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

Air Force Day Several nations with an armed forces observe an Air Force Day or Day of the Air Force as a military holiday to recognize their country's air force. These holidays often hold the same status as any military's Armed Forces Day. By country Armeni ...

: 7 September , equipment = , equipment_label = , battles = , decorations = , battle_honours = , battle_honours_label = , flying_hours = , website
paf.gov.pk
, commander1 = President Asif Ali Zardari , commander1_label = Commander-in-Chief , commander2 =

Air Chief Marshal Air chief marshal (Air Chf Mshl or ACM) is a high-ranking air officer originating from the Royal Air Force. The rank is used by air forces of many countries that have historical British influence. An air chief marshal is equivalent to an Admir ...

Zaheer Ahmad Babar , commander2_label = Chief of the Air Staff , commander3 = Air Marshal

Muhammad Zahid Mahmood Muhammad Zahid Mahmood HI TI SI is an air marshal and flight instructor in the Pakistan Air Force who is the 6th and current vice chief of air staff. Prior to assuming the office in March 2022, he commanded the Combat Commanders' School at ...

, commander3_label = Vice Chief of the Air Staff , notable_commanders = , identification_symbol = Roundel of Pakistan

, identification_symbol_label = Roundel , identification_symbol_2 = Flag of Pakistan

, identification_symbol_2_label = Fin flash , identification_symbol_3 = Air Force Ensign of Pakistan

, identification_symbol_3_label =

Flag A flag is a piece of fabric (most often rectangular or quadrilateral) with a distinctive design and colours. It is used as a symbol, a signalling device, or for decoration. The term ''flag'' is also used to refer to the graphic design empl ...

, aircraft_attack = Mirage 5, Mirage III,

Burraq UCAV The Burraq ( ur, ) is an unmanned combat aerial vehicle (UCAV) jointly developed and built by the National Engineering and Scientific Commission (NESCOM) and the Pakistan Air Force (PAF). Development Since 2004, the United States (US) has be ...

, CH-4 UCAV, Wing Loong II UCAV, Akıncı UCAV, TB2 UCAV , aircraft_bomber = , aircraft_electronic = SAAB-2000 Erieye (AWACS), ZDK-03 (AWACS), Falcon DA-20 (EW) , aircraft_fighter = F-16A/B/AM/BM/C/D, JF-17A/B/C, Chengdu J-10C , aircraft_helicopter = AW139,

Mi-171 The Mil Mi-17 (NATO reporting name: Hip) is a Soviet-designed Russian military helicopter family introduced in 1975 (Mi-8M), continuing in production at two factories, in Kazan and Ulan-Ude. It is known as the Mi-8M series in Russian service. ...

, aircraft_helicopter_attack = , aircraft_helicopter_cargo = , aircraft_helicopter_multirole = , aircraft_helicopter_observation = , aircraft_helicopter_trainer = , aircraft_helicopter_utility = , aircraft_interceptor = F-7PG , aircraft_patrol = , aircraft_recon = Mirage IIIRP, Jasoos I UAV, Jasoos II Bravo+ UAV, Shahpar UAV, Selex ES Falco , aircraft_trainer = MFI-17 Mushshak, MFI-395 Super Mushshak, T-37, K-8P, F-16B/D, JF-17B , aircraft_transport = C-130B/E/L-100, Gulfstream IV, Phenom 100, Saab 2000,

Harbin Y-12 The Harbin Y-12 () is a high wing twin-engine turboprop utility aircraft built by Harbin Aircraft Industry Group (HAIG). Design and development The Y-12 started as a development of the Harbin Y-11 airframe called Y-11T in 1980. The design featu ...

, aircraft_tanker =

Ilyushin Il-78 The Ilyushin Il-78 (russian: Илью́шин Ил-78; NATO reporting name Midas) is a Soviet/Russian four-engined aerial refueling tanker based on the Il-76 strategic airlifter. Design and development The Soviet Union's first dedicated t ...

, aircraft_general = The Pakistan Air Force (PAF) ( ur, , translit=Pāk Fìzāʾiyah; ) is the

aerial warfare Aerial warfare is the use of military aircraft and other flying machines in warfare. Aerial warfare includes bombers attacking enemy installations or a concentration of enemy troops or strategic targets; fighter aircraft battling for control o ...

branch of the Pakistan Armed Forces, tasked primarily with the aerial defence of Pakistan, with a secondary role of providing air support to 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 ...

and

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' ...

when required, and a tertiary role of providing strategic

airlift An airlift is the organized delivery of supplies or personnel primarily via military transport aircraft. Airlifting consists of two distinct types: strategic and tactical. Typically, strategic airlifting involves moving material long distanc ...

capability to Pakistan. , as per the International Institute for Strategic Studies, the PAF has more than 70,000 active-duty personnel. PAF stands as the eight largest Air Force in the world. PAF is the largest Air Force of the Muslim world in terms of aircraft fleet. Its primary mandate and mission is "to provide, in synergy with other inter-services, the most efficient, assured and cost effective aerial defence of Pakistan." Since its establishment in

1947 It was the first year of the Cold War, which would last until 1991, ending with the dissolution of the Soviet Union. Events January * January–February – Winter of 1946–47 in the United Kingdom: The worst snowfall in the country in ...

