Defence Uncut

Türkiye, Saudi Arabia and Pakistan have signed the Mecca Joint Defence Agreement, and the "Islamic NATO" label was attached within hours. Bilal Khan and Arslan Khan spend the first half of this episode explaining why that framing does not survive contact with the details: an Article 5-style clause broad enough to oblige nobody, the precedents of SEATO and CENTO, three signatories facing three unrelated adversaries in India, Iran and Israel, no integrated command, no hardware interoperability between Pakistan's Link-17 architecture and Turkish or Saudi networks, and effectively no expeditionary lift in any of the three.

The optimistic reading is joint capacity building: Saudi fiscal capacity, Turkish industrial know-how, Pakistan's engineering and PAEC/NESCOM talent pool, and parallel production lines for missiles and interceptors. The realistic reading is that Riyadh, Ankara and Islamabad are each selling a different promise to a different domestic constituency. Also covered: why Egypt was blocked, why Qatar is the logical next entrant, and what an EU SAFE-style financing mechanism could unlock.

The second half starts with news that stings. India has issued an RFI for up to 150 lead-in fighter trainers to replace its BAE Hawk Mk 132 fleet, with Leonardo's M-346FA, KAI's T-50, UAC's Yak-130 and the Boeing/Saab T-7A in the frame. The Pakistan Air Force has looked for a LIFT platform for nearly two decades and bought nothing. The hosts explain what a lead-in fighter trainer does, why the PAF's Super Mushshak to K-8 to FT-7P pipeline is dangerously ad hoc for a force discussing fifth-generation aircraft, and how the same drift cost Pakistan BriteCloud, the Grifo-E AESA radar, Elettronica's EW suite, Denel's missile know-how and a CAMM-ER-derived tri-service missile family.

Then a long listener Q&A: Pakistan's missing tri-service C4ISR and the real limits of Link-17, Link Green, NIXUS and the Army's IBMS/IBFMS; whether Saudi financing could clear the German and consortium hurdles on a Eurofighter Typhoon buy the way Türkiye's order did; why the J-35 almost certainly locks the PAF into China's combat ecosystem; the PAF's evaluation graveyard since 1995, from the Mirage 2000-5 and Gripen to the Su-35, MiG-35, Tornado, JH-7, Rafale, Novi Avion and the Carver; FPV drones in the counterinsurgency fight; and India's move to continuous at-sea nuclear deterrence, the Nuclear Suppliers Group deadlock and Pakistan's uranium supply problem.

Topics covered

00:35 The Mecca Joint Defence Agreement and the "Islamic NATO" label

04:24 SEATO, CENTO and alliances without a common enemy

12:34 The domestic audience theory

29:13 Egypt blocked, Qatar next

31:30 India's 150-aircraft lead-in fighter trainer RFI

34:07 What a LIFT is, and the PAF's broken training pipeline

46:18 CAMM-ER and the tri-service missile programme that never happened

49:47 Where China fits, and sovereign control of the stack

1:01:19 Link-17, Link Green and Pakistan's tri-service C4ISR gap

1:06:34 A Saudi-financed Eurofighter Typhoon: could it work?

1:20:03 The J-35 and Chinese ecosystem lock-in

1:23:30 PAF force development since 1995

1:42:20 Quadcopters and FPV drones in counterinsurgency

1:46:29 India's at-sea deterrent and Pakistan's SSN question

1:53:53 Gripen vs Typhoon as the F-16 replacement

1:57:45 Uranium supply, the NSG deadlock and a parallel nuclear market

About Defence Uncut

Defence Uncut is the first dedicated English-language Pakistani defence news and commentary podcast, hosted by Bilal Khan and Arslan Khan. We unpack Pakistani military procurements, events and broader strategic issues in focused detail so you can build a clearer, more accurate big picture.

Read our full reporting at https://quwa.org. Quwa covers Pakistani, Turkish, Gulf and increasingly European and African defence markets, with a particular focus on drones, loitering munitions and low-cost approaches to weapons development.

Email Bilal directly at [email protected] or [email protected].

Pakistan is about to make its biggest fighter decision in a generation — and it starts with the F-16.

