Interviews Thread

[Manticore]

 

[Super Falcon]

we dont have anywords to thank yu all friends on this amazing work thanks alot friends you owe us one

 

[Manticore]

http://www.defence.pk/forums/milita...r-vice-marshal-niaz-husain-dcas-engg-paf.html

 

[air marshal]

 

[abraham.a]

PLEASE POST WHATEVER INTERVIEWS YOU FIND ABOUT THE PAF HERE.
I'LL START OF WITH WHAT I FOUND.

INTERVIEW WITH CAS ACM TANVIR MAHMOOD AHMAD

I like the Pakistani defence because they defend their country at every place and show's that they are the best one among all troops of the world. They fought with bravery and all nation will be proud on them. Salaam Pakistan force.Hellkes ringar

 

[Durrak]

My prayers are for them who serve Pakistan is a true mean

 

[Manticore]

Squadron Leader Sameen Mazhar

S/L Sameen Mazhar joined the Pakistani Air Force (Pakistan Fiza'ya) in October 1980, and after four years of rigorous training and academics at the PAF College at Sargodha, he was awarded a bachelors degree in Aerosciences. He then went to the Air Force Academy at Risalpur for flying training. After 1 1/2 year of flying training, including primary and basic jet flying on T-37 a/c, he was awarded his "wings" and was commissioned as a "pilot officer" in the G D(P) (general duty pilot) branch of the PAF in 1985. In Pakistan, this is quite an achievement, since the attrition rate during various tests and phases was almost 50%. Only half of the cadets could make it to the pilot officer rank during these five years.

S/L Mazhar did his fighter conversion on the Mig-17, and, thanks to his excellent flying skills was directly sent to the Mirage OCU (normally, after fighter conversion, all PAF pilots are sent to the F-6 (Sheniyang-built MiG-19, aka J-6) OCU or the F-7P (Sheniyang-built MiG-21, aka J-7). After successfully completing Mirage conversion, he was posted to Nr. 8 Tactical Attack sqn equipped with the Mirage V PA3. There he specialized in the Air to Sea role. From there he was posted to Nr. 11 OCU for conversion on the viper in 1990 after which he was assigned to Nr. 9 Multi role sqn. S/L Mazhar also flew the F-16 in the prestegious "Combat Commanders" School of the PAF, where he took an advanced course similar to USN Fighter Weapons School (Topgun). (F-16.net Note: To give you an idea of the stringent criteria and high standard of training in the PAF, only 1% of the initial intake makes it to fighter pilot in the squadrons of the PAF.)

http://www.f-16.net/interviews_article6.html

F-16.net: How long have you flown the Viper and how many hours do you have on the F-16?

S/L. Mazhar: I have been flying the viper since 1990. But there was a break of 2 1/2 years in between when I did a tenure as a Flight Instructor in PAF Academy. Due to some restrictions, we do not fly as much as USAF or Turkish AF pilots do, therefore I only have about 500 hours on the F-16.

F-16.net: How would you compare the F-16 to the other aircraft types you flew?

S/L. Mazhar: Well, in a nutshell, Mig is potent but lacks sophistication, but mind you if a good pilot is sitting in a Mig, it takes a while to get him in your HUD. Mirage comes no where close to the Viper in air combat, but for its role, surface attack, its a beautiful platform.

F-16.net: What is the principal role of the F-16 in the PAF?

S/L. Mazhar: Although the principal role of Pakistani F-16s is Air Defence, it is utilized as a true multi role aircraft in our Air Force. We are extensively using the F-16 in various roles like strike, deep interdiction, escort etc.

F-16.net: Is there a difference in the roles of the three sqns? Which squadron did you enjoy most serving with?

S/L. Mazhar: Yes. Apart from the operational flying, Nr. 11 OCU has to fulfill the task of being the sole F-16 conversion unit for the PAF. CCS is purely an advanced tactics school for section leaders during their mid career. I enjoyed all the three assignments as I was flying the F-16.

F-16.net: What are the consequences of pakistan's geographical location for the Pakistani Air Force, and for the Pakistan F-16s in particular?

S/L. Mazhar: I don't want to go in detail in this matter but due to obvious reasons of Russian invasion / unrest in Afghanistan in the west, and India's vision of becoming a mini superpower in the south east Asia, on our east, PAF has to keep a vigilant eye all along its border to defend the sovereignty of its country. The F-16s are the only a/c equipped with the latest avionics suite which can effectively fulfill this task therefore it puts them under tremendous pressure as far as the responsibility is concerned.

F-16.net: The PAF is one of the few airforces whose F-16s saw actual combat. How does this affect the Pakistani AF and its F-16 pilots? What were the circumstances of those engagements?

S/L. Mazhar: Pretty long question !!!!!!! It has made a pakistani pilot more wise I would say, and Air Force on the whole, as far as the employment of the F-16 is concerned. We have devised new tactics and educated our non AI equipped a/c pilots how to handle a situation if they are pitched against an AI equipped threat. In the beginning the Russians and the Afghanis were really flying like bafoons, but later they also learnt how to employ their a/c. They used split level tactics and played with numbers (typical Russian doctrine), in the end, to increase the task of the viper pilots. At time a single viper had to play with six to eight adversaries and mind you this is no exaggeration !!!!!!!!

F-16.net: What is life in a PAF F-16 sqn like? Do you think the sqn life in the PAF is different from sqn life in other airforces?

S/L. Mazhar: Life in a PAF F-16 sqn is quite tough; to be very frank. Due to the diversity of the role, the pilots are trained in almost all the roles. We do not have pilots specialised in only one role. You can very comfortably call them multi role pilots !!!!! This calls for full time dedication and hard work on the part of the pilots to maintain standards alongwith normal flying and 24 hours air defence alert duties. We really mean bussiness here in the F-16 sqns.