, the PAF has been involved in various combat operations, providing aerial support to the operations and relief efforts of the Pakistani military. Under Article 243, the

Constitution of Pakistan The Constitution of Pakistan ( ur, ), also known as the 1973 Constitution, is the supreme law of Pakistan. Drafted by the government of Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, with additional assistance from the country's Pakistani political parties, opposition ...

appoints the

President of Pakistan The president of Pakistan ( ur, , translit=s̤adr-i Pākiṣṭān), officially the President of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, is the ceremonial head of state of Pakistan and the commander-in-chief of the Pakistan Armed Forces.Commander-in-Chief of the Pakistan Armed Forces. The Chief of the Air Staff (CAS), by statute a four-star air officer, is appointed by the President with the consultation and confirmation needed from the Prime Minister of Pakistan.

History

1947 to 1950: formative years

The Royal Pakistan Air Force (RPAF) was established on 15 August 1947 with the independence of Pakistan from British India. The RPAF began with a paper share allotment of 2,332 personnel, a fleet of 24 Tempest II fighter-bombers, 16 Hawker Typhoon fighters, two H.P.57 Halifax bombers, two Auster aircraft, twelve North American Harvard trainers and ten

de Havilland Tiger Moth The de Havilland DH.82 Tiger Moth is a 1930s British biplane designed by Geoffrey de Havilland and built by the de Havilland Aircraft Company. It was operated by the Royal Air Force (RAF) and other operators as a primary trainer aircraft. ...

biplanes A biplane is a fixed-wing aircraft with two main wings stacked one above the other. The first powered, controlled aeroplane to fly, the Wright Flyer, used a biplane wing arrangement, as did many aircraft in the early years of aviation. While a ...

. Very few were available to the RPAF on the ground as they were scattered throughout the British India to be given and collected later on. Of these very few were in flyable condition so that they could be used. Subsequently, it also got eight C-47 Dakota cargo planes which it used to transport supplies to soldiers fighting in the

1947 War It was the first year of the Cold War, which would last until 1991, ending with the dissolution of the Soviet Union. Events January * January–February – Winter of 1946–47 in the United Kingdom: The worst snowfall in the country in ...

Kashmir Kashmir () is the northernmost geographical region of the Indian subcontinent. Until the mid-19th century, the term "Kashmir" denoted only the Kashmir Valley between the Great Himalayas and the Pir Panjal Range. Today, the term encompas ...

against India. First two H.P.57 Halifax bombers were delivered in 1948 and were used during

for night-time supply drop missions at Skardu and other northern areas of Pakistan. All received against allotted at the time of independence of Pakistan from British India. It started with seven airbases scattered all over the provinces.

Waziristan rebellion (1948-1954)

After the partition of British India, Faqir of Ipi, a pashtun separatist leader rejected the creation of newly created Pakistan. In 1948, the Faqir of Ipi took control of North Waziristan's Datta Khel area and declared the establishment of an independent Pashtunistan, with support from neighbouring Kingdom of Afghanistan. In response to the Faqir's rebellion, Pakistan Air Force in June 1949 inadvertently bombed the Afghan village of Mughalgai on the Waziristan border with Afghanistan while chasing the Pashtunistan separatists who attacked Pakistani border posts from Afghanistan, this attack came to known as Mughalgai raid which left 23 separatists dead and further fuelled Afghan support for Pashtunistan. Faqir established Gurwek as headquarters for his activities. Faqir also established a rifle factory in Gurwek with the material support provided by the government of Afghanistan. In 1953–1954, the PAF's No. 14 Squadron led an operation from Miranshah airbase and heavily bombarded the Faqir of Ipi's compound in Gurwek which ultimately forced Faqir to detach from an armed campaign against Pakistan.

1959 Indian aerial intrusion

On 10 April 1959, on the occasion of the

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 ...

festival holiday in Pakistan, an

Indian Air Force The Indian Air Force (IAF) is the air arm of the Indian Armed Forces. Its complement of personnel and aircraft assets ranks third amongst the air forces of the world. Its primary mission is to secure Indian airspace and to conduct aerial w ...

(IAF) English Electric Canberra B(I)58 of No. 106 Squadron entered Pakistani airspace on a photo reconnaissance mission. Two PAF F-86F Sabres ( Flt. Lt. M. N. Butt (leader) and Flt. Lt. M. Yunis) of No. 15 Squadron on Air Defence Alert (ADA) were scrambled from PAF Base Peshawar to intercept the IAF aircraft. Butt attempted to bring down the Canberra by firing his Sabre's 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 Rawalpindi ( or ; Urdu, ) is a city in the Punjab province of Pakistan. It is the fourth largest city in Pakistan after Karachi, Lahore and Faisalabad, and third largest in Punjab after Lahore and Faisalabad. Rawalpindi is next to Pakistan's ...

. Yunis fired a burst that struck the Canberra at an altitude of 47,500 feet and brought it down over Rawat, marking the first direct aerial victory of the PAF. Both crew members of the IAF Canberra ejected and were captured by Pakistani authorities. They were subsequently released after remaining in detention for some time.

