RE: SriLankan to Colombo from LHR

Serendib
Its a shame you know so little about your national airline!
I work with them, they are excellent! Almsot every pilot,manager,travel agent I have met says that the New SriLankan Airlines beats the old Air Lanka hands down!
Try chatting to their CEO (Peter Hill) an Aussie with 20+ years experiance of the Airline world and he will tell you what sort of transformation has occured.

The old Air Lanka with its ancient Tristars has not a patch on the new airline with its A340/A330 fleet. In fact Air Lanka was comparable to PIA/Aie India in the past, and now it beats those two airlines hands down!!!!! Embaressing to admit as I am Pakistani! 🙂

Since Emraites took over senior management positions, they have had some VERY good quality people on board. The CFO is an Indian guy who has knowledge of aircraft that would make people on this forum blush!

RE: In memory of victims of 9/11.. please all sign!

Yasser Hussain

London

RE: Tanks related questions and news.

Tomel
Sorry for the small size of the pic, vehicle on top right is Al Thala, bottom right is command vehicle built at HIT based on M113 chassis.

RE: Tanks related questions and news.

Text of report by Pakistan TV on 13 August

Pakistan has prepared, from its own resources, the first armoured vehicle ‘Talha’. An exclusive report by PTV correspondent Mohammad Arshad Saleem:

[PTV correspondent Mohammad Arshad Saleem] Armoured vehicle is used for the movement of troops during the war. The armoured vehicle was used for the first time in Germany by Infantry in World War II. Pakistan Heavy Industries Taxila in 1992 started the preparation of armoured vehicle under the transfer of technology. The preparation of armoured vehicle started in 1998 in APC [Armoured Personnel Carrier] factory. This armoured vehicle has been named after the name of Talha [companion of Prophet Mohammad]. Talha set an example of bravery during the war of Ahud [war fought against infidels under the command of Prophet] while defending the Prophet Mohammad. Talha is among the ten lucky companions who were given the revelation of going to paradise during their life by Prophet Mohammad. The 12 ton armoured vehicle ‘Talha’ has the capacity of carrying 12 troops. This can travel a distance of 428 km at one time and can run successfully in every kind rough terrain. An engine of 320 horse-power can be installed in it. It can display unusual performance in deserts because of specially prepared tracks. The maximum speed of ‘Talha’ is 70 km per hour and it can cross the elevations easily. It has a night vision facility also. The front side has been given the shape of boat because of which it can float on water at the speed of 5 km. Additional firing ports and periscopes have been made in it for firing during movement. The gun of 12.7 mm has been installed on ‘Talha’ and it has capability of defending against every kind of arms and ammunition. Pakistani engineers and experts have prepared such an armoured vehicle in shape of ‘Talha’, which can be counted in the world’s latest armoured vehicles with regards to performance. By preparing it at the lower price as compared to world market much valued foreign exchange has been saved.

[Lt-Gen Hamid Javid, identified by screen caption] ‘Talha’ has been designed to meet the requirements of Pakistan Army and as a minimum it is going to be equal to or better than the American M113. Very soon we hope to put this vehicle into series production.

[Saleem] Other kinds of armoured vehicles have also been prepared in the Armed Personnel Carrier [APC] factory of Heavy Industries Taxila, which include Logistic vehicle ‘Al Kaswa’, Command Post Carrier ‘Satab’, and Security Vehicle ‘Muhafiz’. Armoured vehicle ‘Talha’ is the another important success of Heavy industries Taxila after the Main Battle Tank ‘Al Khalid’. ‘Al Khalid’ has been handed over to Pakistan Army. ‘Talha’ is in the final phase of severe trials and soon its series production will be started. Arshad Saleem, PTV News, Heavy Industries Taxila.

Source: Pakistan TV, Islamabad, in Urdu 1500 gmt 13 Aug 02.
BBC Worldwide Monitoring/ (c) BBC 2002.

I think the Indian Army decided to only order 120 Arjuns in the end.

RE: Pakistan Navy Frigates?????

Tomel
Yes, Pakistan is a poor country, we need to spend our resources very wisely, especially looking at the huge arms aqusitions by some of our neighbours.
I belive the PN is adopting a wise policy, the Chinese boats and our 6 upgraded type 21 frigates from the UK should have similar wepons fit.

C-803 air defence missile
Harpoon/Exocet ant-ship
Swedish electronic combat system

At the momment we only have 3 Lynxes and 6 Aloutte III choppers to operate from these ships (the 6 Sea Kings being shore based)
This should be rectified soon as PN is negotiating for more second hand Lynxes from the UK.

RE: Pakistan Navy Frigates?????

Tomel

According to this article the PN plan to place their own European systems and US weapons on these ships.

