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Pakistan, barred from the higher end of the Western defence market, pivoted to China not solely out of strategic alignment but due to constrained choices, an arrangement Beijing has deliberately cultivated. The continued expansion of the relationship despite combat losses underscores Islamabad’s dependence on Beijing for advanced technologies rather than the merits of the systems, a report has highlighted.
“The structural logic of the partnership is not difficult to establish. American drones like the MQ-1 Predator and MQ-9 Reaper are technologically more advanced, but Washington limits their export, especially to de facto allies of Beijing such as Pakistan. Excluded from the higher end of the Western market, Pakistan turned to China not purely out of strategic affinity, though that is a factor, but out of constrained choices. China, for its part, has actively cultivated this position,” a report in Sri Lankan newspaper 'Daily Mirror' detailed.
“The Wing Loong II has been primarily developed for export and marketed by Chinese developers as a cheaper alternative to the MQ-1 Predator, with a per-unit price estimated at around $1-2 million compared to, for example, the MQ-9 Reaper's $30 million. The price differential is real, and for a defence budget under persistent fiscal pressure, it matters. What is less clearly communicated in the marketing materials is what that price differential actually reflects in terms of performance,” it added.
According to the report, the CH-4B unmanned combat aerial vehicle procured from China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation and operated by Pakistan's Army Aviation and Navy – bears an external resemblance to the MQ-9 Reaper – a similarity long noted by analysts.
The comparability, however, it said, largely ends at the "silhouette", the report spotlighted.
“The CH-5, China's larger follow-on platform comparable to the Reaper, is equipped with an unidentified turbocharged piston engine with less than half the horsepower of the Garrett TPE331 turboprop mounted on the Reaper. This limits the CH-5's maximum altitude to 9 km, compared to the 12-15 km of the Reaper,” it noted.
The report further said, “Pakistan's drone programme is institutionally embedded in a way that will make it difficult to unwind regardless of how China-Pakistan relations evolve. But the capability it represents is more constrained than the volume of announcements surrounding it suggests. The price is low for a reason, the maintenance record is public, and the combat losses are documented.”
