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Ravi Rikhye in Orbat.com
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The Pakistan Air Force and Operation Geronimo
Forwarded by Major A.H. Amin (Pakistan Army, Retired). He received it from a former PAF officer he trusts.
With the latest PAF press briefing whose distorted version appeared today on TV channels and in the electronic edition of various newspapers including The News Radars were inactive, not jammed: PAF, PAF's case has been totally messed up and it has been put on the back foot unnecessarily. It was simply bad PR; an would have been far better, with no possibility of laymen's interpretation and distortion of facts by uninformed journalists about matters technical. Like most of you, I have been following the matter over the past few days and would like to offer the factual story as far as is known, without trying to cover any mistakes or offering lame excuses on behalf of what was, formerly, my parent service.
On the night of 2 May, four near-stealth/low observable MH-60 helicopters ingressed unobserved from Bagram to Abbotabad. (Some US websites displaying animated action include two Chinooks, which, to my mind does not make sense as it nullifies the rationale of the other two low observable MH-60s, unless the Chinooks also had stealth features). The helicopter package was able to exploit the blind areas inherent in radars over hilly/broken terrain, while their own low-observable structure helped no less. (It is not true that PAF radars were being given a rest to conserve their life, as has been reported in The News.) It must, however, be noted that it is the PAF's AEW Erieyes that are not operated round-the-clock during peacetime, else we would quickly wear them out.
A package of 6-7 support aircraft including EC-130E/H, MC-130, AC-130, E-3 AWACS and, most ominously, a pair of fighters of unknown type (possibly F-15C), were orbiting in FATA area. It was easy to masquerade this package as the usual retinue of half a dozen Predators, Reapers and Global Surveyors that have been flying in the same area - with government approval and PAF clearance - over the last several years. There was, therefore, no question of this support package arousing any suspicion on this particular night.
As the operation got under way, no Pak Army unit was present in the vicinity of the OBL compound. US assessment was that local Army units in Abbotabad would be able to react effectively, not before one hour at the earliest (to take orders and draw their weapons). It was also surmised that armed soldiers at quarter guards, guard rooms, etc would not leave their posts.
When the firing started, local commanders at Abbotabad rushed to the scene and soon informed GHQ, who in turn got in touch with AHQ. The latter immediately scrambled a pair of F-16s but by the time these got to Abbotabad in about 15 minutes, the operation was over and the helicopters had departed. Without any help from ground radar, the F-16s did not know where to look, as they had no idea that the incursion had been from the west. As a matter of fact, an intrusion from the east was uppermost in their minds. The helicopters once again flew low, through radar gaps and were not spotted either by ground radar or the F-16s. The reality dawned too late that we do not have an antidote to a stealth raiding package. USA carrying out such an attack was the biggest surprise for the PAF as well as the Army.
In some ways, it was fortuitous that PAF F-16s did not pick up the helicopters on their radars, or else the nearby patrolling US fighters would have made short work of them with their long range missiles, what with full communications and radar jamming support available to them.
To say that it was a failure of the PAF to react potently is completely incorrect and unfair. It was simply beyond its technical means to handle fifth-generation warfare vs USA. If it is a failure, it is at the national policy level, whereby US was compelled to sideline its much-ballyhooed ally because of trust deficit.
Editor's comment : Editor is quite familiar with the PAF and its capabilities. Everything the officer has said is fair and reasonable. In matters of defense the Pakistan press is much worse than the Indian press, which is quite bad. Editor is not surprised that the Pakistan press has got everything wrong. In case you are thinking but surely PAF/ISPR knew that the press would muck up the story, you have to remember Pakistan military PR is plain terrible.
We cannot explain the MH-47 mystery, except to say the US has very few of the stealth MH-60s, possibly no more than four operational and perhaps a trainer. Its reasonable to assume it would not deploy more than two for the mission as US has global commitments.
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pak got stealth heli part and us got laptop memory stick hell lot of treasure from haveli. lets see how much each worth. if isi/army really unaware of osama then congrats pak/china. you got urself a new r&d job. otherwise stealth helo parts going back to its owner!!!t