1960–61 Bajaur Campaign

Between 1960 and 1961, Royal Afghan Army troops along with thousands of Pashtun tribesmen from Afghanistan crossed the extremely porous Pakistan–Afghanistan border and entered the semi-autonomous Bajaur Agency of Pakistan in an effort to annex the region. The Pakistan Air Force sent F-86 Sabre jets in order to support the Pakistani Forces and local Pashtun tribesmen of Pakistan who were fighting the Afghan infiltrators. The F-86 Sabre jets also executed bombing runs on Royal Afghan Army positions in Kunar, Afghanistan, thus leading Afghan forces to fall back to the international border. Although the Royal Afghan Air Force had seven MiG-17 squadrons and another MiG-21 squadron being operationalized, no known dogfight has been recorded between the two sides.

Indo-Pakistani War of 1965

The PAF fleet at the time consisted of 12 F-104 Starfighters, some 120 F-86 Sabres and around 20 B-57 Canberra bombers. The PAF claims to have had complete

air superiority Aerial supremacy (also air superiority) is the degree to which a side in a conflict holds control of air power over opposing forces. There are levels of control of the air in aerial warfare. Control of the air is the aerial equivalent of c ...

over the battle area from the second day of operations. However, IAF

Arjan Singh claimed that, despite having been qualitatively inferior to the PAF, the IAF allegedly achieved total air superiority in three days. Many publications have credited the PAF's successes in combat with the IAF to its U.S.-quality equipment, claiming it to be superior to the aircraft operated by the IAF and giving the PAF a "qualitative advantage". This statement has been refuted by some officials in Pakistan, who say that the IAF's MiG-21,

Hawker Hunter The Hawker Hunter is a transonic British jet-powered fighter aircraft that was developed by Hawker Aircraft for the Royal Air Force (RAF) during the late 1940s and early 1950s. It was designed to take advantage of the newly developed Rolls-R ...

and Folland Gnat aircraft had better performance than the PAF's F-86 fighters, without accounting for the obvious quantitative advantage that the IAF possessed."Pakistan's Air Power", '' Flight International'', issue published 5 May 1984 (page 1208). Can be viewed at FlightGlobal.com archives, URL: http://www.flightglobal.com/pdfarchive/view/1984/1984%20-%200797.html?search=F-86%20Pakistan . Retrieved 22 October 2009 According to retired PAF Air Commodore

Sajad Haider Air Commodore Sayed Sajad Haider Sitara-e-Jurat, SJ (Urdu: ; born 26 December 1932) also known by his aliases as ''Nosey Haider'' and ''Saviour of Lahore,'' is a retired Pakistani fighter pilot and former one-star rank officer of the Pakistan ...

, the F-86 Sabre was inferior in terms of both power and speed to the IAF's

. Air Commodore

, who flew with No. 19 squadron also stated that the F-104 Starfighter did not deserve its reputation as "the pride of the PAF" because it "was unsuited to the tactical environment of the region. It was a high-level interceptor designed to neutralise Soviet strategic bombers in altitudes above 40,000 feet." Nevertheless, the IAF is believed to have feared facing the Starfighter in combat despite its lack of effectiveness in comparison to the IAF's fleet of Folland Gnats. According to Indian sources, the F-86F performed reasonably well against the IAF's Hunters but not as well against the Gnat, which was nicknamed the ''Sabre Slayer'' by the IAF. Pakistan Air Force Cold War Jets cropped

Pakistan Air Force Cold War Jets cropped

Per India, most of the aircraft losses of the IAF were allegedly on the ground while the PAF suffered most of their losses in aerial combat, a claim that has widely been accepted by most international sources as "a stretch". The IAF ran a larger offensive air campaign by devoting 40% of its air effort to

offensive Offensive may refer to: * Offensive, the former name of the Dutch political party Socialist Alternative * Offensive (military), an attack * Offensive language ** Fighting words or insulting language, words that by their very utterance inflict inj ...

air support alone. The two countries have made contradictory claims of combat losses during the war and few neutral sources have verified the claims of either country, as is the case with most India-Pakistan conflicts. The PAF claims that it shot down 104 IAF aircraft and lost 19 of its own, while the IAF claimed it shot down 73 PAF aircraft while losing 60 of its own. According to most independent and neutral sources, the PAF lost some 20 aircraft while the IAF lost somewhere between 60 and 75. Despite the intense fighting throughout the course of the war, the conflict was effectively a stalemate and inconclusive in its result.

Indo-Pakistani War of 1971

By late 1971, the intensification of the independence movement in erstwhile East Pakistan led to the

Bangladesh Liberation War The Bangladesh Liberation War ( bn, মুক্তিযুদ্ধ, , also known as the Bangladesh War of Independence, or simply the Liberation War in Bangladesh) was a revolution and War, armed conflict sparked by the rise of the Benga ...

between West Pakistan and East Pakistan (later joined by India). On 22 November 1971, 10 days before the start of a full-scale war, four PAF F-86 Sabre jets attacked Indian and Mukti Bahini positions at Garibpur, near the international border. Two of the four PAF Sabres were shot down and one damaged by the IAF's Gnats. On 3 December, India formally declared war against Pakistan following massive preemptive strikes by the PAF against IAF installations in

Srinagar Srinagar (English: , ) is the largest city and the summer capital of Jammu and Kashmir, India. It lies in the Kashmir Valley on the banks of the Jhelum River, a tributary of the Indus, and Dal and Anchar lakes. The city is known for its natu ...