F-16.net: What flight profiles (air-air; air-ground,...) do you enjoy most and why?

S/L. Mazhar: My favourite is the ESCORT role. It is a true blend of surface attack and air-air at low level. I think it's the ultimate you can derive out of a viper, though it demands a lot of training, there's no match pivoting a viper at 250 feet AGL, keeping an eye on the radar scope, watching your tail and shoot as well!

F-16.net: Do you have particularly fond memories of a specific deployment or exercise?

S/L. Mazhar: HIGHMARK 93 - one of the major exercises PAF conducts. I had twenty five "confirmed" kills in air during a twelve day period, the highest for any pilot in any exercise of the PAF.

F-16.net: Thanks for the interview!

- S/L Mazhar was interviewed online by Stefaan Vanhastel -

 

[Manticore]

http://dc233.*******.com/img/IExyPQLH/0.22258817710613854/azeri4qx6.jpghttp://dc233.*******.com/img/47ON9EPM/0.08861661073816973/azeri5qp6.jpg

 

[Manticore]

http://dc233.*******.com/img/HgwhoAXA/0.929970655367327/azeri6vl2.jpghttp://dc233.*******.com/img/gjTC9VM2/0.06549910113954793/azeri7jo5.jpg
an old interview i recently found on a french forum

 

[Manticore]

Gums [f16 .net]

Salute!

If you are not politically-incorrect, do not read the rest of this post.
*****************

In the very early years of the Viper, we trained all the EPG folks, plus the IAF, Pakistani and Egyptian folks. Also handled USAF National Guard and Reserve units.

I flew with Pakistani folks during my pilot training back in 1965-65. 16-17 years or so later, I flew with accomplished Pakistani fighter pilots that formed the core of their Viper force.

The original cast at Hill will all tell you (ALL) that the Pakistani folks were more aggressive than the IAF folks we had. Same-oh versus the Egyptian folks.

Jan Bei's question is a great one!

It may not be true today, but except for one of the original Pakistani Viper cadre, all had been instructors all over the mideast. They kept reminding us that they were Muslims, but not Arabs. My own student had taught various Arab folks and had great war stories. For example, when the Emir's grandson screwed up and claimed it was Allah's will, he threw the bullshit flag and told the yute, "OK, then we'll let the plane crash!".

I can't believe that the Pakistani spirit and elan and professionalism has deterioated all that much. But having no current intell from anyone, I can't make an unequivocal statement.

All I know is that I would lead or follow any of the ones we had at Hill in that cadre.

If anyone else here has ever flown with a Pakistani Viper pilot in an actual Viper, please chime in or continue to speculate.

That's my story, and I'm stickin' to it.

 

[Manticore]

Gums [f16 .net Pakistani Air Force F-16 pilots ]

Salute!

Let's review the bidding........

About half of the Viper cadre at Hill had two or three combat tours in 'nam. One of my students had a Mig kill. One of my IAF students had one or more mig kills and I have a neat photo from his camera here in the war room.

One of my IAF students was on the Iraqi nuke raid, then died on the Columbia.

I never saw a Mig over 'nam. The Double Ugly folks did their job and we simply blew up stuff dodged SAM's and AAA and scooted home.

I have many more combat hours than the IAF folks from Yom Kippur or the 67 blitz. Take that to the bank. I flew with them and we talked.

The EPG folks were indistinguishable from the USAF for the most part, and in some arenas were better than we were, particularly in radar intercepts.

The IAF folks and the Pakistani folks were so close, that except for the uniforms, you couldn't tell who you were hasslin' with.

We should all bear in mind that only the best folks were attending the upgrade courses at Hill back in the early 80's. So we did not get a chance to see the run-of-the-mill pilots from the EPG, IAF or Pakistan. We did get a chance to see the average folks from the USAF Reserve and Guard.

My checkout group was comprised of two Danes, three Norwegians and five USAF troops (3 Double Ugly guys and two SLUF drivers). We studied hard, planned and flew together and you couldn't tell where anyone came from.

************

I once again beg all to leave politics out of these forums. Or religion. Or ethnic origin.

The people here that have flown in real jets and in real combat share a bond that most of you shall never understand. And that includes some of us who were "enemies".

We all did our duty, and when all was said and done, we went home and harbored no personal animosity.

that's all I gonna say....

Gums

I have already stated my personal opinion of the original PAF folks who came to Hill in the early 80's.

My student was "Khattuck" or "Kattuk" or close to that. Hell, it was over 20 years ago.

So you can ask any of the other IP's who helped those PAF cadre what they thot. They will tell you what I did.

The initial PAF cadre were very competent in all aspects of the fighter business, especially air-to-air. The computer systems were new to them, but they quickly got the hang of it, and did well at Eagle Range. They were really sharp on instruments.

As far as actual and official contact with the PAF, I was an IP or academic instructor for all of the EPG folks, the IAF, and the PAF. I did not have much contact with the Egyptian folks.

i thought to post it after qouting it in many discussions on seperate threads over the years

 

[Akasa]

Why would Turkey go for the basic version of the JF-17? It does not seem like it has the capability or role to be a contender in Turkey's next generation fighter program. Unless they are going for the second block, the role would be superseded by the F-35.

Turkey for now seems to be looking for a strike fighter that will go along with their current inventory of F-16s. The F-35, with its exceptional BVR capabilities and its powerful active phased array radar, would pretty much fill their air defense needs as well (in terms of long range interceptions).

 

[air marshal]

 

[air marshal]

PAF Falcons - PAF s' Specials - ACM (Retd) Kaleem Sadaat

 

[Manticore]