Pakistan successfully conducted the flight test of its first indigenously developed Fa’az air-to-air missile on 3 November, the military’s media wing, Inter-Services Public Relations, said.
The missile was launched from a JF-17 Thunder fighter jet. The use of the JF-17 as the launch platform places the test within the country’s existing fighter fleet, and the launch from that aircraft is the central detail of the test as reported.
Fa’az, which means Victorious in Urdu, is equipped with a state-of-the-art terminal guidance system, according to ISPR. The missile can engage aerial targets at longer ranges, ISPR said, describing its capability in those terms.
The launch was witnessed by senior officers of the Pakistan Armed Forces, along with scientists and engineers who played a key role in developing the weapon system. Their presence at the test reflects the involvement of both the armed forces and the scientific and engineering teams behind the programme.
The President, the Prime Minister, the Chief of Army Staff and Chief of Defence Forces, and the services chiefs congratulated the scientists and engineers. The congratulations, from the country’s senior civilian and military leadership, followed the successful test.
The Fa’az programme was developed by the state-owned Global Industrial and Defence Solutions, known as GIDS. The organisation behind the programme is a state-owned defence entity, and the missile is described as indigenously developed, meaning it was developed within the country.
Mockups of two variants were displayed at the International Defence Industry Fair, known as IDEF, in Turkey in 2023. The display of the mockups three years before the test provides the public history of the programme, showing that the missile had been presented in model form at the Turkish fair.
Defence analysts identified the missile in the released footage as the imaging-infrared Fa’az-IIR version. That identification, made by analysts on the basis of the footage released, points to the variant used in the test.
The ISPR statement disclosed no range, speed, seeker type, aircraft block or induction timeline. That absence of detail should be stated plainly: the statement confirms the test and describes the guidance system and the longer-range capability in general terms, but it does not give the specific figures or the timetable for induction.
The test followed two surface-to-surface missile tests in October. The first of those was an extended-range Fatah-IV ground-launched cruise missile, tested around 6 October. The second was an extended-range Fatah-2 hypersonic ballistic missile, tested on 13 October.
The sequence of three tests — the Fatah-IV in early October, the Fatah-2 on 13 October, and the Fa’az on 3 November — places the air-to-air test after two surface-to-surface tests in the preceding month. The Fa’az test is the air-to-air element in that series.
The Fa’az test, as the first flight test of an indigenously developed air-to-air missile, is presented by ISPR as a milestone for the programme. The description of the missile as the first of its kind developed in the country underlines that point.
The terminal guidance system, described as state-of-the-art, is the feature of the missile highlighted by ISPR. The ability to engage aerial targets at longer ranges is the capability attributed to the missile in the statement, without further detail on range or speed.
The scientists and engineers who developed the system were present at the launch, alongside senior officers. Their role in the programme is acknowledged in the account of the test, and they were among those congratulated after the launch.
The congratulations from the President, the Prime Minister, the Chief of Army Staff and Chief of Defence Forces, and the services chiefs, show the level at which the test was noted. The messages were directed at the scientists and engineers behind the programme.
The mockups displayed at IDEF in Turkey in 2023, showing two variants, are the earlier public record of the programme. The test on 3 November moves the programme from that display stage to a flight test from a JF-17 Thunder.
What remains undisclosed is as important as what was disclosed. No range, no speed, no seeker type, no aircraft block and no induction timeline were given in the ISPR statement, and those details therefore cannot be reported from the official account.
Source: The Express Tribune, ISPR
