Global Industrial and Defence Solutions, or GIDS, Pakistan’s state-owned defence conglomerate, garnered wide-reaching interest in its Shahpar family of medium altitude long endurance (MALE) uncrewed aerial vehicles (UAVs) during the International Defence Exhibition and Conference (IDEX).
This comes as the third iteration of the fixed-wing Shahpar UAV completed taxi tests and is now entering the flight testing phase before entering the global drone market in the summer of 2025.
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Shahpar I first emerged in 2012 and the system was later replaced by the more prominent Shahpar II, a variant which has currently reached its second block. This second variant has a modular structure and an auto-pilot scheme for autonomous take-off and landing.
Armed, the system can carry four weapons on its pylons, fly for 15 hours, and reach up to 22,000 feet. For surveillance purposes, the vehicle can fly 20 hours and go another 3,000 feet higher.
However, the third Shahpar version due to be released this year can carry six weapons, fly between 16 to 30 hours at an altitiude of up to 35,000 feet.
According to GlobalData intelligence, the military UAV market will expand by 6.3% over the next decade. Moreover, the data consultancy expects the leading segment to be MALE systems, accounting for as much as half of the total market share.
This is a considerable demand signal; especially since the predominant American-made MQ-9 Reaper – also a MALE UAV – entered service more than 18-years ago.
GIDS’ Shahpar exports strategy
At the exhibition in Abu Dhabi on 19 February, a spokesperson revealed to Army Technology that several security services expressed interest in its family of systems, such as the Tanzania People’s Defence Forces among others.
Principally, the spokesperson noted that “detailed discussions” are ongoing with the United Arab Emirates (UAE) Navy. The host nation is said to have requested a quote for the Shahpar II and III variants, and they are said to have taken away certain specifications from this consultation.
Currently, the Pakistan Army and Air Force use Shahpar I and II for surveillance missions. The exact number of systems in service is not known, however it is believed that every squadron has one. Both of Pakistan’s armed services intend to acquire the third Shahpar iteration when it becomes available but neither force has decided on the number of vehicles they intend to procure.
It may be worth noting, however, that there is an investigation into a technical glitch with one of the Pakistan Air Force’s Shahapr II units, which crashed the Bhakkar district of Punjab last year.
Nevertheless, the new interest still represents GIDS’ current client base in the Middle East and Africa. The conglmerate has engaged with Azerbaijan, Kenya, Nigeria, Türkiye, and the UAE in the past.
Tapping into more diverse markets such as Europe will prove difficult given Pakistan’s close alignment with China and its markets and the West’s pronounced policy of decoupling in recent years.
However, this is not impossible given Pakistan’s ongoing efforts to indigenise the construction of its defence products, particularly when it comes to shipbuilding and simulation trainer systems among others.