Pakistan not keen to enter arms race with India: Admiral Mirza

By Khalid Hasan

WASHINGTON: Admiral Abdul Aziz Mirza, Pakistani Chief of Naval Staff said here this week that Pakistan is seeking to strengthen its capabilities without entering into an arms race with India. In an interview, he told Jane’s that while the Indian Navy has been growing rapidly, “there is no desire on our part to match them ship-for-ship because that is not required.” Rather, he explained, Pakistan’s “strategy is to have some deterrence in certain areas – selective deterrence because of our resources and because of our advantages. Our aim is totally defensive.” That deterrence, he added,was based on the understanding that Pakistan would cause an unacceptably high level of casualties to attacking foes.

The Admiral who paid a short visit in response to an official invitation, said, “Ours is a small, modest navy,” with a current year budget of about $400 million and comprising three main components – aviation, surface and sub-surface. “At the moment, the sub-surface and aviation portions are very well balanced. What we require is the induction of more surface ships,” he pointed out. He said the Pakistan Navy’s top procurement priority is to buy new Jiangwei II-class frigates from China and modify them for Pakistan, adding that the Ministry of Defence and the Defence Committee had decided in 1995 to buy four of the ships, known domestically as the F-22P.

However, but “because of our economic situation, the decision was suspended and purchase delayed. Now we are again actively considering them and negotiations are ongoing.” He said “hopefully”, we can have the contract finalised in this fiscal year. Once the contract was signed, it would be three to four years before the first ship is delivered. While the first one is due to be built in China, the subsequent three would be built at Pakistan’s Naval Dockyard in Karachi. “After these four ships are completed, which will be in about seven years, I am hoping to keep the programme open because we will need more ships. Once we have this capability in the country we should take advantage of it and the programme should continue because even getting these four ships over the next few years is not going to meet our government-approved force levels”, Admiral Aziz said.

He explained that “the basic hull and the main machinery are the same [as China’s Jiangwei II-class frigates] but the command-and-control systems, the weapons and the sensors will be specially modified to our needs.” He added that the ships would be equipped with Pakistan’s existing inventory of naval weapons – French Exocet, Chinese C-802, and US-supplied Harpoon anti-ship missiles – but “if some better system becomes available, that is something we would have to consider.” The Pakistan Navy chief pointed out that force levels would drop in coming years since it “is becoming difficult to keep Pakistan’s two Leander-class frigates operational. The F-22Ps would replace them. “We decided to retire the first and through cannibalisation of it try to maintain the other ship and use that for training,” he added.

Pakistan plans to finish the Khalid-class (Agosta-90B) diesel-electric submarine programme after the third boat is completed, according to the Admiral. He noted that “if the third submarine is completed by the end of 2004-05 and the economy picks up by then, we will [seek] government [approval] to continue the programme. This is because our oldest submarines, the Daphne class, will be more than 35 years old, and we should be thinking of replacing them. It would be desirable after having invested so much in training the manpower and getting technology transfer that we continue the programme.”

He added that“our priority is surface ships and in four to five years, once the surface-ship programme has progressed to some degree, we will be in a position to talk about building additional Submarines.” Admiral Mirza denied any activity on citing nuclear weapons on sea, as reported. “All I said was that any country that has developed a nuclear capability has to then think of the delivery system. … It is obvious that anyone who has that capability will consider a sea-based system” along with land-based and aircraft-launched nuclear weapons that form the traditional nuclear triad. “It’s logical” to at least consider sea-basing those weapons, he said.

The Naval chief said that another major project under way is a new military harbour and port at Gwadar, about 240km west of Karachi. Noting that “the aim is to make that the primary naval base,” he stressed that the new port “is very important for many reasons. One is that Karachi is also a large commercial harbour and is becoming highly congested.” At Gwadar, he added, while “the harbour part is ready and we are operating ships from there, the infrastructure ashore is not yet complete (and) will take considerable time” to finish.

The facility “will be able to operate both surface ships and submarines for longer-range patrols … One of the primary missions [of the new base] is allowing the escort of ships from the Persian Gulf, as well as acting as a Western support base.” Jane’s quoted Admiral Mirza as saying that he is rebuilding the mutual military relationship with the USA, but it would also take time. He noted that while Pakistan “is providing support to Operation ‘Enduring Freedom’ and allowing use of our facilities, so far export permissions granted to US defence companies have not been issued …We have been assured that changes will be coming soon.” He said “the revival of this relationship in certain areas like military training has already started,” adding that Pakistan and the USA were exploring joint exercises “to start with at the low level and perhaps after that some port visits and possibly Foreign Military Sales.”

The Admiral told the publication that Pakistan would be cautious about entering into major weapons deals with the USA because “we have this experience of sanctions from the 1990s and it’s always in the back of our minds. So, unless we had insurance of life-cycle support we won’t accept any equipment.”

RE: I dont know what to say read this

I agree with GerryB, every religion, mine included, has its fair share of wackos……