Monday Morning Meeting on Understanding China and Pakistan’s UAV Capabilities

Gp. Capt. (Dr.) Rajiv Kumar Narang (Retd.), Senior Fellow at the Manohar Parrikar Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses (MP-IDSA), made a presentation on “Understanding China and Pakistan ’s UAV Capabilities” at the Monday Morning Meeting held on 18 March 2024. The session was moderated by Col. (Dr.) Rajneesh Singh (Retd.), Research Fellow, MP-IDSA. The scholars of MP-IDSA attended the meeting.

Executive Summary

The presentation provided a comprehensive overview of the Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) programs of both China and Pakistan, spanning from their inception to their current known status. It underscored Pakistan’s collaboration with China and Turkey in advancing this technology and its implications for India.It also delved into questions such as why China is emerging as a UAV power and also contemplated on India ’s UAV projects.

Detailed Report

Col. Rajneesh Singh, in his opening remarks, emphasised that the concept of UAVs is not new and has existed for a considerable period. He noted historical instances such as the use of drones for target practices during World War II and unmanned helicopters during the Cold War. Furthermore, he highlighted the democratization of drone development, previously dominated by the US and Israel, which has now become widespread and is operationalised in various conflicts globally. Drones are also increasingly being used by non-state actors for various purposes.

Gp. Capt. Narang shared a brief anecdote of how he was introduced to Pakistan's UAV development programme in 2015 and his follow up research on evolution of Pakistan’s UAV industry from late 1990s. Regarding China, he discussed the role of the Aviation Industry Corporation of China (AVIC) that was established in 1951 as the Bureau of Aviation Industry and renamed AVIC in 2006. Other notable institutions in China ’s UAV landscape include Guizhou Aviation Industry Import/Export Corp (GZAIEC), Xi'an ASN Technology Group Co. Ltd., China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation (CASC), and China Aerospace Science and Industry Corporation (CASIC).

China’s drone program commenced with the reverse engineering of Russian La-70 target drone that was undertaken at Weapons Test and Training Base in early 1960s by a team led by Gen. Zhao Xu of Peoples’ Liberation Army Air Force (PLAAF)’. The Cai Hong-3 (CH-3), an armed UAV manufactured by CASC, was initially showcased in 2008. Subsequently, the CH-4 took its maiden flight in 2011. Notably, the CH-5 (MQ-9 Reaper Class) having a payload capacity of 1200 kilograms made its first flight in 2017. WJ-600, a jet-powered UAV manufactured by CASIC, was first displayed at an airshow in 2010.

Gp. Capt. Narang further elucidated how China ’s UAV R&D followed a trajectory marked by setbacks and extended development timelines. He also emphasized the significant role played by research universities in China, such as Nanjing University of Aeronautics & Astronautics (NUAA), Shenyang Aerospace University (SAU), and Beijing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics (BUAA).

In China, several indigenous UAV programs feature locally developed engines, and there have been efforts to develop supersonic UAVs as well. China is also actively working on miniaturisation of weapons and sensors for UAVs. Furthermore, China has a UAV swarm programme, which included few world record quadcopter UAV swarm displays since 2018. China has exported UAVs to countries like Nigeria, Egypt, Pakistan, Iraq, Jordan, the UAE, and Saudi Arabia. Notably, in March 2017, China made an investment of USD 65 billion for establishing the CH-4 UAV manufacturing facility in Saudi Arabia.

Turning to Pakistan, he observed that Pakistan has an established UAV development programme. Its UAV program is a collaborative endeavor involving both Public Sector Units (PSUs) and the Private Sector. The public sector entity, Global Industrial and Defense Solutions (GIDS) played a significant role in developing UAVs such as Uqab, Shahpar, and Huma. The private sector companies like East West Infinity (Pvt) Ltd. and Integrated Dynamics made significant contribution in UAV development. Integrated Dynamics, has exported small civil UAVs to Australia, Spain, South Korea, Libya, and United States border guards since 2006. Pakistan also forged partnerships with countries like Turkey and China to manufacture UAVs.

Moving forward, Gp. Capt. Narang pondered why China is emerging as a UAV power. He observed that the innovation friendly structure of its military, which fosters a scholar warrior culture that supports technological development seems to be one of the major contributors to the growth if its domestic UAV industry. The other technology development friendly initiatives of the People ’s Liberation Army (PLA) include its officers pursuing advanced degrees, establishing a post-doctoral forum on defense technology and PLA personnel leading the technology development projects. He remarked that China ’s and Pakistan ’s UAV programs and collaboration between China, Turkey, and Pakistan on UAVs increases India ’s security and border management challenges.

He also provided a brief overview of India's UAV programs and the challenges they encounter. He discussed challenges leading to closure of India’s UAV programs in the past and uncertainties faced by ongoing UAV development programs. Furthermore, he highlighted how the import of critical components create vulnerabilities and dependencies and how the integration of UAVs remains a challenge.

Questions and Comments

The talk was followed by a Q&A session. Before opening the floor for questions, Col. Singh emphasised that no technology in the world is developed without encountering failure along the way. In response to the question regarding whether Indian UAV programs feature indigenous engines, Gp. Capt. Narang stated that while India has imported engines like Rotax, it possesses the capability to develop indigenous engines. He also stressed the importance of balancing exports and imports, noting that importing numerous systems can incur significant costs.

He emphasised the need for creating consciousness about the importance of Intellectual Property (IP) protection, which has been a weak area. In response to the question about the availability of counter-drone systems in India, he made special mention of contribution of iDEX in developing indigenous solutions. However, he noted that follow up on iDEX initiatives are needed to develop more capable counter drone systems to counter the threat posed by sophisticated drones, especially swarm drones He discussed limitations of Transfer of Technology (TOT) and advocated development of indigenous critical systems.

He also pointed out that indigenously designed, developed and manufactured (IDDM) components are not likely to become commercially viable or cost competitive vis-a-vis global suppliers without supportive IDDM procurement policies. Indian private sector companies have predominantly focused on development of small UAVs. While responding to a question on how Pakistani and Chinese observers view Indian capabilities, he opined that Pakistani observers diligently examine India ’s UAV programmes and Chinese observers tend to downplay Indian capabilities. In his concluding remarks, he said that even though India has the ability to develop UAVs, it has struggled to transform indigenously developed UAVs into operational UAVs due to variables like delays and inconsistencies in allocation and release of  funds, administrative delays, challenges in obtaining timely approvals,  hesitancy in introducing course corrections etc.

Report was prepared by Mr. Rohit K. Sharma, Research Analyst, Strategic Technologies Centre, MP-IDSA.