Air Weapons Complex
| Air Weapons Complex | |
|---|---|
| Active | 18 February 1992 |
| Country | Pakistan |
| Branch | Pakistan Air Force |
| Type | Research and Development |
| Part of | Pakistan Air Force |
| Headquarter | Wah Cantonment, Punjab, Pakistan |
| Nickname(s) | AWC |
| Commanders | |
| Director-General | Air Vice Marshal Faheem Kayani |
The Air Weapons Complex (AWC) is a scientific research and development detachment of the Pakistan Air Force that engages and leads projects in airborne applications of explosive engineering.
Established in 1992 by the Pakistan Air Force, the AWC is dedicated towards developing and integrating the aerospace warfighting technologies and providing warfighting capabilities to the Pakistan Air Force. The AWC has designed and developed the air-launched cruise missile (ALCM) for the Air Force and participated in technical demonstrations in conjunction with nation's major defense contractors such as NESCOM, DESTO, and the Ministry of Defence (MoD).
Products
Airborne systems
- Airborne Video Tape Recorder (AVTR) system
- Airborne Digital Data Recorder system
- Infra-red search and track (IRST) system
- GPS navigation system
- Mechanical gyro and iFOG-based inertial navigation system (INS)
- MOHAFIZ counter-measures dispensing system
- Laser guidance system for Mk.80 series bombs (license-manufactured design from the US)
Air-launched weaponry
- Practice bombs (6 kg, 11 kg)
- 250 kg Pre-fragmented bomb
- 250 kg Mk.82 general-purpose bomb
- 500 kg Mk.83 bomb
- 1000 kg Mk.84 bomb
- Mk.80 series general-purpose bomb tail units (low drag or high drag speed-retarding devices)
- HAFR-1, HAFR-2 and RPB-1 anti-runway weapons
- H-2 SOW
- H-4 SOW
- Ra'ad ALCM
- Ra'ad-II ALCM
Electronics
- Air Defence Automation System (C4I system) - given to Bangladesh, installed by AWC engineers circa 2005.
- Electronic fuses for air-launched weapons (impact and proximity fuses)
- Real-time ACMI system
- Voice/Fax/Data encryption system
Other
- Multi-Spectral Camouflage Net - camouflages against night-vision, infra-red, radar and millimeter wave sensors as well as visual detection. Stated to reduce an object's radar cross-section (RCS) by 86% on average and reduce average detection range by 43.8%.
Technical Expertise
- Software Development for Mission Critical Systems
- Nondestructive Testing Software and Mechanical Support
- Electronic System Design and Production
- Prototyping and Production of Specialized Mechanical Assemblies
- Mechanical Components Precision Manufacturing
- TQM Practices
- Mil-Spec Qualifications
- CAD/CAM Support
UAV project
The Air Weapons Complex embarked on a project for the indigenous development of UAVs (unmanned aerial vehicles) in mid-1998. The Sky Tracker and Sky Navigator software suites were developed for the ground-based tracking of UAVs. The software retrieves the GPS position data from the UAV via a radio data-link17 and uses it to show the position of the UAV as a 2D plot along with other essential data such as, speed, altitude, heading, etc. This plot can be overlaid onto area maps as well. This information is used by the pilot for flying the UAV from the ground-based command station.