, Ambala, Sirsa, Halwara and Jodhpur. However, the IAF did not suffer any significant losses because the leadership had anticipated such a move and consequently, precautions were taken. The IAF was quick to respond to Pakistani airstrikes, following which the PAF carried out mostly defensive sorties. Hostilities officially ended at 14:30 GMT on 17 December, after the fall of Dacca on 15 December. The PAF flew about 2,840 sorties and destroyed 71 IAF aircraft while losing 43 of its own.

1979–1989 Soviet–Afghan War

In 1979, the PAF's Chief of the Air Staff,

Anwar Shamim, was told by then- President and Chief of the Army Staff General Zia-ul-Haq, that Pakistan had reliable intelligence on Indian plans to attack and destroy Pakistan's nuclear research facilities in Kahuta. ACM Shamim told General Zia-ul-Haq that, in the PAF's current state, "Indian aircraft could reach the area in three minutes whereas the PAF would take eight minutes, allowing the Indians to attack the facility and return before the PAF could defend or retaliate". Because Kahuta was close to the Indian border, a consensus was reached acknowledging that the best way to deter a possible Indian attack would be to procure new advanced fighters and weaponry. These could be used to mount a retaliatory attack on India's nuclear research facilities in Trombay in the event of an Indian attack on Kahuta. It was decided the most suitable aircraft would be the

F-16 Fighting Falcon 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 ...

, which the United States eventually agreed to supply after the PAF refused to purchase the F-5. In 1983, when the first batch of F-16s reached Pakistan, ACM Shamim informed Zia of the PAF's increasing capability to effectively respond to an attack on the nuclear research facilities at Kahuta. Due to rising tensions with the Soviet Union due to its invasion of Afghanistan, Pakistan's

ISI ISI or Isi may refer to: Organizations * Intercollegiate Studies Institute, a classical conservative organization focusing on college students * Ice Skating Institute, a trade association for ice rinks * Indian Standards Institute, former name of ...

systematically coordinated with the CIA, MI6 and

Mossad Mossad ( , ), ; ar, الموساد, al-Mōsād, ; , short for ( he, המוסד למודיעין ולתפקידים מיוחדים, links=no), meaning 'Institute for Intelligence and Special Operations'. is the national intelligence agency ...

to secure American resources and armaments for the Afghan mujahideen who were combating the invading

Soviet forces The Soviet Armed Forces, the Armed Forces of the Soviet Union and as the Red Army (, Вооружённые Силы Советского Союза), were the armed forces of the Russian SFSR (1917–1922), the Soviet Union (1922–1991), and th ...

. Various reports during this period widely indicated that the PAF had in fact covertly engaged in aerial combat against the Soviet Air Force in support of the

Afghan Air Force The Air Force of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, also referred to as the Islamic Emirate Air Force and the Afghan Air Force, is the air force branch of the Armed Forces of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan. The Royal Afghan Air Force was e ...

during the course of the conflict; one of which belonged to Alexander Rutskoy. A letter of agreement for up to 28 F-16A and 12 F-16B was signed in December 1981. The contracts, ''Peace Gate I'' and ''Peace Gate II'' were for 6 and 34 Block 15 models respectively, which would be powered by the F100-PW-200 engine. The first ''Peace Gate I'' aircraft was accepted at

Fort Worth Fort Worth is the fifth-largest city in the U.S. state of Texas and the 13th-largest city in the United States. It is the county seat of Tarrant County, covering nearly into four other counties: Denton, Johnson, Parker, and Wise. According ...

in October 1982. Two F-16A and four F-16B were subsequently delivered to Pakistan in 1983, with the first F-16 arriving at PAF Base Sargodha (now known as PAF Base Mushaf) on 15 January 1983 flown by Squadron Leader Shahid Javed. The 34 remaining aircraft as part of ''Peace Gate II'' were delivered between 1983 and 1987. Between May 1986 and November 1988, the PAF's newly acquired F-16s had shot down at least eight intruding aircraft from Afghanistan. The first three of these (one Su-22, one probable Su-22, and one An-26) were shot down by two pilots from No. 9 Squadron. Pilots of No. 14 Squadron destroyed the remaining five intruders (two Su-22s, two MiG-23s, and one

Su-25 The Sukhoi Su-25 ''Grach'' (russian: Грач (''rook''); NATO reporting name: Frogfoot) is a subsonic, single-seat, twin-engine jet aircraft developed in the Soviet Union by Sukhoi. It was designed to provide close air support for Soviet Gro ...

). Most of these kills were by the AIM-9 Sidewinder, but at least one (a Su-22) was destroyed by cannon fire. Pakistani Flight Lieutenant Khalid Mahmoud is credited with three of these kills. The PAF is believed to have evaluated the

French French (french: français(e), link=no) may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to France ** French language, which originated in France, and its various dialects and accents ** French people, a nation and ethnic group identified with Franc ...

Dassault Mirage 2000 in early 1981 and was planning to evaluate the

afterwards.

