Article Posted on : - Sep 09, 2009

A file photo.

ISLAMABAD (PTI): Pakistan has signed an agreement with a French company to upgrade the range and capabilities of 122mm rockets used by its Army.

Under the MoU signed between the Pakistan Ordnance Factories and Roxel, a leading French company dealing in rocket technology, the range of the 122 mm rockets would be doubled from 20 to 40 kilometers.

Pakistan's move comes in the wake of India enhancing the range of its indigenous Pinaka rockets and acquiring Russian SMERCH long range multi-barrel rocket system.

The MoU was signed on Tuesday on the sidelines of the Defence Systems and Equipment International Exhibition in London.
Roxel's chief sales executive Francis Rodriguez told reporters that the Pakistani rockets are equipped with �outdated Russian technology� and the induction of new technology will increase the range of the weapons and make them more lethal and effective.

Rodriguez said Pakistan's relations with France have deepened since the formation of a democratic government in Islamabad.

President Asif Ali Zardari and his French counterpart Nicholas Sarkozy are keen to see that ties are further consolidated in all fields, particularly in defence, he said.

France is a major defence supplier to Pakistan, and has provided the country Mirage warplanes, Agosta submarines and other equipment.