T129: Fill & Download for Free

Yes. India can do it and is doing it already. First I will give you an example and then concentrate on the next decade 2020–30.Harming Pakistan’s Economy (This will be from Indian military perspective and Pakistan’s economic perspective)I will explain this with a real story. This is the picture of a Helicopter called T-129.It is developed by Turkish aerospace industries with Agustawestland an Italian company as it’s partner. India has state of the art Apache AH-64E helicopters which the US army also operates. We signed a deal in 2015 for 22 of those. 17 has already been delivered and the rest will be delivered this year. Indian army has liked the Apache so much they have ordered another 6 this year again taking the total to 28 Apache AH-64E for Indian armed forces.[1][1][1][1] And the best part is some parts will be made in India.[2][2][2][2] In addition we are also inducting HAL Light combat helicopter into Indian army. Army has ordered 114 and Indian air force has ordered 65 of LCH.[3][3][3][3]These helicopters are the air force arm of Indian army. Countries like US with fat defense budgets operate a fighter aircraft like F-35B for their marines in addition to F-35A which US air force operates and F-35C which the US navy operates. But that is USA with a defense budget of $700 billion. Rest of the world can’t afford that. So we operate only attack helicopters for our armed forces on the ground.After we got our Apaches Pakistanis were spooked. Their present Bell AH-1 Cobra outdated helicopters were no match to our attack helicopters. They needed to match our capability at any cost. They had 2 options. One is T129 the Helicopter in the picture above and another is Chinese made Z-10ME. In 2015 they also tried to match our capability after we signed a deal for 22 Apaches. They chose Bell AH-1Z viper. They ordered 15 AH-1Z vipers for $952 million. Bell already had manufactured the Helicopters for Pakistan. They had even painted Pakistani flag on the Helicopter. And then Trump became President and put the deal on hold in addition to withholding all security assistance to Pakistan.That’s the AH-1Z viper which was supposed to be delivered to Pakistan. The arrow is showing blacked out Pakistan markings.[4][4][4][4] They became very desperate. So in 2019 they evaluated T129 and Z-10ME. Pakistan liked Z-10ME. They were awed and floored by the wonderful quality of Chinese made Z-10ME. They couldn’t hide their excitement after seeing Z-10ME performance(pun intended). Then they chose T129 for their army. They signed a deal for 30 T129’s with Turkish Aerospace industries for $1.5 billion.Except there was a catch. The 2 Engines which power the T129 i.e., LHTEC T800-4A Turboshaft engines was a joint collaboration between American company Honeywell and British company Rolls-Royce. So if Turks want to sell this copter to someone else they had to have the approval of US government and UK government. But US government vetoed the sale thus stalling the deal altogether.[5][5][5][5] By now you would think Pakistan would go for Chinese made Z-10ME. Wrong, Pakistanis were way too excited when they saw Z-10ME performance. They knew they can’t pilot a brilliant piece of technological marvel called Z-10ME when they are too excited. That is why they said to Turkish Aerospace industry that they are willing to wait for another year to see if the deal is approved. Pakistan extends Turkey’s deadline to deliver T129 helosTheir desperation is summed up by an Turkish official Ismail Demir.“Pakistan has agreed to give us another year [to resolve the problem]. We hope we will be able to develop our indigenous engine soon to power the T129,” Ismail Demir, the head of Turkey’s top procurement agency, said Jan. 6. “After one year, Pakistan may be satisfied with the level of progress in our engine program, or the U.S. may grant us the export license.”Developing a Turboshaft Engine in just 1 year? Good luck with that mate.The End game for Pakistan and the next decade 2020–30The point I wanted to make from this story is a very simple one. Just this T129 attack helicopter deal if it goes through will set them back $1.5 billion. And this is a country which announced today on June 12th 2020 that they have just ~$10 billion in forex reserves.