Mohammad Imran holds a Pakistani-made PACPad computer tablet at his electronics store in Rawalpindi, Pakistan. Picture: AP
Rawalpindi – Inside a high-security air force complex that builds jet fighters and weapons systems, Pakistan’s military is working on the latest addition to its sprawling commercial empire: a homegrown version of the iPad.
It’s a venture that bundles together Pakistani engineering and Chinese hardware, and shines a light on the military’s controversial foothold in the consumer market. Supporters say it will boost the economy as well as a troubled nation’s self-esteem.
It all comes together at an air force base in Kamra in northern Pakistan, where avionics engineers – when they’re not working on defence projects – assemble the PACPAD 1.
“The original is the iPad, the copy is the PACPAD,” said Mohammad Imran, who stocks the product at his small computer and mobile phone shop in a mall in Rawalpindi, a city not far from Kamra and the home of the Pakistani army.
The device runs on Android 2.3, an operating system made by Google and given away for free. At around $200, it’s less than half the price of Apple or Samsung devices and cheaper than other low-end Chinese tablets on the market, with the bonus of a local, one-year guarantee.
Such endeavors are still at the pilot stage and represent just a sliver of the military’s business portfolio, which encompasses massive land holdings, flour and sugar mills, hotels, travel agents, even a brand of breakfast cereal.
The military is powerful, its businesses are rarely subject to civilian scrutiny, and it has staged three coups since Pakistan became a state in 1947. Many Pakistanis find its economic activities corrupting and say it should focus on entirely on defence.
“I just can’t figure it out,” said Jehan Ara, head of Pakistan’s Software Houses Association, said of the PACPAD.
“Even if they could sell a billion units, I can’t see the point. The air force is supposed to be protecting the air space and borders of the country.”
Supporters say the foray into information technology is a boost to national pride for a country vastly overshadowed by archrival India in the high-tech field. Tech websites in the country have shown curiosity or cautious enthusiasm, but say it’s too early to predict how the device will perform. Skeptics claim it’s a vanity project that will never see mass production.
Only a few hundred of each products has been made so far, though a new batch will be completed in the next three months.
“The defence industry is trying to justify its presence by doing more than just produce weapons,” said Ayesha Siddiqa, author of Military Inc., a critical study of military businesses.
“Some smart aleck must have thought we can make some money here.”
PAC’s website says the goal is “strengthening the national economy through commercialisation” and lauds the collaboration with China – something that likely resonates among nationalists.
China is regarded as a firm ally by Pakistan’s security establishment, whereas the US, despite pouring billions of dollars in aid into the country, is seen as fickle and increasingly as an enemy.
These perceptions have heightened as the US intensifies drone attacks on militants based in the Pakistani borderlands. But the military is also a target of those militants. In 2007 the base at Kamra, home to 12,000 workers and their families, nine people died when a cyclist blew himself up at the entrance.
PAC officials suggested the program that produces the PACPAD was modeled in part on the Chinese military’s entry into commercial industry, which lasted two decades until it was ordered to cut back lest it become corrupted and lose sight of its core mission.
The tablet and other devices are made in a low-slung facility, daubed in camouflage paint, near, a factory that produces J-17 Thunder fighter jets with Chinese help.
“It’s about using spare capacity. There are 24 hours in a day, do we waste them or use them to make something?” said Sohail Kalim, PAC’s sales director.
“The profits go to the welfare of the people here. There are lots of auditors. They don’t let us do any hanky-panky here.”
PAC builds the PACPAD with a company called Innavtek in a Hong Kong-registered partnership that also builds high-tech parts for the warplanes.
But basic questions go unanswered. Maqsood Arshad, a retired air force officer who is one of the directors, couldn’t say how much money had been invested, how many units the venture hoped to sell and what the profit from each sale was likely to be.
The market for low-cost Android tablets is expanding quickly around the world, with factories in China filling most of the demand. Last year, an Indian company produced the “Aakash” tablet, priced at $50, and sold largely to schoolchildren and students.
