Bravo idea.
Which country introduce this idea at first, pk?
Well many countries tried it in the past but it was Sweden who perfected it.
However, It´s a big difference between Pakistan motorway operations and the Swedish "Road-base90-system". In Sweden that meant that practically every fighter had its own runway and it was protected by a company of soldiers. I think cold war Sweden had more preparations against a sudden attack by a superpower than any other country at that time. To save my typing finger, I will present the excerpts from a Swedish forum that describes how the Swedish Base-90 system worked.
Base-90 in the 80s had a Basebattalion -85 for it´s protection and support. It was just a development of the Base-60 with further focus on dispersing the planes, e.g. using road bases and such.
A typical airbase-90 consisted of:
A main runway (often located out in the forest)
Several, up to five, short runways (usually public roads)
A "sidebase" (normally a civilian airport)
A reserve base
All these runways was connected with a system of roads so the planes could move around and the ground-support teams were mobile. A typical airbase-90 only consisted of 4-8 planes so they were VERY dispersed and had a lot of runways to choose from.
Such a base was supported of a Base-85 battalion that consisted of 1500-2000 men. 1500 men to support only 4 planes seems much but most of them were airbase rangers that would hunt and kill Spetsnaz (Russian special force) , repair teams to fix the runways and clear them from unexploded bombs and mines and ground support , they had to be plenty since they were dispersed in such a large area and there were so many runways.
The threat was a sudden massive attack from soviet. Our fighters would hopefully get airborne and counter the first wave. Since we had so many (several hundred) runways they couldnt possibly destroy all. The ones that would have been destroyed would have been fixed again before 24h. Rearmed and refuelled the fighters would have left again within 8 minutes and be on the way for the next mission. Even if the attack came as a surprise and some fighters were on the ground not many of them would have been destroyed thanks to the fact they were so dispersed (only 4 planes in a huge airbase system).
From what we have seen in recent wars it was clearly the right idea. Instead of having a few airbases with many planes and counting on the concrete shelters would give your planes protection, many airbases with several runways dispersed over a huge area with just a handful of planes is a better choice. In todays wars mobility is the key.
But now Base-90 is coming to an end. The focus of the Swedish armed forces is now on international use and so are our base battalions. Nowadays the few ones that are remaining will be able to be transported anywhere in the world, find a reasonable straight strip of highway and turn it to an airbase for our Gripens that will participate in a coalition force.
Now coming back to our own concept of operation. Its quite evident that due to our own existing road infrastructure, Pakistan cannot have anything like Swedish Base-90. However we have to use whatever we have and till now I think PAF has utilised the given resources very well.
Besides Motorways, take another example to the road runway. If anyone has travelled from Sargodha to Faisalabad, one comes across a road patch that suddenly gets wider and even had the centreline marked (runway style) that has now faded over the period of time.
It was a concept that was very well thought out in early 90s when this portion of road was modified. Being closed to Sargodha it not only could land planes in emergency but also provided the logistical support in terms of rearming and turnaround of the fighters in case if the main runway was damaged. However, over the years with some new airfields made available in the surroundings, the road runway somehow lost its originality and utilisation, and has now turned into a just another road.
As far as our motorways are concerned, I think they will be used only as a last resort emergency strip in case of outbreak of hostilities where a damaged or a fuel starving plane will land, quickly refuelled or get fixed ( depends on the severity) and off it goes to the main Base. Due to our logistic limitations, Motorways cant be turned into a full fledge facility where aircrafts will get armed etc .
Despite all our limited resources, I admire our military thinks/planners who are at least making an effort to utilise whatever we have to the best of our advantage. The concept has just started and still evolving in our arena, Motorways might turn into a much greater facility than what they are now, you never know.....!!
This is indeed a feat...congratulations. Am envious.