U.S. arms embargo (1990–2001)

After the

Pressler amendment Pressler (or Preßler) () is a German surname. Notable people with the surname include: * Johann Valentin Pressler - German ancestor of Elvis Presley who changed his name to Presley during the American Civil War * Kimberly Pressler (born 1977), Ame ...

was passed, the United States placed

sanctions A sanction may be either a permission or a restriction, depending upon context, as the word is an auto-antonym. Examples of sanctions include: Government and law * Sanctions (law), penalties imposed by courts * Economic sanctions, typically a b ...

and an

arms embargo An arms embargo is a restriction or a set of sanctions that applies either solely to weaponry or also to "dual-use technology." An arms embargo may serve one or more purposes: * to signal disapproval of the behavior of a certain actor * to maintain ...

on Pakistan starting on 6 October 1990 due to the continuance of the country's nuclear weapons research programme. All eleven ''Peace Gate III'' F-16s, along with seven F-16A and ten F-16B of the 60 ''Peace Gate IV'' F-16s, which had been built by the end of 1994 were embargoed and put into storage on U.S. soil. Desperate for a new high-tech combat aircraft, between late 1990 and 1993 the PAF evaluated the European Panavia Tornado MRCA (multi-role combat aircraft), and ultimately rejected it. France's Dassault Mirage 2000E and an offer from Poland for the supply of MiG-29s and Su-27s were also considered, but no deal materialized. In 1992, the PAF once again looked towards the French Mirage 2000, reviving a proposal from the early 1980s to procure around 20–40 aircraft, but a sale did not occur because France did not want to sell a fully capable version due to pressure from the United States. In August 1994, the PAF was offered the

Saab JAS-39 Gripen The Saab JAS 39 Gripen (; English: ''griffin'') is a light single-engine multirole fighter aircraft manufactured by the Swedish aerospace and defense company Saab AB. The Gripen has a delta wing and canard configuration with relaxed stabilit ...

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden,The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names states that the country's formal name is the Kingdom of SwedenUNGEGN World Geographical Names, Sweden./ref> is a Nordic country located on ...

, but the sale did not occur because 20% of the Gripen's components were sourced from the U.S., which was still maintaining sanctions on Pakistan. In mid-1992, Pakistan was close to signing a contract for the supply of 40 Dassault Mirage 2000s, equipped with Thomson-CSF RDM/7 radars from France, although U.S. sanctions also prevented this deal from finalizing. In mid-1994, it was reported that Russian manufacturers Sukhoi and Mikoyan were offering the Su-27 and MiG-29, but Pakistan was reported to be negotiating for supply of the Mirage 2000–5. French and Russian teams visited Pakistan on 27 November 1994 and it was speculated that the interest in Russian aircraft was to pressure France into reducing the price of the Mirage 2000. The stated requirement was for up to 40 aircraft.

War in Afghanistan (2001–2021)

The Pakistan Air Force is believed to have had a primary role in the alleged evacuation of Taliban personnel by the Pakistani military from Afghanistan. However, Pakistani and American officials have denied any such airlift taking place.

2008 post-Mumbai attacks air alert

After the

2008 Mumbai attacks The 2008 Mumbai attacks (also referred to as 26/11, pronounced "twenty six eleven") were a series of Terrorism, terrorist attacks that took place in November 2008, when 10 members of Lashkar-e-Taiba, an Islamist terrorist organisation from P ...

, the Pakistan Air Force was put on high alert in anticipation of any potential Indian accusations and offensives. It deployed to all its wartime locations and started routine combat air patrols. The speed and intensity of the deployment and PAF's readiness took the Indian Army High Command by surprise and later reports suggest that was the main factor to influence the Indians' decision of not going for cross border raids inside Pakistan. The PAF was issued a standing order to launch an immediate counter-attack in case of an air attack from India, after a call from the

Indian Foreign Minister The Minister of External Affairs (or simply, the Foreign Minister, in Hindi ''Videsh Mantri'' ) is the head of the Ministry of External Affairs (India), Ministry of External Affairs of the Government of India. One of the senior-most offices in t ...

Pranab Mukherjee to the

Pakistani President The president of Pakistan ( ur, , translit=s̤adr-i Pākiṣṭān), officially the President of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, is the ceremonial head of state of Pakistan and the commander-in-chief of the Pakistan Armed Forces.

Asif Ali Zardari (the call later turned out to be a hoax).

2011 U.S. raid in Abbottabad

An initial investigation report revealed that the Pakistan Air Force (PAF) reported the movement of some half-a-dozen planes near the Jalalabad border at 23:00 before American helicopters entered

Abbottabad Abbottabad (; Urdu, Punjabi language(HINDKO dialect) آباد, translit=aibṭabād, ) is the capital city of Abbottabad District in the Hazara region of eastern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan. It is the 40th largest city in Pakistan and fourth ...

to kill

Osama bin Laden Osama bin Mohammed bin Awad bin Laden (10 March 1957 – 2 May 2011) was a Saudi-born extremist militant who founded al-Qaeda and served as its leader from 1988 until Killing of Osama bin Laden, his death in 2011. Ideologically a Pan-Islamism ...

. "One aircraft was identified as a US AWACS and the remaining five were recognized as F-18 jets of the US. These planes flew near the Pakistani border, but did not cross into the airspace of Pakistan," On the detection of an intrusion, PAF jets on air defence alert were scrambled and the PAF immediately took adequate operational measures as per standard operating procedure. The PAF aircraft continued their presence in the Abbottabad area until early morning and later returned to their air bases. However, the fact that so many non-stealth aircraft had entered Pakistani airspace, stayed for three hours to carry out a major operation, and that PAF jets only arrived at the location 24 minutes after the American helicopters had left made a senior PAF official term it "one of the most embarrassing incidents in Pakistan's history".

