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Air Weapons Complex
FoundedFebruary 18, 1992; 33 years ago (1992-02-18)
Country Pakistan
Branch Pakistan Air Force
TypeResearch and development
RoleMilitary science and technology
Part ofJoint Strategic Planning, JS HQ
Garrison/HQHasan Abdal, Punjab
NicknameAWC
Commanders
Director-GeneralAVM Ghulam Shabbir

The Air Weapons Complex (reporting name:AWC) is a military research and development complex for the Pakistan Air Force, headquartered in Hasan Abdal, Punjab, Pakistan.[1]

The AWC plays a pivotal role in air–borne weapons development and integration in aerospace war-fighting technologies for the Pakistan Air Force.[2] Direction and weapons development guidance comes directly from the air force but the complex is managed and operated as a division under the civilian contract of National Engineering & Scientific Commission (NESCOM).[1]

Overview

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Since 1985, the Pakistan Air Force had been working warplans and wargames techniques on addressing the weapons delivery of nuclear discharges from the supersonic fighter jets.: 186 [3] In February 1992, the Pakistan Air Force officially established the weapons research and development complex in cooperation with the civilian Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission (PAEC) near the Metallurgical Laboratory in Wah Cantonment, an army base.[4][5] The AWC embarked on studying the aerodynamics and developing software that specialized in advancing the airborne applications of direct-energy and explosive engineering.[4][5]

In 1993, the AWC had an influential and pivotal role in helping to established the National Defence Complex (NDC) for the Pakistan Army.: 196–187  The AWC was a major weapons development complex in leading the designs and development of the nuclear variant air-launched cruise missiles (ALCM).[6][7] As contrary to its army complex, the programs at the AWC have been under the Air Force's control since its inception, though the civilian National Engineering and Scientific Commission (NESCOM) does provides the management and technical services to the AWC as its prime contractor since 2001.: 240 

The AWC's current director-general is AVM, which is an equivalent of Major-General, Ghulam Shabbir.

Products

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Airborne systems

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Air-launched weaponry

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Electronics

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  • Air Defence Automation System (C4I system) - given to Bangladesh, installed by AWC engineers circa 2005.[12]
  • Electronic fuses for air-launched weapons (impact and proximity fuses)
  • Real-time ACMI system
  • Voice/Fax/Data encryption system

Other

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  • Multi-Spectral Camouflage Net - camouflages against night-vision, infra-red, radar and millimeter wave sensors as well as visual detection. Stated to reduce an object's radar cross-section (RCS) by 86% on average and reduce average detection range by 43.8%.[13]

Technical Expertise

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  • Software Development for Mission Critical Systems
  • Nondestructive Testing Software and Mechanical Support
  • Electronic System Design and Production
  • Prototyping and Production of Specialized Mechanical Assemblies
  • Mechanical Components Precision Manufacturing
  • TQM Practices
  • Mil-Spec Qualifications
  • CAD/CAM Support[4]

Software and UCAV development

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Main article: NESCOM Burraq

Between 1988 and 1998, the AWC worked on developing the codes and systems engineering software that would be integrated with the fighter jets before dropping the nuclear discharges at the military targets.: 187–188  The successful weapons software integration was carried out in 1995 and its results were confirmed during a simulated military exercise.: 187–188 

In 1998, the AWC embarked on a robotics engineering project for the indigenous development of combat unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) with codenamed, the SKY TRACKER. The AWC developed Sky Tracker and Sky Navigator software suites were developed for the ground-based tracking of UAVs.[5] The software retrieves the GPS position data from the UAV via a radio data-link 17 and uses it to show the position of the UAV as a 2D plot along with other essential data such as, speed, altitude, heading, and magnitudes.[5] This plot can be overlaid onto area maps as well and this information is used by the pilot for flying the UAV from the ground-based command station.[14][5]

References

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  1. ^ a b "Air Weapons Complex (AWC)". The Nuclear Threat Initiative.
  2. ^ Pakistan Special Weapons Facilities, Globalsecurity.org, accessed 3 February 2011.
  3. ^ Khan, Feroz (7 November 2012). Eating Grass: The Making of the Pakistani Bomb. Stanford, CA, USA: Stanford University Press. p. 540. ISBN 978-0-8047-8480-1.
  4. ^ a b c "Kamra". Federation of Atomic Scientists.
  5. ^ a b c d e Pike, John. "Kamra - Pakistan Special Weapons Facilities". www.globalsecurity.org.
  6. ^ Doug Richardson, “Pakistan tests Hatf 8 air-launched cruise missile,” Jane's Missiles and Rockets, 1 September 2007; “Pakistan missile test,”
  7. ^ "Air Weapons Complex (AWC) | Facilities | NTI". www.nti.org. NTI Air. Retrieved 21 August 2020.
  8. ^ "Air Weapons Complex, Pakistan". articles.janes.com. Archived from the original on 11 August 2011.
  9. ^ "Defense & Security Intelligence & Analysis: IHS Jane's - IHS". articles.janes.com. Archived from the original on 11 August 2011.
  10. ^ "Hafr-1 and -2 RBP-1 Runway Penetration Bomb, Pakistan". Archived from the original on 17 June 2011. Retrieved 11 May 2011.
  11. ^ "Pakistan tests ballistic missile". BBC News. 29 April 2011.
  12. ^ "Bangladesh adopts Pakistan-made air defence system". Pakistan Times (pakistantimes.net). Archived from the original on 7 January 2009. Retrieved 27 May 2011.
  13. ^ "Article 4". Archived from the original on 28 July 2014. Retrieved 30 April 2013.
  14. ^ "Defense & Security Intelligence & Analysis: IHS Jane's - IHS". articles.janes.com. Archived from the original on 2 April 2012.