Pakistan tests 1st indigenous armed drone, laser guided missile

KARACHI: Pakistan today successfully tested its first indigenous all-weather armed drone and a laser guided missile that can strike its targets with pinpoint accuracy. 

Chief of Army Staff General Raheel Sharif attended the ceremony and witnessed the test-fire of the new missile on static and moving targets. 

The drone, named Burraq, has the ability to fly in all types of weather conditions and strike its targets with pinpoint accuracy. 

Pakistan also tested its laser guided missile named Barq. General Sharif Sharif said this newly developed arsenal will increase the military's capacity in fighting terrorism. 

He commended engineers, scientists and technicians for their untiring efforts to develop this state-of-the-art technology. 

"Let's join hands to take Pakistan forward in respective fields," General Sharif said in his message to the fellow countrymen. 

The military announced that a very effective force multiplier had been added to the inventory of the armed forces, the Pakistan Army said in a statement. 

In November 2013, the military had indigenously developed surveillance-capable drones. The induction of two unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), called the 'Burraq' and 'Shahpar' systems, in the Pakistan Army and Air Force was seen as a landmark and historic event. 

Pakistan already has several types of unarmed surveillance drones in operation, but Burraq and Shahpar were the first surveillance drones to be developed locally. 

An unarmed version of the Shahpar was unveiled for the first time at the International Defence Exhibition (IDEAS) in Karachi. 

Industry insiders say China has also reportedly offered to sell Pakistan an armed drone it has produced, the CH-3, which can carry two laser-guided missiles or bombs, Dawn reported.