Pakistan unveils ‘Shahpar’ drone at IDEAS 2018

KARACHI: The 10th International Defence Exhibition and Seminar (IDEAS 2018) enters its second day at Karachi’s Expo Centre Wednesday, Geo News reported.

The four-day defence exhibition, which kicked off on November 27 and will continue till November 30, is being attended by 262 high-level delegations from 51 different countries. Pakistan introduced drone “Shahpar” at the defence exhibition. Built by Global Industrial and Defence Solution (GIDS), the drone or Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) is capable of flying at the altitude of 17,000 feet for up to seven hours. GIDS describes “Shahpar” as a medium range tactical UAV System with autonomous take-off and landing. It can carry various types of payloads integrated for reconnaissance and day and night surveillance. Other features include accurate lateral, longitudinal trajectory control, mission planning, management and control, geo referencing and geo pointing for terrestrial targets. Despite the ordinary look of the drone, the UAV boasts several cameras and can see up to a radius of 250 km and can operate in any weather. The drone was introduced by Vice Chief of Naval Staff Kaleem Shaukat at the defence conference. Organised under the aegis of Defence Export Promotion Organisation (DEPO), IDEAS 2018 brings together defence industry players from different parts of the world. Besides Pakistan itself, other major exporters of defence technology including China, the Czech Republic, France, Germany, Italy, Jordan, Poland, Russia, South Korea, Turkey, UAE, Ukraine and the US are exhibiting their exclusive weapons.

The event encompasses a series of activities ranging from the world’s advance defence technology demonstrations, an international seminar, three conferences by the Pakistan armed forces and the IDEAS Karachi Show to a counter-terrorism demonstration. Networking and business expansions through business-to-business (B2B) and business- to-government (B2G) engagements and the signing of MoUs are additional features of the exhibition. Two Russian naval ships are also visiting Pakistan for port call during IDEAS 2018. New inventions of Pakistan defence industry including those from Global Industrial Solutions, Pakistan Ordnance Factories, Military Vehicles Research and Development Establishment, Shibli Electronics, Universal Smart Military Systems and Daudson Armoury are also being showcased during the exhibition. Exclusive land, maritime and aviation conferences by Pakistan Army, Navy and the Air Force respectively is another significant component of IDEAS 2018. An air show by the Pakistan Air Force (PAF) is also scheduled at Nishan-i-Pakistan, Sea View, today (Thursday). The fourth day of the exhibition will be open for public, but only for those who have already registered themselves online to visit the exhibition.

In tandem with various activities on the 2nd day of IDEAS 2018, various dignitaries from Italy, Jordan, Poland, Sri Lanka and Turkey called on Vice Chief of Naval Staff, Vice Admiral Kaleem Shaukat, said a press release issued by Directorate of Public Relations of Pakistan Navy.

Prominent amongst the visiting dignitaries were Commander Royal Jordanian Naval Forces, Brigadier General Ibrahim Salman Al Naimat, deputy director and secretary general of Defence National Armament Italy, Admiral Dario Giacomin, DG admin Sri Lankan Navy, Rear Admiral KG Paul, director Armament Poland Army, Brig General Karlo Dymonowski, vice president Defence Industries Turkey, Murat Seker and vice president M/s Leonardo Italy, Maurizio Facchin.