Arshad said a second-generation PACPAD would be launched in the next three months, able to connect to the Internet via cell phone networks and other improved features. He said the Kamra facility could produce up to 1000 devices a day.
During a brief test, The tablet with its 7-inch screen appeared to run well and the screen responsiveness was sharp.
“It seems good, but operation-wise I have to look into it,” said Mohammad Akmal, who had come to the store in Rawalpindi to check the product out. “Within a month or so, we will know.” (AP)
first of all Pakistan Zindabad .. we can do anything if aim to ….
second thing please change the subject or heading of this news.. its not IPAD its called tablet because IPAD is the turm which is only used for apple made tablet..
Pakistan Aik Ishq Aik junoon !!!
waoo .owsam .I wana buy that ipad
PAKISTAN … we love you…
PAKISTAN AIR FORCE is simply awesome…
hats off…!
lovveeeeeeeeeee u pakxtanyy army
cAN WE ORDER THESE ONLINE?
I’ve only ONE answer to Ayesha Siddiqa and Jehan Ara!
If you can’t do anything good to the country’s economy, please keep your mouths shut!!!
We always support such initiatives to boost our own economy!
You are so right … I Luv Pakistan , though i live out and spent all my life out of Pakistan…
lol
awsome yr…………
hahahaha methi bisti.
man holding PAC-ebook1 not PAC-PAD1
to ayesha and jehan ara,,,,, we know what airforce is suppose to do and thats what they have been doing so far,,,, but isnt it a good idea if they can benefit our nation with sum thing productive other than weapons only. They have got brains to build fighter jets which is a good thing as always but if they are able to manage other things for people of pakistan without interrupting their work or forgetting about their purpose to join ariforce so what is a harm in it? Every one is picking up on pakistani defence budget because of spending too much money so this can be a positive step to clear up their image.
Pakistan Zindabad
Zbrdast …we can do , what we want to ,….. method is different from other’s ………. matlb 10 numbri
I dont know why people does not appreciate the good efforts of our forces…..they always have to show the darker side of the picture…these PACPADs are even cheaper than samsung iPADS,instead of comending u r condeming…and for Jehanara’s kind info these can be used for alot of millitary purposes.it seems as if ayesha n jehan are hiding their own defeat that inspite of having a promineent position in pakistan softwares they couldnt come up with something COMPETABLE…im sorry for both of them…wish them luck and salute to PAF pak army and PN
=)
yeh dono ISSB sy rejecectd han yar,, thts y , look at them yar
hahhahahahaahhaahahaa
looks more like a Kindle to me
Baji cool down!!!!!
Fatima baji nay bat theek ki hai im with her,koi panga na lay baji k sath warna tufan a jai ga
come on people dont be fool…if our force is developing some new electronic devices so wat…its a big acheivment for us…..atleast no one will cry tat millitry is takng all d bugdet though it requires more thn evr….success for our army cmng in compete wid american army where they r developng so many stuffs tat r distributed in whole world…..
can it launch a missile? =PP
GREAT WORK BY AIR FORCE KEEP GOING BOYS BUT PLEASE PRICE KEEP CHEEP SO THAT EVERY ONE CAN USE TECHNOLOGY
Good effort my Air Force we go up (sky is the limt)
I m Gonna buy it Inshah Allah !!
I will buy it*
This device is so lower then Apple ipad but u guyz tried this which is honour 4 all Pakistanis
Provd of u
Now M gonna tell my friends here in UK that look Pakistan is also working in Electro field
Keep it up GuyZzzz ….Really feel proud to be a Pakistani….Best of luck
lovely awesom pakistan xindabad aise hi kaam karte jaoo agee kuch bhi nih chahiye bahir k jab sab yaha banega 2
ameen
Its a good achievement but all the reasons being told doesn’t sounds to me factual. PAF neither need money nor needs to boost moral of the nation by building a tablet instead of fighter jets and weapons.
The only reason I could see is to monitor the activities of local nationals.
It will be easier for military to monitor the social media and other activities of users as well as they will be able to track people through SIM card, once 3G enabled tablets will be introduced.
They can have full control on this device and its usage as compared to a cell phone or a internet enabled computer.
