Thank you.
its good that members share their thoughts openly and this is why PDF is an awesome forum.
In recent exercises it was seen that Gunships were used with armour so it can be expected that AH-1 may accompany armoured formations in an attack. However, deploying a gunship squadron or detachment in enemy area(across the border in India) is not an easy job. The amount of maintenance crew + parts + weapons+ spares+fuel (fuel trucks) etc means another 150-300 men and lots of equipment into enemy territory to keep the gunships flying and attacking enemy armour when required. Its not feasible to send gunships back into Pakistan for re-arming, refuelling and general maintenance. They need to be deployed minutes away from own armoured force to give cover, not hours away. Secondly, the ability of gunships to cover alot of distance in minimum time makes it an excellent defensive platform. It can be in the desert and after sometime, hundreds of km away to a threatened sector near Okara, where enemy armour will be about to break into Pakistani front lines. So it really depends how PA commanders want to utilise this asset. Probably if numbers were around 100, sending 20 or so across shouldn't be a problem.
The APC's that PA operates are M-113 and Talha.
@Ulla and
@Zarvan will kill me here, lol, i dont jump into APC discussion much now. check the engine HP's of Talha and M-113. PA is matching 1200 HP engine AK with a 330 HP engined Talha. Talha's hp/ton figure is good, but its the add on armor that could affect it. Probably PA is satisfied with 330 HP engine and 25 HP/Ton P/W ratio because IA BMP-2 has a 300 HP engine with 19 HP/Ton P/W ratio.
There is another APC Saad with a 400-450 HP engine and an extra road wheel. With a 100-130 hp more than AL-Talha and an extra road wheel which gives the vehicle increased internal volume and payload, SAAD would have been a better platform to make tracked APC derivatives. ADD on Armour has become a trend in all AFV's nowadays and SAAD wouldnt have faltered. Sakb Tracked Logistics vehicle and Hadeed ARV uses Saad configuration of road wheels and engine.
Wheeled Hamza has a 600 HP engine and a bigger cannon 30mm, which now shows that PA is going towards bigger HP engines as well as cannons.
PAF has its own plans regarding war times and truthfully support for Army and Navy comes as second priority for it. There are examples in the past, but PAF dedicating its top of the line jets like F-16 or JF-17 for an armoured offensive by PA, i doubt it.
The infantry divisions are sometimes attached with independent armoured brigades (90 tanks). This way the tank to battalion ratio can be increased. i told ratio in previous post to just give an idea. Do bear in mind that not all units go into combat together. The commander sends a few units into combat and keeps some reserve to send in where required. He may send the whole armoured brigade (2 armor regiments) with an infantry brigade (3 infantry battalions) to penetrate into enemy positions. The infantry brigade can then hold that position and entrench while the armoured brigade is called back and sent into action next with another infantry battalion or infantry brigade.
The Infantry Battalions in infantry Divisions dont get APC's for movement but motorised transport(jeeps,pick ups,trucks), which also if available. The Supply and Transport (S&T) Battalion takes care of that for the whole division. Transport can also be also be arranged from Corps HQ. In some scenarios, civilain trucks are provided by Log HQ (Logistics HQ).
Most western and gulf armies have more mechanised infantry battalions (MIB's) compared to Plain Infantry Battalions. PA has MIB's but usually attached with armoured divisions and armoured brigades apart from Mechanised Divisions in desert.
Infantry combat is meant to be as stealthy as possible and get as close as possible to engage the enemy. Its too early to say about CZ-806. Things vary however, if calling a 15 min pre-attack artillery strike to suppress enemy infantry in entrenched bunkers or fortified positions, then distance needs to be kept to keep out of friendly fire. Engagement can begin after bombardment stops. More often or not, things dont go the text book style. Every plan has a different terrain, different threat level, different weapons to be utilised when and where etc. A combination of a good assault rifle, soldier training, tanks, artillery and other factors combined to bring a good result.