Counter-insurgency operations in North-West Pakistan (2001–2021)

PAF Mirage III ROSE hits target with two 500 lb bombs at Falcon Air Meet 2010

The

faced several problems during its 2009 offensive against the Taliban in

North-West Pakistan Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (; ps, خېبر پښتونخوا; Urdu, Hindko: خیبر پختونخوا) commonly abbreviated as KP or KPK, is one of the four provinces of Pakistan. Located in the northwestern region of the country, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa ...

. Hundreds of thousands of

Pakistanis Pakistanis ( ur, , translit=Pākistānī Qaum, ) are the citizens and nationals of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan. According to the 2017 Pakistani national census, the population of Pakistan stood at over 213 million people, making it the w ...

vacated the area when the offensive was announced and, eventually, over two million had to be accommodated in

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 peo ...

s. The offensive was to be completed as quickly as possible to allow the refugees to return to their homes but the army's fleet attack helicopters were not sufficient enough to provide adequate support to infantry on the ground. The PAF was sent into action against the Taliban to make up for the lack of helicopter gunships. Because the PAF was trained and equipped to fight a

conventional war Conventional warfare is a form of warfare conducted by using conventional weapons and battlefield tactics between two or more states in open confrontation. The forces on each side are well-defined and fight by using weapons that target primar ...

, a new "counter-terrorist doctrine" had to be improvised. The PAF's '' Saffron Bandit'' exercise focused on extensive training of combat personnel to undertake COIN operations. New equipment was inducted to improve the PAF's joint intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) capabilities. A C-130 transport aircraft was indigenously modified for day/night ISR operations. Use of laser-guided bombs was increased to 80% of munitions used, as compared to 40% in the previous 1960s Bajaur campaign. A small corps of ground spotters were trained and used by the PAF, in addition to Pakistan Army spotters, to identify high-value targets. Prior to the Pakistan Army's offensive into South Waziristan, the PAF attacked militant infrastructure with 500 lb and 2000 lb bombs. A number of civilian casualties occurred during PAF airstrikes on 10 April 2010 in the FATA tribal region. According to sources from the Pakistani military, the first bombing was targeted at a gathering of militants in a compound. Locals who had quickly moved onto the scene of the first airstrike to recover the dead and wounded were then killed by a second airstrike. While there is no confirmed death toll, it is widely believed that at least 30 civilian deaths had occurred according to the military approximations, whereas a local official stated that at least 73 locals, including women and children, were killed. A six-member committee of tribal elders from the area tasked with finding the exact number of civilian casualties reported that 61 civilians were killed and 21 were wounded. This was not confirmed by government figures but Pakistan's then-Chief of the Army Staff, General

Ashfaq Kayani General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani (Urdu: ; born 20 April 1952), is a retired four-star general of the Pakistan Army who served as the 8th Chief of Army Staff , being appointed on 29 November 2007 after his predecessor Pervez Musharraf retired fro ...

, gave a public apology on 17 April. It is reported that BBC News and several other media correspondences were not allowed to take interviews from the injured.

2019 India–Pakistan standoff

Following the

Pulwama attack The 2019 Pulwama attack occurred on 14 February 2019, when a convoy of vehicles carrying Indian security personnel on the Jammu–Srinagar National Highway was attacked by a vehicle-borne suicide bomber at Lethapora in the Pulwama district ...

Jammu and Kashmir Jammu and Kashmir may refer to: * Kashmir, the northernmost geographical region of the Indian subcontinent * Jammu and Kashmir (union territory), a region administered by India as a union territory * Jammu and Kashmir (state), a region administered ...

, India accused involvement of Pakistani hands in this incident. In response, India carried out

airstrikes An airstrike, air strike or air raid is an offensive operation carried out by aircraft. Air strikes are delivered from aircraft such as blimps, balloons, fighters, heavy bombers, ground attack aircraft, attack helicopters and drones. The offici ...

in the vicinity of the town of Balakot in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, several miles inside the province's boundary with Pakistan-administered Kashmir. Pakistan's military claimed that the Indian planes dropped their payload in an uninhabited wooded hilltop area near Balakot after being intercepted by PAF fighter jets. On 27 February 2019, when a standoff between India and Pakistan had begun, Pakistan claimed to have struck six targets near Indian military installations inside Indian Controlled Kashmir, which hit open spaces through a codenamed "Operation Swift Retort". Indian Air Force jets were scrambled to intercept the PAF jets inside Jammu and Kashmir. Following the interception, a fierce dogfight ensued and Pakistani aircraft shot down an Indian MiG-21. Ten minutes before the 27 February airstrikes, an IAF

MI 17 The Mil Mi-17 (NATO reporting name: Hip) is a Soviet-designed Russian military helicopter family introduced in 1975 (Mi-8M), continuing in production at two factories, in Kazan and Ulan-Ude. It is known as the Mi-8M series in Russian servic ...

helicopter was shot down by an Indian Spyder missile, having been mistaken for a PAF drone. This resulted in total loss of the aircraft and death of all on board: two pilots (squadron leaders Siddarth Vashista and Ninad Mandavgane), flight engineer Vishal Kumar Pandey, sergeant Vikrant Sehrawat, and corporals Deepak Pandey and Pankaj Kumars, and one civilian on the ground (Kifayat Hussain Gani). In April 2023 IAF court martialled Group Captain Sumon Roy Chaudhry, second in command of Srinagar Air Force Station at the time of the PAF strikes for negligence, and he was to be dismissed, however the dismissal was ruled ''ultra vires'' by the

High Court of Punjab and Haryana Punjab and Haryana High Court is the common High Court for the Indian states of Punjab and Haryana and the Union Territory of Chandigarh based in Chandigarh, India. Sanctioned strength of Judges of this High Court is 85 consisting of 64 Per ...

