The Combat Commanders' School or CCS is the fighter weapons and advanced air combat tactics development and training school of the

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

(PAF) based at

PAF Base Mushaf PAF Base Mushaf (formerly PAF Base Sargodha), ), is a Pakistan Air Force (PAF) airbase situated at Sargodha in the Punjab province of Pakistan. It is designated as a "Major Operational Base" or "MOB" by the PAF.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 t ...

Pakistan Pakistan ( ur, ), officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan ( ur, , label=none), is a country in South Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of almost 24 ...

.Pakistan Air Force, ''The Story of the Pakistan Air Force: A Saga of Courage and Honour'', Islamabad: Shaheen Foundation, 1988 (pp. 589-590)http://www.paf.gov.pk/press_release/uploaded/ccsgraduation27-11-2010.pdf CCS is a part of the

PAF Airpower Centre of Excellence The PAF Airpower Centre of Excellence or PAF ACE is an airpower and air warfare research and development facility of the Pakistan Air Force (PAF) based at PAF Base Mushaf, Sargodha, Pakistan. Operationally, PAF ACE has the status of a Wing under ...

(PAF ACE) under the PAF's Central Air Command (CAC). Operationally, PAF ACE has the status of a Wing under the CAC, with four fighter squadrons of the CCS under its command. CCS is geared primarily towards the mid-career advanced air combat training of PAF fighter squadron commanders, air defence controllers, and instructors and for the development of advanced fighter weapons tactics.

History

The CCS has its origins in the PAF's Flight Leaders' School (FLS) established at

PAF Base Masroor PAF Base Masroor is the largest airbase operated by the Pakistan Air Force. It is located in the Mauripur area of Karachi, in the Sindh province. The base was originally known as RPAF Station Mauripur and after 1956, as PAF Station Mauripur. ...

Karachi Karachi (; ur, ; ; ) is the most populous city in Pakistan and 12th most populous city in the world, with a population of over 20 million. It is situated at the southern tip of the country along the Arabian Sea coast. It is the former cap ...

in April 1958 under the PAF's first Pakistani Commander-in-Chief, Air Marshal

Asghar Khan Air Marshal Muhammad Asghar Khan (Retd.) ( ur, 17 January 1921 – 5 January 2018), was a Pakistani politician and an autobiographer, later a dissident serving the cause of pacifism, peace, and human rights. Born into a military fam ...

, with Wing Commander M.Z. Masud (later Air Commodore) as the FLS's first commanding officer. After the 1965 India-Pakistan War, the FLS underwent periodic closures due to various constraints and faded from the scene in the early 1970s. In late 1974, the PAF decided to establish an institution that would not only revive the FLS but would go beyond it. Consequently, the CCS was established on 5 May 1976 at

PAF Base Sargodha PAF Base Mushaf (formerly PAF Base Sargodha), ), is a Pakistan Air Force (PAF) airbase situated at Sargodha in the Punjab province of Pakistan. It is designated as a "Major Operational Base" or "MOB" by the PAF.Hakimullah (later Air Chief Marshal) as its first commanding officer. It was inaugurated officially by Air Chief Marshal

Zulfiqar Ali Khan Air Chief Marshal Zulfiqar Ali Khan (Urdu: ذوالفقار علی خان; 10 December 1930 – 8 March 2005) , was a four-star air officer in the Pakistan Air Force and later a diplomat. He is noted as a first four-star air officer who c ...

on 15 August 1977. At its inception, the CCS was equipped with two fighter squadrons comprising

Mirage III The Dassault Mirage III () is a family of single/dual-seat, single-engine, fighter aircraft developed and manufactured by French aircraft company Dassault Aviation. It was the first Western European combat aircraft to exceed Mach 2 in horizonta ...

and F-6 fighters. On 16 July 1988, an F-16 squadron was added. In 1993, the F-6 squadron was re-equipped with

F-7P The Chengdu J-7 (Chinese: 歼-7; third generation export version F-7; NATO reporting name: Fishcan) is a People's Republic of China fighter aircraft. It is a license-built version of the Soviet Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-21, and thus shares many si ...

s. On 26 January 2015, a fourth squadron equipped with

JF-17 The CAC/PAC JF-17 Thunder ( ur , جے ایف-17 گرج), or FC-1 ''Xiaolong'' (), is a lightweight, single-engine, multi-role combat aircraft developed jointly by the Chengdu Aircraft Corporation (CAC) of China and the Pakistan Aeronautica ...

s was raised. In 2016, CCS was made a part of the newly-formed PAF ACE under the CAC.

