The ambition was immense: a homegrown 5th-generation fighter for the Pakistan Air Force. But the flagship program, Project AZM, has effectively failed, leaving critical questions about the future of Pakistan’s aerospace industry. Why was a project with so much national prestige doomed from the start?

This episode of Defence Uncut provides a brutally honest post-mortem on Project AZM, revealing how a fundamental misunderstanding of industrial capacity and a failure to join international partners like Turkey on the KAAN fighter led to a historic missed opportunity. We analyze how this impacts the celebrated JF-17 fleet and why the new Project PFX may not be the answer.

We argue that the true, realistic path forward for Pakistan's defence industry is not to chase the manned fighter dream. Instead, it must pivot to mastering Unmanned Combat Aerial Vehicles (UCAVs)—a domain where Pakistan has a genuine foundation and can build a scalable, powerful, and deterrent force for the 21st century.