GIDS Shahpar

The GIDS Shahpar is a Pakistani-made family of unmanned aerial vehicles, produced by Global Industrial Defence Solutions and operated by the country's military. After finishing its testing and qualification phase, the drone is now in active production.

AERO, one of the seven companies in the GIDS consortium, handles the sensor suite—a multi-sensor turret called the Zumr-1 (EP)—at a facility near Islamabad. According to an AERO engineer, the only components not manufactured in Pakistan are the engine and tyres. The airframe uses a pusher engine design with canard foreplanes positioned ahead of the wings.

The Shahpar can autonomously take off and land on a runway or deploy a parachute for landing. It carries payloads for reconnaissance and day-or-night surveillance. Its avionics can geo-reference and geo-point ground targets. The hardware meets military Environmental Standard 810F, and the ground equipment supports mission planning, simulation, management, control, and debriefing for the crew.

Operationally, the first Shahpar fleet entered service with the Pakistan Air Force and Pakistan Army in 2013, alongside the Burraq UCAV. Each flight unit consists of five aircraft, one communications station, and one ground control station. Variants include the Shahpar, Shahpar-II, and Shahpar-III.