Report: Pakistan Eyeing French Weaponry
By JOHN LEICESTER – 19 hours ago
PARIS (AP) — Pakistan is trying to buy French missiles and radar for a jet fighter it is developing with China, a defense journal said Thursday, and experts warned that such a deal risked the technology falling into Chinese hands despite a European arms embargo on China.
Pakistan is talking to France about obtaining air-to-air missiles from the MBDA company and radars from Thales for its version of the JF-17 warplane, Jane's Defense Weekly said in a report posted on its Internet site.
Those missiles and similar radars also equip Taiwan's French-built Mirage fighters, and the island's weapons systems could be compromised if Pakistan transferred the technology to China, Jane's said.
The journal cited unidentified Russian and Chinese sources as saying the French sale to Pakistan was "likely" to go ahead.
A spokesman for MBDA initially said it was bidding to supply systems for the Pakistani jet, but later retracted his statement, saying he had been misinformed. Thales declined to comment, and French government officials would not discuss whether a deal was in the works.
Full story
http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5h4m6SyG7MpgjfLAMczYccdiYprHg
By JOHN LEICESTER – 19 hours ago
PARIS (AP) — Pakistan is trying to buy French missiles and radar for a jet fighter it is developing with China, a defense journal said Thursday, and experts warned that such a deal risked the technology falling into Chinese hands despite a European arms embargo on China.
Pakistan is talking to France about obtaining air-to-air missiles from the MBDA company and radars from Thales for its version of the JF-17 warplane, Jane's Defense Weekly said in a report posted on its Internet site.
Those missiles and similar radars also equip Taiwan's French-built Mirage fighters, and the island's weapons systems could be compromised if Pakistan transferred the technology to China, Jane's said.
The journal cited unidentified Russian and Chinese sources as saying the French sale to Pakistan was "likely" to go ahead.
A spokesman for MBDA initially said it was bidding to supply systems for the Pakistani jet, but later retracted his statement, saying he had been misinformed. Thales declined to comment, and French government officials would not discuss whether a deal was in the works.
Full story
http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5h4m6SyG7MpgjfLAMczYccdiYprHg