Senate Committee on Defence Production has reviewed Pakistan's defence cooperation with Russia as well as selling of Super Mushshak (Proficient) and JF-17 Thunder Aircrafts in the international market. Lieutenant General Abdul Qayyum (Retd) chaired the meeting of the committee on Tuesday wherein the committee members reviewed the budget allocation of the Ministry for current fiscal year, expenditure and targets set by the industries falling under Ministry of Defence Productions.
The officials of Defence Production informed the committee that they were satisfied with the budgetary allocation of current financial year. They said major proportion of budget was allocated for research work in Defence Production. The committee also reviewed the selling strategy of Mushshak Aircrafts in the international market. The officials of Defence Production said Turkey had inked an agreement for procurement of 100 Mushshak Aircrafts from Pakistan. With a capacity of building 50 aircrafts in one year, Pakistan would hand over 100 aircrafts to Turkey in two years.
The committee recommended to build Burq UCAV on commercial basis and also recommended to issue special coin of Rs 10 in honour of Defence Production's services. Production Ministry has been awarded international orders of $100 million as a result of international standard defence production equipments. With respect to Russia, the committee was informed that defence relation was further strengthening after Russia lifted ban on procurement of defence equipments in 2014. Pakistan procured four helicopters from Russia in 2015. In addition, Pakistan also inked various defence cooperation agreements with Russia.