Pak to produce drones
They are the US army's most potential weapons against the Taliban in the Afghan war zone and now the Pakistani army will also be able to use the pilotless planes to fight insurgents.
Pakistan will produce the planes in collaboration with an Italian company. Christened 'Falco', the planes would be used to carry out reconnaisance missions in the enemy territory as well as launching attacks based on the real time info sent by them to the command centre.
US military generally uses MQ-1 Predator which is an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV). It can serve in a reconnaissance role and fire two AGM-114 Hellfire missiles. Drone attacks have killed scores of Taliban and al-Qaeda militants. In the latest such strike Pakistan Tehrik-e-Taliban chief Baitullah Mehsud was reportedly killed.
Pakistan Prime Minister Yusuf Raza Gilani had pressed the US to provide Islamabad drone technology during his meeting with the US envoy to Pakistan-Afghanistan Richard Holbrooke.
Senior Pakistani army officials said the Falco will "address the present and future surveillance and reconnaissance needs of the Pakistan Air Force". The UAV production facility was established at Kamra over the past two years.
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