ISLAMABAD: Chief of the Air Staff Air Chief Marshal Sohail Aman has announced that Pakistan, with the collaboration of China, will able to send astronauts into space within two years.

He said this while addressing as chief guest at the inauguration session of AirTech’17 conference, hosted by Air University, Islamabad. AirTech’17 is Pakistan’s largest technical and scientific Olympiad being held at the main campus of Air University from December 07 to 10.

Air University Vice-Chancellor AVM (retd) Faaiz Amir and other speakers were also present on the occasion.

Air Chief Marshal Sohail Aman, in his keynote address on ‘Leadership, Education and Society Development’, said that the purpose of education system must be to introduce latest technologies and contribute something positive for the betterment of society as a whole. He also urged the importance of industry-academia cooperation.

In this regard, he asked industry professionals to guide universities about what kind of skills are needed. “No doubt Pakistani students are talented, intelligent and hard-working, but to achieve success in life goals, unconditional faith, firm commitment and tireless struggle are essential,” he added.

The air chief emphasised that most important segment of an education system must be character building of students. He added that every fellow human-being deserved respect equally.

“Without practising good values, there is no purpose of any kind of success,” he said, adding that a role model leader must have the courage to take tough decisions at the time of crisis.

Responding to a question, Sohail Aman disclosed that Pakistan was currently working to manufacture next-generation aircraft with the support of Chinese experts. “In addition, China is also providing technical support to Pakistan for launching satellite programme,” he added.

He further stated that Pakistan is manufacturing 16 to 20 JF-17 aircrafts annually, which are much better than F-16 planes in performance.

Talking about the importance of national defence, he said that currently, Pakistan is on right track to curb terrorism. He emphasised that security, stability and prosperity were interlinked in the today’s world.

On the occasion, VC Faaiz Amir highlighted the key aspects of the AirTech’17 conference. He said that the conference was designed to serve as a platform where a fair and competitive environment will be provided to young students to design, build and present technical solutions and perform innovative tasks in respective fields by utilising their creative skills blended with the scientific academic knowledge and technical capabilities.

Various topics related to robotics, artificial intelligence, and other emerging technologies also came under discussion at the conference which was attended by a large number of students, academia and industry professionals.