The Pakistan Air Force's three F-16A/B Block-15 squadrons are scheduled to retire by 2040, a timeline all but confirmed by the $686 million U.S. support and upgrade deal signed in December 2025. That leaves one question hanging over the PAF's entire next procurement cycle: what actually replaces the F-16?

Everyone points to the Shenyang J-35 stealth fighter. But as Bilal Khan and Arslan Khan explain, the J-35 stepping into that role is far from a given. The F-16 isn't just another jet in the fleet — it's the PAF's reliable, high-availability, NATO-interoperable workhorse, and whatever succeeds it has to fill a very specific "size of shoes." That keeps options on the table most people dismiss too quickly: new-build F-16 Block 72s, and even the Eurofighter Typhoon.

Before that, the show opens on the news that kicked off the week — Azerbaijan showing off its newly inducted JF-17 Block III fleet: what the airframes reveal, the twin-seat JF-17B question, Turkish weapons integration, and what Baku's big-ticket contract is really paying for.

Then it's into listener questions: the Typhoon vs J-35 vs F-16 debate in full, cost-per-flight-hour realities, the JH-7B and "Sea Sultan bomber" ideas, and a wide-ranging discussion on Pakistan's command structure, disaggregation, and the role of the new Chief of Defence Forces.

Chapters
00:00 — Welcome & this week's topics
00:37 — Azerbaijan unveils its JF-17 Block III
05:10 — The twin-seat JF-17B explained
10:13 — What Azerbaijan's big contract is really paying for
13:58 — Listener Q&A: does the Typhoon actually replace the F-16?
26:14 — Typhoon vs J-35 vs new F-16: the full breakdown
51:47 — Cost-per-flight-hour realities & the PAF's budget
55:00 — Listener Q&A: command structure & disaggregation

Go deeper on Quwa
Why the PAF's next procurement cycle starts in 2030: https://quwa.org/pakistan/market-intelligence/the-pakistan-air-forces-next-procurement-cycle-starts-in-2030-why-vendors-need-to-prepare/
Inside the $686M F-16 upgrade deal: https://quwa.org/pakistan-air-force-news/why-the-u-s-just-approved-a-686m-f-16-upgrade-for-pakistan-12-11-2025/
What the reports say about Pakistan's J-35 deal: https://quwa.org/pakistan/air-force/combat-aircraft/what-the-reports-say-about-pakistans-j-35-stealth-fighter-deal/

About Defence Uncut
Defence Uncut is the first dedicated English-language Pakistani defence news and commentary podcast, hosted by Bilal Khan and Arslan Khan. Each week we unpack Pakistani military procurements, events, and the broader strategic picture in focused detail — so you can build a clearer, more accurate understanding of South Asian air power.

Follow the show so you never miss an episode, and if you're enjoying it, a rating or review genuinely helps others find us.
Questions or topic ideas? Email us at [email protected]
Read our analysis: https://quwa.org

The Pakistan Air Force is entering its biggest procurement cycle since the 2010s, and the question that defines it is what replaces the ageing F-16 fleet in the 2030s. In this episode, Bilal Khan and Arslan Khan work through the three-way contest between China's J-35, Turkey's TF Kaan, and the Eurofighter Typhoon — why the PAF is wary of buying an all-Chinese system "out of the box," why it insists on controlling its own tactical data-link stack, and the contrarian argument for keeping the Typhoon firmly in the conversation.

With no standout news this week, the discussion ranges widely across the Pakistani defence landscape: high-energy lasers and autonomous interceptors for counter-drone base defence, the Fatah-5 conventional ballistic missile and the Army Rocket Force Command, the KJ-500 AWACS rumour (and why the satellite photo is almost certainly a ZDK-03), and how commercial warship standards and modular hull design are reshaping the Pakistan Navy's surface fleet, from the Jinnah-class frigate to the Yarmook-class OPV.

Topics: Pakistan Air Force modernization, F-16 replacement, J-35, TF Kaan, Eurofighter Typhoon, JF-17 Thunder, Fatah-5 and Fatah-2, Army Rocket Force Command, KJ-500, high-energy lasers, counter-drone/C-UAS, naval modularity, and South Asian air power.