, who set a date of 12 September 2023 for their hearing The pilots were posthumously awarded the

Vayu Sena Vayu (, sa, वायु, ), also known as Vata and Pavana, is the Hindu god of the winds as well as the divine massenger of the gods. In the '' Vedic scriptures'', Vayu is an important deity and is closely associated with Indra, the king of ...

gallantry medal. India stated that it had only lost a single aircraft (a MiG-21) while claiming to have shot down a Pakistani F-16. Pakistan rejected India's statement, stating that no F-16s were deployed. India also accepted loss of its MI-17 helicopter in a friendly fire terming it as "a big mistake". Pakistan would later go on to accept that F-16s had been used, but maintained that none of them were shot down. Pakistan also claimed to have shot down a Sukhoi Su-30 MKI, a claim rejected by Indian authorities. Wing Commander Abhinandan Varthaman, who was piloting the MiG-21 Bison, was captured and arrested by the Pakistani military upon being shot down. He was held for two days before being released at the Wagah- Attari border crossing on 1 March. Initially, Pakistani military officials claimed to have had two pilots in custody, one of whom died while undergoing treatment, a claim which was later changed to having only Abhinandan in custody. This was taken to be evidence of a Pakistani pilot being shot down by some Indian sources. US count of PAF's F-16 fleet and various international military observers, refused to buy Indian claim of shooting down PAF's F-16.

2022 Pakistani airstrikes in Afghanistan

At least 47 people were killed and 22 injured in two airstrikes by Pakistani forces along the border with Afghanistan on 16 April 2022. The Taliban summoned Pakistan's ambassador in Kabul and registered their protest against the military airstrikes inside Afghanistan. These airstrikes mark the first known instance of a foreign country launching attack on Afghan soil since the establishment of Islamic Emirate in Afghanistan.

2024 Pakistani airstrikes in Iran

At least 9 people were killed when Pakistan Air Force conducted retaliatory strikes, codenamed as

Operation Marg Bar Sarmachar On 18 January 2024, Pakistan launched a series of air and artillery strikes inside Iran's Sistan and Baluchestan province, targeting Baloch separatist groups, codenamed Operation Marg Bar Sarmachar () by Pakistan. The attack was launched in resp ...

on seven targets within Iranian Sistan-Balochistan province. The attack came two days after a similar Iranian missile strike inside Pakistani territory. According to Iran, nine foreign nationals were killed in the attack.

Baloch Liberation Army The Balochistan Liberation Army ( bal, بلۏچستان آجوییء لشکر; Abbreviation, abbreviated BLA), also known as the Baloch Liberation Army, is a Baloch people, Baloch ethnonationalist militant organization based in Afghanistan. The ...

, one of the group targeted in the strikes, said that the strikes had targeted and killed its people. It was first strike on Iranian soil by any foreign power since the time of end of Iran–Iraq War in 1988.

2024 Pakistani airstrikes in Afghanistan

On 18 March 2024, in response to the attack from Afghanistan, Pakistan Air Force carried out two intelligence based airstrikes on Afghanistan's eastern border provinces of Khost and Paktika. The Afghan government claim that Pakistan killed five women and three children. Pakistan denies this, claiming that it killed terrorists instead while targeting the Hafiz Gul Bahadur militant group, a splinter organization of the Pakistani Taliban, and that it had successfully killed Sehra alias Janan, a high-value target (HVT) commander. Another commander, Abdullah Mehsud, was claimed to have been killed, but later released a video refuting the claim. It was also reported that Mehsud's house was targeted in which his wife and a minor son was killed. Pakistan went on to blame the Pakistani Taliban and its splinter militias for the deaths of hundreds of Pakistani civilians, and claimed that they used Afghanistan as a base and that they had support from within the Taliban. These airstrikes mark the second instance of attack by Pakistan on the sovereign soil of Afghanistan in a period less than two years. The first similar Pakistani airstrikes on Afghan soil came in 2022.

Structure

Headquarters

* Air Headquarters (AHQ), Islamabad

Commands

*Northern Air Command (NAC), Peshawar * Central Air Command (CAC), Sargodha *Southern Air Command (SAC), Karachi *Air Defence Command (ADC),

* Air Force Strategic Command (AFSC), Islamabad *PAF Cyber Command (PAFCC), Islamabad *PAF Space Command (PAFSC), Islamabad

Training establishments

* Pakistan Air Force Academy, Risalpur * Combat Commanders' School (CCS), Sargodha * PAF Airpower Centre of Excellence (PAF ACE), Sargodha * PAF Air War College, Karachi * Air University, Islamabad

Weapons production establishments

* Pakistan Aeronautical Complex (PAC), Kamra. * Air Weapons Complex (AWC), Wah Cantonment.

