Pakistan flight-tests Fa’az, its first home-built air-to-air missile, from a JF-17

Pakistan has flight-tested Fa’az, the first air-to-air missile it has developed at home. The military’s media wing, ISPR, said on Tuesday that the missile was fired from a JF-17 Thunder fighter and carries an advanced terminal guidance system that lets it engage aerial targets at longer ranges.

Third missile test in under a month

Fa’az is the third major missile test Pakistan has announced in less than a month. The Fatah-2 extended-range hypersonic ballistic missile was tested on October 13, and an extended version of the Fatah-IV ground-launched cruise missile about a week before that. Fa’az is different from both: it is fired from the air, at targets in the air, rather than from the ground.

Top leadership congratulates the scientists

Senior military officers, scientists and engineers watched the launch. President Asif Ali Zardari, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, Chief of Defence Forces and Army Chief Field Marshal Asim Munir and the service chiefs congratulated the team behind it. Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi also issued a statement, saying the country’s scientists and engineers had “once again achieved a remarkable feat that makes the nation proud”.

Range and speed not disclosed

ISPR disclosed no range, speed or other technical details, and said nothing about when Fa’az will enter service with the air force. Defence analysts say the missile was developed under the National Engineering and Scientific Commission, and mock-ups of the Fa’az-RF and Fa’az-IIR variants were first shown publicly at the IDEF defence fair in Istanbul in 2023. ISPR said the missile “will significantly enhance the operational flexibility of the Pakistan Air Force” and called the test proof of the “technical maturity, innovation and self-reliance achieved by Pakistan’s defence industry”.