The No. 15 Squadron, nicknamed Cobras, is a Tactical Attack squadron of the

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

(PAF). The Squadron is currently based at Rafiqui Air Base and equipped with Chengdu J-10C multi role fighter jets. The squadron also carries the honour of achieving the first kill for the PAF.

History

No. 15 Squadron was established on 05 June 1956 at PAF Base Mauripur and was designated as a tactical attack squadron.

Operational History

1959 Indian Aerial intrusion

On 10 April 1959, while most of Pakistan was celebrating the holy day of

Eid ul-Fitr , nickname = Festival of Breaking the Fast, Lesser Eid, Sweet Eid, Sugar Feast , observedby = Muslims , type = Islamic , longtype = Islamic , significance = Commemoration to mark the end of fasting in Ramadan , dat ...

, an Indian Canberra B(I)58 from the 106 Squadron entered Pakistani airspace on a photo reconnaissance mission. Two PAF F-86F Sabres (flown by Flt. Lt. M. N. Butt as the leader and Flt. Lt. M. Yunis as the wingman) from the No. 15 Squadron on Air Defence Alert were scrambled from

PAF Base Peshawar PAF Base Peshawar is an airbase of the Pakistan Air Force (PAF) located in Peshawar, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan. It is the operational site of the PAF's Northern Air Command, located to the east of Bacha Khan International Airport, which i ...

to intercept the IAF aircraft. Butt attempted to bring down the Canberra by firing his Sabre's

50 cal The M2 machine gun or Browning .50 caliber machine gun (informally, "Ma Deuce") is a heavy machine gun that was designed towards the end of World War I by John Browning. Its design is similar to Browning's earlier M1919 Browning machine gun, wh ...

machine guns, but the Canberra was flying at an altitude of more than 50,000 feet—beyond the operational ceiling of the F-86F. When Yunis took over from his leader, the Canberra suddenly lost height while executing a turn over Rawalpindi. Yunis then fired a burst from his F-86 (Serial# 55-005) machine guns that struck the Canberra at an altitude of 47,500 feet and brought it down over Rawat, marking the first aerial victory of the PAF. Both crew members of the IAF Canberra ejected and were captured by Pakistani authorities.

1965 War

When hostilities broke out over the disputed Kashmir region, the No. 15 Squadron while equipped with

F-86 Sabre The North American F-86 Sabre, sometimes called the Sabrejet, is a transonic jet fighter aircraft. Produced by North American Aviation, the Sabre is best known as the United States' first swept-wing fighter that could counter the swept-wing S ...

jet fighters was deployed at PAF Base Sargodha. From there the squadron performed various combat missions including

Close Air Support In military tactics, close air support (CAS) is defined as air action such as air strikes by fixed or rotary-winged aircraft against hostile targets near friendly forces and require detailed integration of each air mission with fire and movemen ...

sorties. On 1st September, the IAF scrambled 12

De Havilland Vampire The de Havilland Vampire is a British jet fighter which was developed and manufactured by the de Havilland, de Havilland Aircraft Company. It was the second jet fighter to be operated by the Royal Air Force, RAF, after the Gloster Meteor, and ...

strike fighters and 14 Dassault Mystere IV fighter-bombers in an attempt to slow down the Pakistani Advance in the Chamb- Jourian sector. On the request 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 ...

, two F-86 Sabres, each armed with a couple of

AIM-9 Sidewinder The AIM-9 Sidewinder (where "AIM" stands for "Air Intercept Missile") is a short-range air-to-air missile which entered service with the US Navy in 1956 and subsequently was adopted by the US Air Force in 1964. Since then the Sidewinder has prove ...

missiles were scrambled to intercept the Indian aircraft. In the ensuing

dogfight A dogfight, or dog fight, is an aerial battle between fighter aircraft conducted at close range. Dogfighting first occurred in Mexico in 1913, shortly after the invention of the airplane. Until at least 1992, it was a component in every maj ...

, Flight Lieutenant

Imtiaz Bhatti Air Commodore Imtiaz Bhatti (born 18 April 1933) in Gujrat, British India, is a cyclist and a former Air Force pilot of Pakistan. He was the Pakistan cycling champion during his student days at Punjab Agriculture College, Lyallpur (now Univer ...

from the No. 15 Squadron shot down two Indian Vampires over Chumb while Squadron Leader Sarfaraz Rafiqui from the No. 7 Squadron shot down another two Vampires. The remaining Indian aircraft managed to escape. This dogfight was a major blow to the Indian Air Force since it had to recall all Vampires and Mysteres from frontline service.