Defence Uncut is the first dedicated English-language Pakistani defence news and commentary podcast. Read our full analysis at quwa.org, and subscribe to Quwa Plus or Quwa Pro for our complete reporting. Questions or sample requests: [email protected] or [email protected].

Pakistan has quietly started building the unglamorous parts of modern warfare — the engines, munitions and cheap cruise missiles that win a long fight. In this episode, Bilal Khan and Arslan Khan open with the Alsons Group's reveal of Pakistan's first home-built UAV engines at Eurosatory 2026 (via its new AKAL division), then dig into why the private sector is now central to Pakistan's loitering-munition push, and how the global move toward low-cost strike — the MBDA Crossbow, Russia's Banderol, the Powered JDAM — lines up with Pakistan's Fatah, Babur, Uzab and Khaem programs.

In the solo Q&A, Bilal answers listener questions on how fast Pakistan can field robotic ground vehicles like the NRTC Heather UGV, the Western-insurgency vs Eastern-front split, and why Army Aviation might be Pakistan's most under-used branch — with a look at the Turkish Aerospace T625 Gökbey.

In this episode:

• Alsons / AKAL UAV engines and the licensing-vs-indigenous debate
• Why Pakistan's military is roping in the private sector for drones and munitions
• Fibre optics, solid fuel and the case for mass over prestige projects
• The low-cost cruise-missile shift, from Crossbow to Fatah-4
• NRTC Heather UGV and the limits of the Ukraine robotics model in Pakistan
• Army Aviation, the T625 Gökbey, and low-altitude cruise-missile strike

Got a question for a future solo cast? Email [email protected] or [email protected].Read more analysis at https://quwa.org

Pakistan's defence budget for FY2026-27 has hit a record ~$10.76 billion — a near 18% increase and the largest in real dollar terms (almost 3 trillion rupees). But the headline number hides the real story: where is the money actually going, and why is it NOT the J-35 purchase everyone keeps asking about?

In this episode of Defence Uncut, Bilal Khan and Arslan Khan decode the budget, the arrival of the first Hangor-class submarine, the quiet neglect of Pakistan Army Aviation, and the collapse of the Franco-German FCAS programme — the kind of in-focus analysis you won't get from a news headline.

In this episode:

- Why roughly 60-70% of the budget increase is likely heading into indigenous munitions and the Rocket Force, not big-ticket platforms — and why the rupee figure matters more than the dollar one.

- The "physical assets" line jumping 39%, the tri-service split, and how acquisition vs operational budgets really work.

- PNS Hangor arrives: the first of eight submarines from China, the YJ-18, torpedo economics, UUV/AUV programmes, and Pakistan's drive to indigenize naval weapons.

- Pakistan Army Aviation's identity problem: the MI-17 loss, the collapsed T129 ATAK deal, the Z-10ME, and the case for consolidating the fleet into one 9-10 tonne utility platform.

- Listener question: how Pakistan's electronic warfare actually works — threat libraries, jamming, and lessons from May 2025.

- Listener question: how the Pakistan Navy can build a credible coastal missile force against the Indian Navy — supersonic/hypersonic missiles, over-the-horizon targeting, USVs, and satellites.

- The FCAS collapse: could France now pivot to India to co-develop a sixth-generation fighter — and how India's three defence-industry camps shape that.

Chapters:

00:00 Intro

00:26 Pakistan's record FY2026-27 defence budget

03:05 Indigenous munitions, the Rocket Force & the J-35 question

12:00 PNS Hangor arrives + the submarine programme

22:55 Submarine weapons: torpedoes, YJ-18 & indigenization

26:19 Private sector, UUVs & long-range torpedoes

28:27 Pakistan Army Aviation: the MI-17 loss & strategic neglect

[VERIFY] Listener Q&A: electronic warfare explained

[VERIFY] Listener Q&A: naval missiles & over-the-horizon targeting vs India

[VERIFY] FCAS collapse — could France turn to India?

Read the deeper written analysis on Quwa: https://quwa.org

Follow Defence Uncut so you never miss an episode, and leave a rating if you find the analysis useful.

