full story at The Diplomat