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PAKISTAN ARMY Procured Cutting Edge Russian Kornet-E Anti-Tank Guided Missiles:
It has revealed in the PAKISTAN’s Directorate General of Defense Purchases (GoDP) that PAKISTAN ARMY has ordered state of the art Russian Kornet-E Anti-Tank Guided Missile (ATGM) during the year of 2018-18.
PAKISTAN ARMY had purchased the Kornet-E Anti-Tank missiles for a whopping $62.4 million. According to the details of MoDP, PAKISTAN ARMY has purchased more than 50 launchers of the Russian Kornet-E Anti-Tank Missiles along with the unspecified numbers of missiles during the year of 2017-18.
The total number of missiles ordered by PAKISTAN from Russia was not disclosed, but it is estimated that the numbers could go easily to hundred of units as per the total value of the signed deal.
It is important to mention that the Kornet-E Anti-Tank Guided Missiles (ATGM) is a state of the art ATGM developed by the Russian Defense companies and it is a major competitor of US Javelin Missile in terms of performance, firepower and agility.
The total range of the missile is 4500 – 5500 meters and it can hit any target falls beyond this range. The Kornet-E Anti-Tank Missiles carry 26 Kilogram weight and it can easily be used different vehicles and infantry. The missiles used in the Kornet-E are dependent on a Semi-Active Laser Homing (SALH) seeker.
Top Level Defense Experts believed that it is more likely that PAKISTAN ARMY has or will use the procured ATGMs more on the Line of Control (LOC) and Eastern border facing india than the western borders with Afghanistan.
It is important to mention that PAKISTAN had also purchased the Russian Flying Tank Mi-35M military chopper during the same year, but the revelations of the missile procurement were disclosed with the time span of almost 2 years.
It is important to mention that the defense ties of both PAKISTAN and Russia have grown tremendously from 2015 now the ties have grown further. Furthermore, the forces of both the countries have regularly participated in different Warfare Exercise after the year of 2015, which is a bold indication of the strengthened military to military relationship between both the countries.
Interestingly, PAKISTAN ARMY eyes the different variants of Anti-Tank Guided Missiles (ATGM) developed by different countries of the world.
The Ministry of Defense Production (MoDP) engages with preliminary negotiations with different countries for the procurement of Anti-Tank Guided Missiles (ATGMs), including the TURKISH Defense Company Roketsan.
A leading and multinational Ukranian Defense Company, UKrOboronProm, also expresses its willingness to collaborate with PAKISTAN on different projects for the designing, development and mass production of “Lethal and High Precision Weapons”. These Lethal and High Precision Weapons are likely to include the Anti-Tank Guided Missiles, amongst other lethal missiles.
Interestingly, TURKISH Giant Defense Company Roketsan’s Director for Development and Promotion had previously disclosed at IDEAS 2018 that PAKISTAN ARMY can easily conduct the tests of state of the art OMTAS Anti-Tank Guided Missiles and UMTAS Anti-Tank Guided Missiles (ATGMs) in the year of 2019.
It is important to mention that TURKEY also ordered the same Russian Kornet-E Anti-Tank Guided Missiles for whooping $70 Million back in 2008. According to the contract details, TURKEY has procured about 80 Kornet-E Anti-Tank Guided Missiles with more than 800 missiles.
According to the leading Russian Arms Export Company Rosoboronexport, the Kornet-E Anti-Tank Guided Missiles is a portable ATGM, which can easily be carried by the individual soldiers in different detachments. Moreover, the missile can also be fitted in any military vehicle without any major modification.
The Missiles are designed to engage all the new and future Generations Main Battle Tanks fitted with explosive reactive armor. Furthermore, the Kornet-E ATGMs can also be used for fortification, pinpoint surface to surface targets and it can also be used on hovering helicopters in the sky.