Selling it cheap is another catch , this will induce more people to use the device.
We all knew that facebook is partner of CIA and they are providing them with personal data of users, so why not Pakistan Military take control and utilize people personal information for countries benefit ? If this is the case then there is no harm in it.
Anyhow, this is all my perception .
a very very good work by Pak Army, and And congrets to Muhammad Imran.
duhhhhhhhhhhhh……. think for a minute , the internet we are using and computers we r using, who made this? and what was the initial purpose of it? US MILITARY
Mashallah
Keep it up PAC
Long Live Pakistan
price???
I Love Those Who Love My Country.
Conragulations…………………………………..!For the great achievment
Yes as the head of PASHA we expect Jehan Ara to give us something rather than conferences (meaningless) and awards. Internet too by the way was an invention of U.S Navy.
Armies world over build the infrastructure. We spend a huge amount of budget on Army so if they are doing something other than fighting for us what does it matter?
Even if the device proves to be crap. It is still us and Pakistan and i would propose Jehan Ara to come forward and help the Air Force by giving talented people to improve the product.
nice efforts….wish u God speed
HeY 4ndxX let’s be a Part Of “JAANBAZIAN”…
Have Ur spirits high because limit is the SKY….
JOIN US NOW…:-
http://www.facebook.com/jaanbazian
cool yarrrrrrrrrrrrr <3
nice to know this good news, hope products will comply with intl standards and performance as well.
Good Luck ahead
Let them focus on their prime responsibility and support the private industry to do their job. Dilemma of our country
gud job
Does it support Urdu language? Where can I buy one? Is it available in Karachi? I assume that since its coming from Pak AirForce, it is a quality product. Keep up the good work.
The fucking bitch jehan ara is saying that because with around 350 members under her association not one bastard among them has come forward in any way to demonstrate anything hardware wise! When someone else is trying to do something these pussies have issues because they are threatened! I appreciate the army getting into economic activities the more they get into it the better because this leads them to self subsistence instead of living off from budget to budget!
Just imagined about Jehan Ara , she is president of P@SHA and still unable to bring Paypal in Pakistan. What a shame on people like these , I remember the day when she gave prize to best blogger in Pakistan at the event in Lahore Technology Park(now Arfa Software Technology Park) and later upon checking his blog he even dont know how to write a simple post. Thats her standard and what they are doing in Pakistan to promote IT.
As far as PAC is concern , Great job done and we all have to support them so that they can bring some more cool gadgets!
[...] way that they used to struggle for military superiority, the Pakistan Air Force has embarked on a radical new mission: producing consumer electronics, including an e-reader seen above and an iPad-aping tablet [...]
Thanks God it is not made by any other government organization, otherwise it would have been named as ” Shaheed Bhutto Pad”,
Well Done soldiers for keeping this flag high and protected
@Fatima
i am totally agree with you … P@ASHA doing nothing for us they spending money in parties and other activities …
[...] way that they used to struggle for military superiority, the Pakistan Air Force has embarked on a radical new mission: producing consumer electronics, including an e-reader seen above and an iPad-aping tablet [...]
great!!!!!!
I love Pakistan
http://www.mabdullahsblog.blogspot.com
For the Correction, The product is launched by PAC not by PAF and there is hell of difference between them, one is purely a strategic defense organization that’s PAF.. and where as PAC is defense commercial entity. PAC sells air crafts and facilities to different countries then why not facilities to the local public….
http://www.cpmc.pk/products/pad-1/ Check this out
Its Pakistan Ordnance Factory Made not airforce,…
Good one
Its owesome….I think if they should work on Smart Phones also…it would be more popular…
tell me the price and either its available any where
15500
har koe tu pakistan main rah k parh k bahir bhag jata hai…….. or agr koe yahan rah k kam karta hai tu tum log osa batean karta ho ………………. please dear serve your own nation a make it best nation in the world… mujha fakhar hai k main pakistani hun …… yahan e jayooon ga or yaheen marna chaooon ga…….. tum bateain karna wala jao usa or uk un ko sowpeer ke zororat …..