Soviet-Afghan War

During the Soviet Afghan war,

Soviet The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen national ...

and Afghan warplanes would occasionally cross into Pakistani airspace while pursuing Afghan Mujahideen forces which usually resulted in Pakistani infrastructure and Afghan

refugee camp A refugee camp is a temporary settlement built to receive refugees and people in refugee-like situations. Refugee camps usually accommodate displaced people who have fled their home country, but camps are also made for internally displaced pe ...

s getting bombed. Resultantly, the squadron was deployed at Peshawar Airbase for Air Defence Alert duties. Throughout it's service at Peshawar, the Squadron's fighters intercepted enemy warplanes only twice. First a Soviet

Ilyushin Il-26 The Ilyushin Il-26 was a late 1940s project for a strategic heavy bomber by the Ilyushin Design Bureau. There were a variety of alternative engines proposed for the Il-26, including the Shvetsov ASh-2TK piston engine and Yakovlev M-501 dies ...

on 1st March 1980 and on the second occasion, it's fighters intercepted a couple of

Mig-21 The Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-21 (russian: Микоян и Гуревич МиГ-21; NATO reporting name: Fishbed) is a supersonic jet fighter and interceptor aircraft, designed by the Mikoyan-Gurevich Design Bureau in the Soviet Union. Its nickn ...

s in February 1986. However on both occasions the Squadron's pilots were ordered not to engage them.

2019 Jammu and Kashmir Airstrikes

In February 2019, the Indian Air Force bombed a wooded area in

Balakot Balakot (; ur, ; ) is a town in Mansehra District in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province of Pakistan. The town was destroyed during the 2005 Kashmir earthquake, but was later rebuilt with the assistance of the Government of Pakistan and Saudi Pu ...

after violating Pakistan's airspace. In response, then

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 ...

Imran Khan Imran Ahmed Khan Niazi ( ur}; born 5 October 1952) is a Pakistani politician and former Cricket captain who served as the 22nd Prime Minister of Pakistan from August 2018 to until April 2022, when he was ousted through a no-confidenc ...

ordered the

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 ar ...

to perform retaliatory airstrikes on Indian military installations at Indian Administered Kashmir. The retaliatory airstrikes were codenamed "Operation Swift Retort" and for this purpose Two Dassault Mirage-VPAs armed with

H-4 SOW The H-4 SOW (Stand-Off Weapon) is a precision-guided glide bomb manufactured by NESCOM and deployed by the Pakistan Air Force, capable of striking targets at stand-off range. It has a terminal guidance system based on an infrared homing seeker, ...

Glide bombs and two dual seat Dassault Mirage-IIIDAs from the No. 15 Squadron were deployed for this mission. In the early hours of 27 February, the No. 15 Squadron carried out the airstrikes while JF-17s and

F-16 The General Dynamics F-16 Fighting Falcon is a single-engine multirole fighter aircraft originally developed by General Dynamics for the United States Air Force (USAF). Designed as an air superiority day fighter, it evolved into a successful ...

s from other squadrons provided escort and CAP. The Mirage-VPAs dropped their payload while the

Weapon Systems Officer A Weapon Systems Officer (WSO), nicknamed "Wizzo", is an air flight officer directly involved in all air operations and weapon systems of a military aircraft. Historically, aircrew duties in military aircraft were highly specialised and rigi ...

seated in the Mirage-IIIDAs guided the bombs to their respective targets, However they were ordered to drop the bombs on open fields near their intended targets since the purpose of the operation was to make India aware about Pakistan's capability to strike back at any aggression. The mission was a success and all aircraft returned safely. Later, the officers from the squadron who participated in this

operation Operation or Operations may refer to: Arts, entertainment and media * ''Operation'' (game), a battery-operated board game that challenges dexterity * Operation (music), a term used in musical set theory * ''Operations'' (magazine), Multi-Man ...

including the OC received gallantry awards. File:Pakistan Air Force Mirage-IIIRP.jpg, Pakistani Dassault Mirage-IIIRP from the No. 15 Squadron of Pakistan Air Force.

References

Pakistan Air Force squadrons {{Pakistan-mil-stub