Defence Uncut by Quwa

The debate over new F-16s for the Pakistan Air Force is back. But is it the right conversation to be having? In this episode of Defence Uncut, we argue that the future of Pakistan's air dominance doesn't lie in more imported fighters, but in a bold and strategic pivot to a sovereign Unmanned Combat Aerial Vehicle (UCAV) program. We explore how the realities of modern aerial warfare, coupled with P...

The ambition was immense: a homegrown 5th-generation fighter for the Pakistan Air Force. But the flagship program, Project AZM, has effectively failed, leaving critical questions about the future of Pakistan’s aerospace industry. Why was a project with so much national prestige doomed from the start? This episode of Defence Uncut provides a brutally honest post-mortem on Project AZM, revealing how...

After the trauma of the 1971 war, Pakistan's leadership came to a stark conclusion: international alliances were useless. To guarantee their survival, they would have to build the ultimate deterrent themselves. The solution was a secret two-pronged strategy: one well-known uranium program to create a deterrent on paper, and a second, more advanced plutonium program to secure absolute capability. T...

The Pakistan Navy is undergoing a quiet revolution, transforming from a neglected force into a formidable power. From new Chinese frigates and advanced AIP submarines to secretive indigenous programs for hypersonic missiles and next-generation warships, the "silent service" is making major moves. In this episode of Defence Uncut, we pull back the curtain on the Pakistan Navy's ambitious modernizat...

On 06 June 2025, the Government of Pakistan had announced that it received a major arms offer from China consisting of the J-35 stealth fighter, HQ-19 theatre air defence system, and the KJ-500 airborne early warning and control (AEW&C) system. The announcement was posted on the social media platform X, but was deleted on 11 June, indicating that it may have been an unintended revelation. In a...

Following the recent Indo-Pak conflict, which saw established paradigms tested and new threats emerge, one capability, in particular, underscored a critical vulnerability for Pakistan: India's BrahMos supersonic cruise missile (SSCM). As we detailed in our previous episode, Pakistan’s air defence system did not stop the BrahMos SSCM at limited scale, even though India likely expelled some of its o...

In the inaugural episode of Defence Uncut by Quwa, Bilal Khan, Arslan Khan, and Aseem ul-Islam take a high level look at the recent conflict between Pakistan and India from May 7 to May 10 2025. During those first crucial hours of May 7th, it appeared that the PAF had successfully built upon its strong showing in 2019. However, over the next 72 hours, India regrouped and brought a fight that the P...