About the show:

Defence Uncut is the first dedicated English-language Pakistani defence news and commentary podcast, hosted by Bilal Khan and Arslan Khan of Quwa. Each week we unpack military procurements, events, and strategic issues across Pakistan, South Asia, and the wider region in focused detail — so you can build a clearer, more accurate big picture.

Is India really buying the Russian Su-57 "Felon"? Bilal Khan and Arslan Khan open by unpacking why the India–Russia FGFA program collapsed after nearly two decades, why Moscow's new offer is suddenly so generous, and why the Su-57-vs-Rafale fight is driven by industrial revenue-share politics as much as by capability.

The conversation then widens into the real lesson of the JF-17 — the RD-93 engine, dependence on China, the PLAAF order that never came, the markups that forced Pakistan to build its own munitions, the true cost of CPEC, and why Ukraine is the partnership model Pakistan should have pursued years ago. It closes on the strategic stakes of India's looming nuclear breakout and a look ahead to Woot-Tech's rocket-assisted-takeoff test.

⏱️ Chapters00:00 Is India actually procuring the Su-57?00:30 The FGFA saga: two decades of Russia–India fifth-gen failure17:06 Why Russia needs India now (Ukraine, sanctions, co-production)20:30 Rafale vs Su-57: the IAF vs Indian-industry split23:30 What Pakistan should do: Beijing, Moscow & rare-earth leverage24:30 Russia vs Ukraine, from first principles26:19 The JF-17 / RD-93 engine and Pakistan's Ukraine workaround29:34 China isn't charity: who really profits from the JF-1736:05 The 200-jet PLAAF order that never came42:29 Egregious markups: the Range Extension Kit & MFD shakedowns45:00 NESCOM, the Air Weapons Complex & the Azb/Raad family46:18 CPEC, debt servicing and where Pakistan's money goes53:26 The China that used to help — and why it changed1:01:43 Ayub Khan, the 1960s nuclear fuel cycle & the mindset trap1:09:11 Ukraine's hidden industrial base and Firepoint1:19:49 Prioritising Ukraine without antagonising Russia1:22:14 India's nuclear breakout and global strike1:29:33 Next week: Woot-Tech's RATO test & Pakistan's private rocket sector

📖 Mentioned: Mansoor Ahmed, Pakistan's Pathway to the Bomb.🔗 More analysis at quwa.org

Defence Uncut is the first dedicated English-language Pakistani defence commentary podcast. New episodes weekly.

Russia has reportedly agreed to supply and help maintain air defence systems for the Afghan Taliban. But as Bilal Khan and Arslan Khan explain, the real danger isn't to Pakistan's fighter jets — it's the proliferation of MANPADS across the region, and the policy failures that allowed it.

This episode unpacks the reported Russia–Taliban air defence deal, why loose MANPADS are a bigger threat than any S-400, and how Pakistan's tightrope act between Russia and Ukraine cost it a reliable defence partner. The conversation then moves through the latest PAF developments — Saab 2000 / Erieye AEW&C, the PFX Alpha program and JF-17 AESA roadmap, the air-cooled vs liquid-cooled KLJ-7A debate, NESCOM's FAAZ missile family, and loyal wingman UCAVs — before closing on the case for a national-interest foreign policy, including a hard look at Iran.

Chapters:

00:00 Intro

00:23 Russia's reported air defence deal with the Taliban

06:28 Why MANPADS proliferation is the real regional threat

10:57 Pakistan's Russia-vs-Ukraine policy failure

24:31 MANPADS, the TTP/BLA, and Chinese export controls

26:37 Red lines, national interest & the Gulf energy play

30:03 PAF Saab 2000 update & a domestic AEW&C ambition

35:41 PFX Alpha program & the JF-17 OCU upgrade

37:53 Air-cooled vs liquid-cooled KLJ-7A

43:10 NESCOM's FAAZ air-to-air & surface-to-air missile programs

52:52 Loyal wingman UCAVs — answering the audience pushback

1:01:28 Your comments: Kızılelma and the Iran question

1:03:46 Why Iran is treated as an adversary, not an ally

1:09:03 Closing argument: pursue the national interest

Defence Uncut is the first dedicated English-language Pakistani defence commentary podcast, breaking down military procurement, events, and strategy in focused detail.