That’s Great, Can any one tell me the price?
One of my friends told that it is actually very good – especially specs and speed and it performs equal to Apple’s ipad. Don’t think about a copy of Apple iPad. It was short in the market when came in. It is really a nice that Pakistan is producing such things.
very well said Fatima Anila !!!!!
The entire discussion about the price is BOGUS – the selling point is around USD 200/- for a 1 GHz processor and a 256 MB RAM? You can get Chinese tablets for as low as USD 100/- for similar spec’ed devices now. The branded Chinese devices like Ainol and EuroPad are available between USD 150/- and USD 300/- which are 1.2 GHz / Dedicated GPU / 1 GB RAM / 8 GB Internal staring. So the idea of offering something to the local market for a good price is bogus!
It very much holds a commercial aspect to the project, if managed well. Or just another reason for Armed forces to show off what they can do, but I’d be amazed if they’d want to be patted for assembling a replica of the Chinese tablets (that too, with the help of a Chinese tablet manufacturer), or some blue eyed armed forces guy impressing their superiors with a unique idea (where and what is unique in this entire set of news???).
SUGGESTION –
1) Make that 1 GB Ram, 8 / 16 GB Internal Storage as the basic model, since 1 GHz is a fair enough processor speed to run 2.3.x.
2) Make that Dual Core and make it the advanced model, or have 1.5 GB of RAM.
The idea is, make something that holds value to the consumer. Sure, add a few dollars if there’s a need but give something that the market wants, not equipment which will be worthless after the consumer is done with the excitement of owning a tablet.
asshole
Congrats Pakistan Air Force we luv u:)
Congrats Pakistan Air Force , we luv u:)
thats great, we have need to improve that field its relly nice to hear that we r also intrested in technology
What they have done is great……….when no private and civil firm is there to produce such cost effective and handy product for the nation then then i think the defense has every right to be at par with excellence and show their mettle in this area too…..we must encourage them and i will rather say we must buy them instead of foreign Ipads etc…..so that our industry and economy booms……well done PAC…….
bari khushi ki baat hai
shuttttttttttttttttt uppppppppppp for AYESHA SADEEQA and JEHAN ARA
mubarak ho. pak air force
[...] the launching PAC Pad1, PAC eBook1 and PAC nbook 1, Pakistan Army has launched an Android Tablet Takhti 7. According to Pakistan Aeronautical Complex [...]
Wonderful. Congratulations to whole nations.
Pakistan Zindabad.
Be Pakistani, Buy Pakistani
Pakistan Zinda Bad
First of all this is not IPod its called Tablet becuase IPOD also with GSM facility and its belong to APPLE Brand.
Please change the main haiding and mentioned PC Tablet.
I hope very soon we will receive from you the same Tablet with GSM )INSHALLAH TALA).
My best wishes to my country Pakistan and I am always ready for any kind of services need Pakistan Army,Pak Navy & Pakistan Air Force from me.
PAKISTAN ZINDA BAD PAKISTAN PAYENDA BAD
We proud on our air force… Allah gives us both success (in world as well as the judgement day)
After sale tecehnical support ;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;; well wont find that. There is no such thing being offered by PAC PAD Producers. I bought one of it ( my mistake though) and had a couple of issued with device. For almost two months i have been knocking every possible door of PAC PAD management but its all useless.
Ab Pakistani air force bas mobile assemble kerne k hi layaq reh gai hai, Shame on you Pakistani Air force
[...] if they should work on Smart Phones also…it would be more popular… … See more here: iPads made by Pakistan Air Force | PakSoldiers ← Some Top Picks for Children's Tech Gifts – [...]
plz tell me where is yours display center at Rawalpindi, i want to visit over there thnx
I would higly appreciate pak army/air force/naval if they really put their efforts to help pakistan by appointing deserved leader and help to remove corruption instead of coming up with such innovations which can be done by the talented youth. I highly appeal to pak army to help pakistan in that way anf trust me that the economy will rise itself as now people dont have any kind of source to express their talents. Everyone is badly effectd by politicians and corruption.