The Army Strategic Forces Command (ASFC) is a major command of the

Pakistan Army The Pakistan Army (, ) is the Army, land service branch of the Pakistan Armed Forces. The roots of its modern existence trace back to the British Indian Army that ceased to exist following the partition of India, Partition of British India, wh ...

, which administers land-based nuclear weapons. Its comparable command includes the

Pakistan Air Force , "Be it deserts or seas; all lie under our wings" (traditional) , colours = , colours_label = , march = , mascot = , anniversaries = ...

's Air Force Strategic Command and the

Navy A navy, naval force, or maritime force is the branch of a nation's armed forces principally designated for naval warfare, naval and amphibious warfare; namely, lake-borne, riverine, littoral zone, littoral, or ocean-borne combat operations and ...

's Naval Strategic Forces Command, all commands formed the unified

command and control Command and control (abbr. C2) is a "set of organizational and technical attributes and processes ... hatemploys human, physical, and information resources to solve problems and accomplish missions" to achieve the goals of an organization or en ...

mechanism under the directorship and leadership of the

Strategic Plans Division Strategic Plans Division Force or (SPD Force) ( ur, ) is Pakistan's agency responsible for the protection of its tactical and strategic nuclear weapons stockpile and the strategic assets. It is the security branch of the National Command Author ...

(SPD) Significantly, it is a newer component of administrative corps of

. It is tasked to command all of Pakistan's land-based strategic forces.

History

Before its establishment, the

Pakistan Air Force , "Be it deserts or seas; all lie under our wings" (traditional) , colours = , colours_label = , march = , mascot = , anniversaries = ...

's Air Force Strategic Command was completely responsible for protecting the nuclear assets and had control over the land and air-based nuclear weapons. The Air Force Strategic Command was active during the country's nuclear test experiments in 1998, and it had completely dismantle the role of the Army to take any decisions over the nuclear weapons. Its success influenced Chief of Army Staff and

Chairman The chairperson, also chairman, chairwoman or chair, is the presiding officer of an organized group such as a board, committee, or deliberative assembly. The person holding the office, who is typically elected or appointed by members of the grou ...

of the

Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee The Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee (JCSC), ( ur, ); is an administrative body of senior high-ranking uniformed military leaders of the unified Pakistan Armed Forces who advises the civilian Government of Pakistan, National Security Council, ...

General Pervez Musharraf General Pervez Musharraf ( ur, , Parvez Muśharraf; born 11 August 1943) is a former Pakistani politician and four-star general of the Pakistan Army who became the tenth president of Pakistan after the successful military takeover of th ...

to established a new formation that was created in June 1999. General Pervez Musharraf desired to have a formal command and control structure for the employment of Pakistan land based nuclear weapons, completely independent from the Air Force. The Command was established after

Prime Minister A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister is not ...

Nawaz Sharif Mian Muhammad Nawaz Sharif (Urdu, Punjabi language, Punjabi: ; born 25 December 1949) is a Pakistani businessman and politician who has served as the Prime Minister of Pakistan for three non-consecutive terms. He is the longest-serving prime ...

ordered nuclear tests in 1998, under codename ''

Chagai-I Chagai-I is the code name of five simultaneous underground nuclear tests conducted by Pakistan at 15:15 hrs PKT on 28 May 1998. The tests were performed at Ras Koh Hills in the Chagai District of Balochistan Province. Chagai-I was Pakistan' ...

'' and ''

Chagai-II Chagai-II is the codename assigned to the second atomic test conducted by Pakistan, carried out on 30 May 1998 in the Kharan Desert in Balochistan Province of Pakistan. ''Chagai-II'' took place two days after Pakistan's first successful test, ...

'' in Balochistan Province. The command structure includes the Nuclear Command Authority,

, and the Strategic Forces Commands of

Air Force An air force – in the broadest sense – is the national military branch that primarily conducts aerial warfare. More specifically, it is the branch of a nation's armed services that is responsible for aerial warfare as distinct from an a ...

, and the

Pakistan Navy ur, ہمارے لیے اللّٰہ کافی ہے اور وہ بہترین کارساز ہے۔ English language, English: Allah is Sufficient for us - and what an excellent (reliable) Trustee (of affairs) is He!(''Quran, Qur'an, Al Imran, 3:173' ...

. The formation itself became operational in March 2000. It became a fully fledged

corps Corps (; plural ''corps'' ; from French , from the Latin "body") is a term used for several different kinds of organization. A military innovation by Napoleon I, the formation was first named as such in 1805. The size of a corps varies great ...

in 2004.

Employment

The official remit of the formation is "the command and employment of all land-based strategic assets." This description seems to imply that it controls most, if not all, of Pakistans ballistic launchers. While Pakistan is a nuclear weapons state, it is unknown at this time if ASFC is in possession or control of any nuclear warheads, though presumably in a

nuclear war Nuclear warfare, also known as atomic warfare, is a theoretical military conflict or prepared political strategy that deploys nuclear weaponry. Nuclear weapons are weapons of mass destruction; in contrast to conventional warfare, nuclear w ...

, a good percentage of the warheads would be delivered to their targets by the launchers of the ASFC.

Composition

Since 2004, ASFC has been made the equivalent of a

. It has subordinate divisions,

brigade A brigade is a major tactical military formation that typically comprises three to six battalions plus supporting elements. It is roughly equivalent to an enlarged or reinforced regiment. Two or more brigades may constitute a division. Br ...

s and

units Unit may refer to: Arts and entertainment * UNIT, a fictional military organization in the science fiction television series ''Doctor Who'' * Unit of action, a discrete piece of action (or beat) in a theatrical presentation Music * Unit (album), ...

. There is scant information on these, except for the 21 Artillery Division (Pano Aqil) and 22 Artillery Division (

Sargodha Sargodha ( Punjabi and ur, ) is a city and capital of Sargodha Division, located in Punjab province, Pakistan. It is Pakistan's 12th largest city by population and one of the fastest-growing cities of the country. Sargodha is also known as ...

), which seems to be missile artillery divisions. Previously 47 Artillery Brigade was reported at Sargodha.

List Of Commanders ASFC

References

{{Strategic forces Strategic forces of Pakistan Commands of Pakistan Army Military units and formations established in 2000 2000 establishments in Pakistan