Mission

The CCS has the following mission: # Research and development of advanced air combat tactics # Application of advanced air combat tactics # Training of fighter squadron commanders, air defence controllers, and instructors on advanced air combat tactics # Optimum and effective utilization of weapons systems # Standardisation and evaluation of fighter squadrons # Prescribing minimum standards for fighter squadron training and operational readiness

Training

Air Marshal Hifazat Instructor Combat Commanders School

The CCS conducts Combat Commanders' Courses (CCCs) for combat pilots and combat controllers. Previously, Fighter Weapon Instructors' Courses (FWICs) were also conducted for junior leaders. Subsequently, however, FWICs were discontinued to accommodate the more urgent need for imparting training to commanding officers, who would, in turn, impart training to junior officers. As of December 2021, the CCS has conducted 55 CCCs. Pilots are normally selected to undergo rigorous training at the CCS after around 9 to 12 years of service with the PAF. Once selected by Air Headquarters, they undergo three courses: a 4–5 month Combat Commanders' Course (CCC), a 3 month Weapons Course (WC), and a 4–5 week Fighter Integration Course (FIC). The courses are reputed to be very tough and not all CCS students pass. Successful graduates can go on to attain the rank of

Wing Commander Wing commander (Wg Cdr in the RAF, the IAF, and the PAF, WGCDR in the RNZAF and RAAF, formerly sometimes W/C in all services) is a senior commissioned rank in the British Royal Air Force and air forces of many countries which have historical ...

and command a squadron.

Dissimilar air combat training Dissimilar air combat training (DACT) was introduced as a formal part of US air combat training after disappointing aerial combat exchange rates in the Vietnam War. Traditionally, pilots would undertake air combat training against similar aircra ...

(DACT) at the CCS is renowned "throughout the world" for giving complete freedom and responsibility to participating pilots for forming and executing their mission plans. Combat missions are regularly flown at tree-top height and pilots are also responsible for their own post-flight learning. Foreign Chiefs of Air Staff visiting the base have been "most impressed" and "showed surprise at the freedom allotted to the student DACT pilots." CCS staff pay annual visits to all PAF fighter squadrons to evaluate and enhance combat capabilities and ensure standards. In June 1990, the Squadron Combat Upgradation Programme (SCUP) was initiated and four-month-long cycles were conducted by October 1990, each involving two fighter squadrons, F-16 pilots and ground controllers. In 1992, SCUP was replaced with the regular

Exercise Saffron Bandit Exercise Saffron Bandit is a major "command level" combat training exercise, usually held either bi-annually or tri-annually, by the Pakistan Air Force (PAF) in Pakistan. The initial targets, mainstream goals and purpose of the exercise are foc ...

, which is a more demanding and complicated near-realistic environment for participating fighter pilots and air defence controllers. Exercise Saffron Bandit is still supervised and its syllabus constantly improved by the CCS.

Squadrons

The CCS has three active fighter squadrons under its command:

Active squadrons

Decommissioned squadrons

Commanding officers

*Group Captain Hakimullah (5 May 1976-January 1978) (later Air Chief Marshal) *Group Captain

Cecil Chaudhry Group Captain Cecil Chaudhry (Urdu:سیسل چودھری) (27 August 1941 – 13 April 2012) was a Pakistani academic, human rights activist, and a veteran fighter pilot. As a flight lieutenant, he fought in the Indo-Pakistani War of 1965 ...

(January 1978-January 1979) *Group Captain Abbas H. Mirza *Group Captain Dilawar Hussain *Group Captain Aliuddin *Group Captain Muhammad

Abbas Khattak Air Chief Marshal Mohammad Abbas Khattak ( ur, ; born: 16 July 1943) is a four-star rank air force general in the Pakistan Air Force who tenured as the Chief of Air Staff (CAS) from 8 November 1994 until 7 November 1997. Biography Abbas ...

(later Air Chief Marshal) *Group Captain Muhammad Arshad Chaudhry *Group Captain Abdul Sattar Alvi *Group Captain Zahid Anis *Group Captain Shahid Javed *Group Captain Riffat Munir *Group Captain Abdul Razzaq *Group Captain Khalid Chaudhry *Group Captain Abdul Hameed Qadri *Group Captain Sabeeh Hussain *Group Captain Faaiz Amir *Group Captain Atique Rafiq *Group Captain Raja Rizwanullah Khan *Group Captain

Sohail Aman Air Chief Marshal Sohail Aman ( ur, ; born 10 June 1959) is a retired four star air officer who served as the Chief of Air Staff of the Pakistan Air Force. He took charge from Air Chief Marshal Tahir Rafique Butt on 19 March 2015.Mateen Hai ...

(later Air Chief Marshal) *Group Captain Javaid Ahmed *Group Captain Muhammad Azam *Group Captain Abdul Jabbar Khan *Group Captain Syed Nomaan Ali *Group Captain Muhammad Suleman Aziz *Group Captain Zahid Mehmood *Group Captain Abdul Moeed Khan *Group Captain Nadeem Akhtar *Group Captain Muhammad Zaeem Afzal

Published sources

* Downing, Mke, ''Pakistan's 'Top Gun' Base, ''Air Forces Monthly'', April 1992 * Pakistan Air Force, ''The Story of the Pakistan Air Force 1988-1998: A Battle Against Odds'', Islamabad: Shaheen Foundation, 2000 (pp. 289-292) * Pakistan Air Force, ''The Story of the Pakistan Air Force: A Saga of Courage and Honour'', Islamabad: Shaheen Foundation, 1988 (pp. 534, 589-590) * Warnes, Alan, ''The Pakistan Air Force 1998-2008: A New Dawn'', 2009, Chapter 3 (“Training for Combat”), (p. 48)

External links

Dunya News TV Report on CCS
(Urdu, 2 April 2016)

References

{{reflist Pakistan Air Force Pakistan Air Force education and training 1976 establishments in Pakistan Military units and formations established in 1976