BEIJING: In an unprecedented deal, China has sold Pakistan a powerful tracking system which could speed up the development of multi-warhead missiles by its all-weather ally, the state-run Chinese Academy of Sciences ( CAS ) said.Zheng Mengwei, a researcher with the CAS Institute of Optics and Electronics in Chengdu, Sichuan province, confirmed to the Hong Kong-based South China Morning Post that Pakistan had bought a highly sophisticated, large-scale optical tracking and measurement system from China. "We simply gave them a pair of eyes. It is thought to be still at an early stage of development, with plenty of room for improvement.China has been the biggest supplier of arms to Pakistan which included ships, submarines and fighter jets.The Chinese team which took the tracking system to Pakistan enjoyed VIP treatment during the nearly three months stay to assemble and calibrate it and training technical staff, the CAS statement said. "The system's performance surpassed the user's expectations," it said, adding that it was considerably more complex than Pakistan's home-made systems.The report did not reveal how much Pakistan paid for the system.An optical system is a critical component in missile testing. "The uniqueness of the Chinese-made system lay in its use of four telescope units, more than normally required," Zheng said.Each telescope, with a detection range of several hundred kms is positioned in a different location, with their timing synchronised precisely with atomic clocks.

Source: Economic Times March 22, 2018 11:29 UTC