[6][6][6][6] Even if you include their reserves in their commercial banks it is still around ~$17 billion.From the above story we can conclude Pakistan doesn’t have that much trust on Chinese weapons. Only when they have no other choice they are forced to seek Chinese assistance like in the case of JF-17. Recently they secretly concluded a deal with Swedish aerospace company SAAB for the purchase of SAAB 2000 Erieyes AWACS. [7][7][7][7] They operate both SAAB 2000 Erieyes and Chinese made ZDK-03 Eagle AWACS. They could have gone for Chinese made ZDK-03 Eagle AWACS. But they went for SAAB. Because they have a choice between Western tech and Chinese tech in this case. What does it tell you about their trust in Chinese weapon platforms? They even purchased second handle F-16’s from Jordan. [8][8][8][8]This shows Pakistanis want to match India’s capability and they are willing to buy expensive western weapon platforms even when their economy is on the brink of bankruptcy. When India launched Nuclear submarines into service it sent shivers down the spine of Pakistani navy which is the most neglected of Pakistan’s armed forces. From both military and economic perspective all India should do is defense modernization in all it’s 3 branches. Make our own weapons with great speed and buy abroad if there is a better platform and for emergency purposes. This alone will put Pakistan’s economy in ICU. Well it is already in ICU.Why I think it works 100%?Because after Balakot Pakistan knows India has called their nuclear bluff and is more than happy to intrude into their air space to conduct attacks at will. When a country closes it’s air space for 4 months you know how much they are scared.[9][9][9][9] Just 2 days back they had a black out in Karachi because Indian jets flew close to their air space. Although IAF denied they had any jets flying on the western border the message has been clearly sent to Pakistani public who were scared that Indian jets were conducting another Balakot strikes. See the tweets of their netizens. They even scrambled their F-16’s.Pakistan will wage a low scale guerrilla warfare in Kashmir. What’s the use of high tech weapons?My point is still valid. Just because they send terrorists across the border doesn’t mean they won’t buy expensive weapons. Indian army on the ground has seen massive improvements in their weaponry in Modi’s 1st term and is still continuing. In the last few days Indian army is bombarding Pakistani positions at LoC with impunity. We should arm our forces and even BSF to the teeth and inflict massive damage every single day.ConclusionLook one thing is for sure. Pakistan’s economy is a pyramid scheme. IMF won’t be bailing them out forever. Pakistan has massive external debt obligations to the tune of $120 billion with peanut forex reserves. And this debt is only going to increase in the next 10 years. Imran Khan was literally begging for debt relief during this pandemic crisis. When ever we induct a Nuclear submarine, fighter jet like Rafale their jaws drop. And they will be forced to counter this one way or the other. We should modernize our military at a quicker pace. This will result in automatically choking their economy as they will be going for gun for gun.More on Pakistan’s economy you can read other 2 of my answers here:Saket Kumar's answer to There are many countries with huge trade deficit. How is it that only Pakistan has to go to the IMF (multiple times) while other countries don't have to?Saket Kumar's answer to What do you think of Pakistan suspending bilateral trade with India after the revocation of Article 370? Will this hurt Pakistan’s economy?Footnotes[1] India, US sign contract for additional Apache attack choppers[1] India, US sign contract for additional Apache attack choppers[1] India, US sign contract for additional Apache attack choppers[1] India, US sign contract for additional Apache attack choppers[2] Deadly AH-64E Apache attack helicopters to be made in India[2] Deadly AH-64E Apache attack helicopters to be made in India[2] Deadly AH-64E Apache attack helicopters to be made in India[2] Deadly AH-64E Apache attack helicopters to be made in India[3] Arun Jaitley inaugurates manufacture of light combat helicopter at HAL[3] Arun Jaitley inaugurates manufacture of light combat helicopter at HAL[3] Arun Jaitley inaugurates manufacture of light combat helicopter at HAL[3] Arun Jaitley inaugurates manufacture of light combat helicopter at HAL[4] AH-1Z Viper Attack Helicopters Spotted in Amarillo, Texas, With Blacked Out Pakistan Markings[4] AH-1Z Viper Attack Helicopters Spotted in Amarillo, Texas, With Blacked Out Pakistan