No P-3 Orion replacements as Pak-US ties low: Secy Defence Production

The secretary, Lt-Gen (r) Shahid Iqbal, told Public Accounts Committee (PAC) that no proposal was under consideration to purchase alternative aircraft for those which were destroyed in Mehran Base attack and it was impossible to acquire Orion planes in the prevailing tense ties between Pakistan and the US.The Committee met Tuesday in Parliament House under Zahid Hamid to review audit objections pertaining to the Ministry for Defence Production.Officials of the Ministry for Defence Production were not sure whether the Pakistan Ordinance Factory was running in loss or profit. When the Committee members asked questions from the officers of POF about its losses or profit, no one among them could give a reply.The officers then said the government provided only funds to POF and it manufactured defence-related equipment. This was not a business concern, they stated.POF Chairman Air Martial Farhat Hussain told the committee that record 26 JF-17 Thunder aircraft have been produced between 2009 and 2011. He said 58 percent of the parts of the aircraft are now manufactured in Pakistan.