Read more analysis at Quwa: https://quwa.org

Go deeper with Quwa Plus: https://quwa.org/plus

Leave your questions and comments — we get to them in the next episode.

Pakistan Air Force Chief ACM Zaheer Babar Sidhu visited Baykar Technologies in Turkey and was photographed with the Bayraktar Kızılelma — a jet-powered unmanned combat aerial vehicle (UCAV) that could reshape how the PAF approaches deep strike, loyal wingman operations, and force structure planning.

In this episode, Bilal Khan and Arslan Khan go deep on what this visit signals and — more importantly — what comes next. We break down the Kızılelma's capabilities and limitations, compare it with TAI's Anka-3, dig into the Ukrainian engine supply chain problem (AI-25 / AI-322), and explore whether Baykar's Pakistan subsidiary could co-develop a sovereign sensor and datalink stack with NASTP.

We also examine the gap nobody is filling: the 2–3 ton attritable UCAV class that the US (MQ-Next, XQ-58 Valkyrie), and potentially NESCOM, are pursuing. Plus — could the Pakistan Navy one day operate its own UCAV-based strike wing?

Other topics: Akinci UAV shoot-down in Sudan, Saab's LoyalEye AEW pod on MQ-9B, PFX as a potential unmanned fighter program, and why the PAF's "original solutions" doctrine matters for long-term sovereignty.

New episodes weekly. Full articles at quwa.org.

Pakistan's Army Rocket Force Command tested the Fatah IV ground-launched cruise missile with an air burst warhead and new imaging infrared seeker — the latest step in Pakistan's conventional deterrence build-up.

Bilal Khan and Arslan Khan unpack what the Fatah IV's evolution from the Harba series means for mass production and scalability, then dive into the Z-10ME attack helicopter's millimetric wave radar evaluation and what it signals about Army Aviation's procurement timeline.

The episode also covers JF-17 Block 3 production realities, the case for Block 4/PFX Alpha as the JF-17's final evolution, and why the PAF's ageing T-37 and K-8 training pipeline may be a more urgent priority than fifth-generation fighter procurement.

In the Q&A segment: the Link 17 data link controversy (can AWACS guide PL-15 missiles?), BrahMos countermeasures, whether Pakistan should repurpose the JF-17 as a LIFT platform, the J-35 timeline, and the future size of the PAF fighter fleet.

Published by Quwa (quwa.org) — the first English-language Pakistan defence analysis publication.

Questions: [email protected]

One year after the May 2025 India-Pakistan conflict, Pakistan's military procurement picture has fundamentally changed. In this episode, Bilal Khan, Arslan Khan, and Aseem break down the full scope of Pakistan's post-conflict military modernization — from the FATA-3 supersonic cruising missile to Shahed-style drone factories, the Army Rocket Force Command, PAF fighter fleet expansion, satellite reconnaissance, and the decision-making challenge that will determine whether any of it matters.

Topics covered:

— FATA-3 supersonic cruising missile and its HD-1 connection

— Army Rocket Force Command: structure, mandate, and multimodal strike concept

— FATA missile family breakdown (FATA-1 guided MLRS, FATA-2 tactical ballistic, FATA-3 supersonic cruiser, FATA-4 cruise missile)

— Pakistan Navy supersonic missile requirements (CM-302, SMASH)

— Shahed-style loitering munition mass production strategy

— Jet-powered vs piston-powered drones: why simplicity wins

— Turkish drone industry critique and Baykar in Pakistan

— Pakistan Army counter-UAS programs and electronic warfare investment

— Z-10ME attack helicopter and the future of army aviation

— PAF fighter procurement: J-10, JF-17, and the J-35 question

— Fifth-generation fighter timing: J-35, TFX/KAAN, and the KF-21 dark horse

— RAAD cruise missile reconfiguration for conventional strike and anti-ship roles

— Pakistan's satellite and ISTAR buildup (EO, SAR, hyperspectral)

— Kill chain closure: satellites vs munitions stockpiles

— Lessons learned: decision-making speed, pre-delegated authority, and Pakistan's shift from defensive to offensive posture

Defence Uncut is the first dedicated English-language Pakistani defence news commentary podcast. Fo