Markings[4] AH-1Z Viper Attack Helicopters Spotted in Amarillo, Texas, With Blacked Out Pakistan Markings[4] AH-1Z Viper Attack Helicopters Spotted in Amarillo, Texas, With Blacked Out Pakistan Markings[5] US stalls Turkey’s fighter helicopter sale to Pakistan - Times of India[5] US stalls Turkey’s fighter helicopter sale to Pakistan - Times of India[5] US stalls Turkey’s fighter helicopter sale to Pakistan - Times of India[5] US stalls Turkey’s fighter helicopter sale to Pakistan - Times of India[6] SBP reserves fall $266.3m[6] SBP reserves fall $266.3m[6] SBP reserves fall $266.3m[6] SBP reserves fall $266.3m[7] https://www.flightglobal.com/defence/saab-2000-lands-secretive-aew[7] https://www.flightglobal.com/defence/saab-2000-lands-secretive-aew[7] https://www.flightglobal.com/defence/saab-2000-lands-secretive-aew[7] https://www.flightglobal.com/defence/saab-2000-lands-secretive-aew[8] Pakistan Purchases F-16s From Jordan[8] Pakistan Purchases F-16s From Jordan[8] Pakistan Purchases F-16s From Jordan[8] Pakistan Purchases F-16s From Jordan[9] What made Pakistan open its airspace for India[9] What made Pakistan open its airspace for India[9] What made Pakistan open its airspace for India[9] What made Pakistan open its airspace for India

First, it’s PAAC which uses gunship choppers, not PAF.At the present day, there is an ongoing order for Mil Mi-35M : 4 have been delivered, 5 are pendingThen, PAAC has 30 TAI/AgustaWestland T129 ATAK on order since 2018But the manufacturer could not obtain the necessary export permit from the US Department of Defense for the LHTEC (Rolls-Royce+Honeywell) T800-4A engine for the T129, and the manufacturer is now seeking a replacement engine to enable Turkey to complete the transaction. Considering the degrading relations between Turkey and the EU, TAI is unlikely to be able to procure Safran/Turbomeca engines too, moreover, Safran/Turbomeca has a JV with HAL to manufacture their engines in India which is one of their best clients, so upsetting India for the sale of 60 engines to Pakistan is very unlikely to happen… If TAI goes for Russian engines, they even may end sanctioned with USA refusing the T800-4A ITAR certificates even for Turkey’s domestic use or exports to the Philippines and to potential clients that are Qatar and Brazil… Looks like the sale of T129 to Pak is highly compromised…now, at the present day, there is NO CONTRACT SIGNED FOR CAIC Z-10The Pakistan Army acquired 3 units for evaluation in 2015 with a follow up order for 7 more, but it fell flat when, in 2017 they opted for the TAI/AgustaWestland T129Thus, the Z-10 (MTOW 7,000 kg) doesn’t really compares with AH-64 which is much heavier and heavily armoured (MTOW 10,433 kg), but is heavier than the T129 (MTOW 5,000 kg) which would be closer to the HAL LCH (MTOW 5,800 kg)While the Bell AH-1F/S Cobra in PAAC are lighter than all of these (MTOW 4300kg) and with ageing technologies : AH-1 was introduced in 1967, the AH-1F/S being upgraded versions, the 20 first AH-1F/S having been supplied in 1984–1986So, with the impossibility to procure T129, sales of AH-64 having been rejected by the US, thanks to deplorable behaviour of Pak’s ISI+Army towards the US ally (hiding of Osama bin-Laden, Pak SOFs helping Talibans at killing US militaries, Pak cosying with China), it’s also unlikely to get the French-German Eurocopter Tiger since Pak SOFs also targetted the French and German forces in Afgha and the last time the French accepted an arms contract with Pakis… it ended this way. I’m also dubious with further Russian sales of Mi-35M : India is by far Russia’s #1 arms export client, so, considering an ageing fleet of AH-1F/S, it’s obvious that the Z-10 may be the only alternative left for PAAC.Now, when it comes to counter the Indian Air Force's Apache helicopters…Well, even if helicopters may carry ManPADS as well as China has designed an ultralight AAM specific for helicopters, the TY-90, such assets are only to boot other helicopters or drones from the operations area, helicopters, as well as strike aircraft like A-10, Su-25 or even F-35, are NOT air superiority assets, such AAMs are only here for self defense, if the chopper operates while air-superiority is not effective, even a MiG-21 will eat it for lunch, so considering that Z-10 will “counter” Indian AH-64 is simply ridiculous…Actually, even asserting that Pakistan has to “counter” India is ridiculous : India NEVER started a single war. All the conflicts