ISLAMABAD – For years, China has remained the major arms supplier toPakistan, especially after the latter decided to reduce its reliance on theUS. The ties between the two countries have closely revolved around thedefense purchases.
It implies that the South Asian superpower has somewhat monopoly overPakistan’s defense market where the competition is quite low. In a bid toturnaround the situation, Russia is looking forward to making inroads intoPakistan’s arms market.
According to a Russian news agency, Pakistan has shown interest inpurchasing Russian military hardware. The deal is expected to amount $9billion under which Islamabad would purchase heavy and medium fighter jets,medium and short-range air defense systems, tanks, combat helicopters, andwarships.Prospects of Pak-Russia Arms Deal
The agency has cited Konstantin Makienko, the deputy director of theMoscow-based defense think tank Center for Analysis of Strategies andTechnologies. Makeinko revealed that two types of Russian military hardwarecan make Pakistan’s shopping list, i.e., the new Russian fighter jet MiG-35and the heavy transport helicopter Mi-26T2.
However, the news has not been confirmed by Pakistan neither has there beenany related story on the country’s media. Makienko observed that given theChinese-dominated, low-competitive military market in Pakistan, Russia canget favorable terms on the purchase agreements.
He also said that Pakistan has not extended any request of technologytransfer for localization of production as terms for the purchase contract.
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From 2008 to 2018, Pakistan has received weapons worth over $6.4 billionfrom China. It makes China the South Asian country’s biggest militaryequipment supplier, while the US comes second with $2.5 billion in weaponssupply, and Italy as the third with arms supply worth $471 million.
Notably, Russia and China have been competing to take over the weaponmarket worldwide. China has been granting certain favors along the armsdeals to become a permanent supplier. For instance, in case of its dealwith Thailand in 2017, China reportedly sold three submarines among andgave one of these as a ‘free gift’.
*Via: EpochTimeslink*
