Pakistan Air Force
Pakistan Fiza’ya
GENERAL
In recent years, Pakistan has suffered from tensions on both sides of its borders. To its east is India, with which the Moslem state, formed in 1947, has been to war twice - in 1965 and again in 1971 when it lost the eastern territory to newly created Bangladesh. An uneasy truce continues with India although there is often a real crisis around the corner, like in 1999 at Kargil and again in 2002.
To its north-west, Afghanistan is now a major battleground where ISAF (International Security Assistance Force) and US forces continue to hunt down the Taliban and al Qaeda militias that often escape into Pakistan’s porous western frontier. Being allies with the USA in its war on terrorism has allowed the Pakistan Government to re-equip its armed forces with Foreign Military Sales (FMS) assistance after years of US sanctions caused by nuclear testing in 1989. In 2006 the USA agreed to supply Pakistan 18 F-16C/Ds and 28 F-16A/Bs, increasing the number of F-16s the PAF is flying to 78 examples. They fly in air to ground and air defence missions.
The Pakistan Air Force's (PAF) fighter force is predominantly made up of Chinese aircraft, operating three squadrons of F-7PGs, the latest derivative of the Chengdu fighter and four F-7P units that augment the F-16s in an air defence role. There are also two squadrons of A-5Cs which have been in service since the mid-80s and fulfil an air to ground mission.
Pakistan’s state-owned Pakistan Aerospace Complex (PAC) at Kamra, has over the past 17 years, rejuvenated the PAF’s fleet of Mirages with its Retrofit of Strike Element (ROSE) upgrades. Today Mirage III and Vs that have been acquired from all over the world and subsequently upgraded equip six PAF squadrons mainly in an air to ground role.
With the JF-17 Thunder expected to join the operational ranks of the PAF during 2009-10, at Peshawar, it is likely that the first A-5s will start their withdrawal sometime this year. The PAF has a requirement of between 150-250 JF-17 fighters, co-developed with China. Sanctions by the USA caused some difficulties and delays to the programme, but the first ten have been delivered to PAC Kamra as of March 2009.
Over the next ten years the JF-17 will replace the F-7, Mirage and A-5 in a bid to cut costs and standardise the PAF’s combat fleet. The JF-17 could eventually be joined by another Chengdu fighter - the J-10 (Pakistan designation is FC-20) that allow the PAF a long range bomber capability. Ideally the PAF would like to re-equip two squadrons with the FC-20 to work alongside the F-16s and JF-17s.
The PAF College is based at Risalpur, where the upgraded Super Mushshaks are used for Basic Flying Training while for Primary Flying Training the PAF continues to operate its remaining 20+ Cessna T-37s and 20 Hongdu K-8s – eight of the latter fly with new digital avionics. The K-8 is also used for advanced flying training, although a squadron of Shenyang FT-5s are also used in this role at Mianwali. Helicopter training is carried out at Peshawar on Alouette IIIs, while multi-engined fixed wing training is carried out at Chaklala on the Harbin Y-12 and IPTN CN 235.
Each Combat Wing also houses an Alouette III squadron for search and rescue although several Mi-171s have been delivered to Sargodha and Masroor for SAR and other missions.
The main transport wing resides at Chaklala, where the three based transport squadrons operate the C-130/L-100, CN 235, Cessna 172, Harbin Y-12 and a mixture of Cessna Citation, F-27, Da 20E and Gulfstream IVs in the VIP role. The C-130 fleet is currently being boosted by the acquisition of several ex-Royal Australian Air Force C-130Es, while a Gulfstream V is believed to be on order.