and clashes that opposed Pakistan to India were always started by Pakistan which’s military deliberately maintain tensions in order to protect their position since they syphon 4% of Paki GDP. It’s widely known that by just being a captain, you end with a 300m² villa, a swimming pool and driving a BMW, Mercedes if not a Porsche… Artificially maintaining a sustained animosity towards India simply allow Pak Army’s officers to keep on with a lavish lifestyle which is also funded by the corporate investments of the military.Would Pakistan comes back to reason, just like Bangladesh does, and reduces its military budget to 1.1%, or even 2%, Pakistan’s economy would soon highly improve, it would soon get rid from its huge debt trap, relations and trade would improve with many countries starting with its large neighbour that is India. It has to be noted that ALL Pak PMs or high ranking politicians that tried to imply in a peace process and a normalisation with India ended murdered, jailed or booted by a coup! Zia-ul-Haq made the things even worse with Islamization of Pakistan and promoting the jihad mentality while favouring the rise of extremists which now have became an issue nonetheless for India, but for Pakistan too! Extremists are like rabid dogs : they will ALWAYS end biting the hand that fed them! The only way to go with rabid dogs is euthanasia. At the present day, it has became rare that Pak doesn’t gets a terror attack at least once a week…If we compare to Bangladesh which, 40 years ago was deemed being the poorest country on Earth, with 25% less population than Pakistan and the 6th of its area has an economy weighting 122% of the Paki one and now is the 39th biggest economy in GDP(nominal), bt, of its $348bn GDP, Bangladesh only spends 1.1% in its military which have a $4.03bn budget while, of the Paki $284.2bn GDP, 4% ($10.3bn) are going to the military while… There are no threats on the country but the ones the military may artificially create! Moreover, being a nuclear power, even China would be unlikely to engage in an invasion of Pakistan, and actually, the risk of invasion would even lessen would the mil budgets got cuts as a country not really able to challenge a conventional invasion being in possession of nukes would way more likely use them than if it has a huge army!In other terms, Pakistan really has it all wrong! Just think about it : with 653k personnels, which is about the half of what India has for a 6x biggest population, any conflict ended disastrous. with a manpower that was 1 vs. 20 if not less, Israel won ALL the wars the Arabs started on them. At the present day, Israel has not even the 4th of Pak’s armed forces personnel, the UK has even less, France has not even the third, but all of them are WAY MORE EFFICIENT… Just think about the USMC kill ratio : 87:1…No matter the army, salaries (and also pensions) are the biggest of the budget. Pak could easily reduce expenses by reducing manpower to 150–200k with a much better selected, trained and equipped personnel, and much… less corrupted too. Rather than being obsessed with challenging India which is has the 2nd biggest population on Earth and the 5th economy with a 3+ trillion GDP, maintaining a purely defensive military with a budget that wouldn’t impede the economy and switching to a good neighbourhood policy will do much better for Pakistan’s interests than counter India’s AH-64… Actually, China is more likely to become an issue for Pakistan as it’s becoming so for all of its neighbours, very soon…

Well, Pakistan doesn't have apache AH-64 helicopters at the moment rather they use american made AH-1Fs cobra , MI-35 from Russia and now talks are in the pipeline for acquiring advanced Chinese Z-10 attack helicopters . Pakistan had ordered AH-1Z from USA , but the deal didn't happen due to America's sanctions on fund release to Pakistan on the backdrop of terrorism and not abiding to the US policies. Besides, they had ordered T129 AKT from Turkey but the deal also got stalled when US companies refused to provide engine for T-129 helicopter.AH-1F attack helicopter ( origin : USA )Z-10 ( Origin: China)MI-35 ( origin: Russia)Edit : some information has been edited finding some misinformation , thank youTop Gun Global AffairsDefense technologyNew Digital technologiesClick on the above links👆Follow these spaces for amazing international affairs , current affairs and defense technology developmentsUpvote and follow me for more details