ISLAMABAD, Pakistan The global proliferation of armed aerial drones took a major leap forward Friday when Pakistans military said it has successfully tested its own version and will soon deploy them against terrorists.
The drone, designated the Burraq, will be equipped with a laser-guided missile capable of striking with pinpoint accuracy in all types of weather, the military said. In the Koran, Burraq is the name of the white horse that took the Islamic prophet to heaven.
Gen. Raheel Sharif, Pakistans army chief of staff, witnessed the test and commended the countrys engineers and scientists for untiring efforts to acquire state-of-the-art technology that puts Pakistan in a different league.
Its a great national achievement and momentous occasion, Sharif said.
Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, who is not related to the army chief, said the weapons would add a new dimension to Pakistans defenses.
The Pakistani military said Friday that it has successfully tested its first armed drone and will begin using the weapons against terrorists operating inside the countrys borders. (Inter Services Public Relations/Pakistani Military)
Pakistans decision will likely accelerate the already supercharged race among nations to follow in the footsteps of the United States by deploying unmanned aircraft as an instrument of war.
According to the New America Foundation, there is evidence that eight other countries the United States, South Africa, France, Nigeria, Britain, Iran, Israel and China have already put weapons onto unmanned aircraft. The United States, Britain and Israel are the only three that have fired a missile from a drone during a military operation, the foundation said.
Dozens of other countries, including Pakistans archrival, India, are in the process of developing them, according to the foundation. And last month, the Obama administration said it would permit the export of armed drones to U.S. allies who request them on a case-by-case basis.
Peter W. Singer, a senior fellow at the New America Foundation, said Pakistans test confirms that the use of drones in warfare is here to stay.
This is not the start of the race; its mile seven of the race, said Singer, adding that India will probably also be able to quickly deploy an armed drone.
Still, he cautioned, the introduction of drones into Pakistans arsenal is not likely to alter the balance of power between the two nuclear-armed countries.
We are not talking about technology that requires the Manhattan Project, said Singer, referring to the U.S. effort to build the worlds first nuclear weapon during World War II. The ability to fire a rocket off a drone is fundamentally different than a global operation where someone sitting in Nevada can fire from a plane 7,000 miles away.
It was not immediately clear how quickly Pakistan plans to deploy its drones on the battlefield. But the military released a photo showing a dozen of them arrayed in a parking lot. Pakistans military said the drone was indigenously produced, but there have been recent reports that it was also seeking drone technology from China.
In November 2013, Pakistan announced that it had developed an unarmed drone. At the time, military leaders said the drone would be used only for surveillance and suggested that they had no plans to arm the craft.
But Pakistans military posture changed after the Pakistani Taliban attacked an army-run school in Peshawar in December, killing about 150 students and teachers. After that attack, the military stepped up its campaign against Taliban strongholds in the northwestern part of the country near the border with Afghanistan. On Friday, before it announced the drone test, Pakistans military said airstrikes had killed 48 militants in Pakistans tribal area near the Afghan border over the previous 24 hours.
Saad Muhammad, a retired brigadier general in the Pakistani army, said the availability of drones will make it far easier for the military to track and kill militants.
Pakistan is going to be facing this asymmetrical warfare for years to come, Muhammad said. There are areas where the state still does not have complete control and the enemy comes into sight for a very little time. . . . Its very costly to keep fighter planes in the air even for an hour.
U.S. officials offered no immediate comment on Pakistans announcement. Since 2004, U.S drones have been targeting al-Qaeda and other Islamist militants who have found refuge in northwestern Pakistan. Those strikes have killed more than 2,700 people, according to the South Asia Terrorism Portal, which monitors violence in the region.
Pakistani leaders have repeatedly condemned those strikes, saying they have killed scores of civilians and violate the countrys sovereignty.
