Non-Flying Bases
The PAF Base Lahore is one of the oldest air force bases in Pakistan. It comes under Central Air Command. An air defence modernization school, now renamed Air Defence System School (ADSS) was established at the PAF Base Lahore in 1978, with a primary aim of imparting aviation training to PAF technicians, operators, engineers and controllers, which included training courses on high powered radars. The school was later shifted to nearby Walton airport in 1987 and then to PAF Base Mushaf, where it presently continues to function. The base currently has an operations wing which provides air defence cover. The Lahore air base is frequently used for receiving foreign air force dignitaries.
Air Force Day Celebrations at Lahore airbase. Picture Credit: historyofpia.com
PAF Airmen Academy is at Korangi Creek, Karachi. It comes under Southern Air Command. Earlier Korangi was a technical training base for officers and airmen of the PAF. In 2019, it was converted into an Academy for training of all trades. The airmen training model is now at power with PAF Academy Asghar Khan, which is a premier training institution of officers’ cadre. The base is implicitly used for the development of the Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV).
Cadets passing out. PAF Korangi Creek. APP photo by Jahangir Khan. Picture Though korangi-town.blogspot.com
PAF Malir, Karachi comes under Southern Command. The station is located not too far from the Karachi International Airport. PAF Base Chhota Malir has an abandoned WW-II airstrip, which was used as a staging area by the allies during the second world war. Malir was declared a cantonment by the British as POW Camp in October 1941. Army Cantonment has evolved into one of the coveted posh localities of Karachi.
PAF Malir. Picture Credit: Facebook
Chandhar Air Force Base, is near Chandhar a town in Punjab. It has a 9,000 ft runway, 75 ft narrow asphalt runway.
Chandhar Air Force Base. Image Credit: imgur.com
PAF College Lower Topa, Murree, under Northern Air Command,is an all-boys military boarding school situated at PAF Base, Lower Topa which is located near Patriata in the Murree region of the Rawalpindi District. Institution is located on a hill top. It is considered as elite boarding institution of Pakistan providing quality education and training. The public school is serving as a nursery for the future leadership of the PAF. Clearly military in Pakistan commands the best real estate.
Lower Topa. Picture Credit: Pinterest
PAF Base Sakesar. Sakesar is the highest mountain in the Salt Range in Pothohar in Pakistan. Its height is 1,522m. The mountain used to be the summer headquarters for the deputy commissioners of three districts, Campbellpur (now Attock), Mianwali, and Sargodha. In view of Sakesar’s ideal location and height, the PAF selected it in the late 1950s as the site for a high-powered radar which would provide air defence cover for the northeastern part of the western wing. The base has a sector operations center SOCand a ground controlled interception element under Central Air Command.
Sakesar. Picture Credit: Twitter
Kohat Airbase is under Northern Air Command at Kohat in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, approximately 150 kilometers west of the Islamabad. It is a satellite airbase and has a 7,500 ft long runway, and is used for activation and exercises. Otherwise, it is basically a training base for airmen. Historically it has also been used as a major royal operational base in the pre-partition era. On February 20, 2003, Air Chief Marshal Mushaf Ali Mir and 16 others were killed when their Fokker F27 crashed into the hills near the airbase. The aircraft was inbound to Kohat from Chaklala airbase. On August 6, 2007, two personnel of the PAF and a child accompanying them were injured when a bomb exploded near their vehicle near the PAF Airbase.
Kohat . Picture Credit: Flickr
PAF Base Kala Bagh Nathia Gali, is located on the Indus river in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Province, just north of Mianwali, and comes under Northern Air Command. It appears more of a Rest and Recuperation center and is a known tourist spot.
Kalabagh. Picture Credit: pakwheels.com
The PAF Base Kallar Kahar, Northern Air Command, houses the Special Service Wing (SSW), or Maroon berets. It is a special operations aerospace unit of the PAF. The SS Wing or Maroon Berets are an elite, special operations force based on the U.S. Air Force’s Special Tactics Squadrons and the U.S. Army Rangers. The SSW is a new military division of the Special Forces Command of the Pakistan Armed Forces. The division has recently been revived and is fielding between 800 and 1,200 troops. It is akin to IAF ‘Garud’.
PAF Special Service Wing. Picture Credit: Wikipedia
Shamsi Airfield, also known as Bhandari Airstrip, is an airfield situated about 320 km southwest of Quetta and about 400 km northwest of Gwadar in Balochistan. The airfield is located in Washuk District and nestled in a barren desert valley between two ridges. Shrouded in secrecy, Shamsi was leased by Pakistan to the UAE in 1992 for game hunting purposes and, between 20 October 2001 and 11 December 2011, it was leased to the United States for use as a base for joint CIA and USAF surveillance and drone operations, including Predator drones, against militants in Pakistan’s Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA).
Shamsi Airfield. Picture Credit: pakwheels.com
The United States was asked to vacate the airfield by the Pakistani Government on 26 November 2011 after the Salala incident in which US-led NATO forces attacked two Pakistani border check-posts in FATA killing 24 Pakistan Army Soldiers. The United States vacated the airfield on 11 December 2011. Following the Abbottabad incident of 2 May 2011, the PAF Air Chief confirmed to a joint sitting of the Pakistani Parliament, that Shamsi was not under the control of the PAF, but under UAE control. Soldiers of the Pakistan Army, the Frontier Constabulary and officials of Pakistan’s Civil Aviation Authority took control of the airfield.
Shamsi airfiled. Image Credit: publicintelligence.net
Tarbela Ghazi Airbase is under Central Air Command. It is near Tarbela Dam north west of Islamabad. It is a dual use airfield for civil and military.
Tarbela. Image Credit: publicintelligence.net
Skardu Airport
Skardu is a domestic civil airport in Gilgit-Baltistan, Pakistan. It also serves as a forward operating base of PAF. Skardu Airport has an asphalt runways, 11,944 ft (3,641 m) long. The airport operates from dawn to dusk.
Skardu. Picture Credit: reddit.com
Summary
Image Credit: defence.pk
With 70,000 active personnel, PAF is a sizeable force. They have large number of main and satellite airbases covering the entire country. Nearly half of its total land border is with India. Pakistan has a serious issue of depth. Straight line distance between Lahore and Kabul is just 584 km. Balochistan which considers itself as an independent entity composes 48% of the total land area of Pakistan.