Bases

The PAF has 27 airbases of which 19 are flying bases and 8 are non-flying bases. Flying bases are operational bases from which aircraft operate during both peacetime and wartime; whereas non-flying bases conduct either training, administration, maintenance, air defence operations, or mission support."PAF Active Bases"
''PAF Official Website''. Retrieved 28 February 2010

Flying bases

# PAF Base Mushaf ( Sargodha) # PAF Base Bholari ( Bholari) Jamshoro District,

Sindh Sindh (; ; ur, , ; historically romanized as Sind) is one of the four provinces of Pakistan. Located in the southeastern region of the country, Sindh is the third-largest province of Pakistan by land area and the second-largest province ...

# PAF Base Masroor ( Karachi) #

PAF Base Rafiqui PAF Base Rafiqui, formerly known as PAF Base Shorkot , is a Pakistan Air Force (PAF) airbase located near Shorkot, Jhang District, in the Punjab province of Pakistan. It is around 337 km south of Islamabad. The base is served by a single ...

(

Shorkot Shorkot ( ur, , Basti starabad=), ( pa, ), is a city in Punjab, Pakistan. It is also a capital city of Shorkot Tehsil in Jhang district. It is located at 30°30'N 72°24'E with an altitude of 131 metres (433 ft). The city is famo ...

) # PAF Base Peshawar (Peshawar) #

PAF Base Murid Murid Airbase is a Pakistan Air Force Base located at Murid (Chakwal), Murid, Punjab (Pakistan), Punjab, Pakistan. External linksPakistan Aviation

( Chakwal) # PAF Base Samungli ( Quetta) #

PAF Base M.M. Alam PAF Base M.M. Alam is a Pakistan Air Force airbase located at Mianwali, in the Punjab province of Pakistan. The base is named after Muhammad Mahmood Alam. History Originally a World War II airstrip, it was decided that Mianwali would be upgrad ...

( Mianwali) #

PAF Base Minhas Minhas Airbase or Kamra Airbase is a PAF Airbase located at Kamra, Attock District, Punjab, Pakistan. It was named in the honour of Pilot Officer Pilot officer (Plt Off officially in the RAF; in the RAAF and RNZAF; formerly P/O in al ...

( Kamra) # PAF Base Nur Khan (Rawalpindi) # PAF Base Faisal (Karachi) # PAF Base Risalpur (Pakistan Air Force Academy) ( Risalpur) # PAF Base Shahbaz ( Jacobabad) # PAF Base Farid (Rajanpur) # PAF Base Vehari (Vehari) # PAF Base Qadri ( Skardu) # PAF Base Sindhri (Mirpur Khas) # PAF Base Talhar (Badin) # PAF Base Multan ( Multan)

Non-flying bases

* PAF Base Korangi Creek (Karachi) * PAF Base Malir (Karachi) *PAF Base Lower Topa ( Murree) *

PAF Base Kallar Kahar , "Be it deserts or seas; all lie under our wings" (traditional) , colours = , colours_label = , march = , mascot = , anniversaries = ...

( Kallar Kahar) * PAF Base Kohat ( Kohat) *

PAF Base Lahore PAF Base Lahore is a non-flying Pakistan Air Force (PAF) base located in Lahore, Punjab, Pakistan. It is one of the oldest air force bases in Pakistan, originally functioning as a maintenance depot for the Royal Indian Air Force during the d ...

(Lahore) *PAF Base Sakesar ( Sakesar) *PAF Base Kalabagh ( Nathia Gali)

Squadrons

Rank structure

;Structure of

commissioned officer An officer is a person who holds a position of authority as a member of an armed force or uniformed service. Broadly speaking, "officer" means a commissioned officer, a non-commissioned officer, or a warrant officer. However, absent context ...

ranks: ;Structure of enlisted ranks: ;Civilian occupations *Gazetted Officer * Steganographer *

Stenotypist Shorthand is an abbreviated symbolic writing method that increases speed and brevity of writing as compared to longhand, a more common method of writing a language. The process of writing in shorthand is called stenography, from the Greek ''ste ...

* Warehouse and Factory Personnel * Clerk

Special forces

The Pakistan Air Force's Special Services Wing (SSW) is the branch's elite special operations fighting force. Originally coming into existence following the

Indo-Pakistani War of 1965 The Indo-Pakistani War of 1965 or the Second Kashmir War was a culmination of skirmishes that took place between April 1965 and September 1965 between Pakistan and India. The conflict began following Pakistan's Operation Gibraltar, which was d ...

, the SSW is heavily modelled off of the United States Air Force's Special Tactics Squadrons with some elements inspired by the United States Army Rangers. The unit remained active but saw little prioritization by the Pakistani military until after the Kargil War. In late 1999, the SSW was largely revived and restructured for active service and is currently fielding around 1,200 troops.

Women in the Pakistan Air Force

From its early history, women had been employed by Pakistan's armed forces, albeit in non-combat roles only. It was commonplace to find women serving in service branches such as the medical corps (as nurses or in other similar disciplines). Aside from these exceptions, the Pakistan Air Force (PAF) had remained strictly all- male throughout its history, and women (and men under 18) were prohibited from combat, despite

Muhammad Ali Jinnah Muhammad Ali Jinnah (, ; born Mahomedali Jinnahbhai; 25 December 1876 – 11 September 1948) was a barrister, politician, and the founder of Pakistan. Jinnah served as the leader of the All-India Muslim League from 1913 until the ...

's contradictory views on the subject upon

Pakistan's independence The Pakistan Movement ( ur, , translit=Teḥrīk-e-Pākistān) was a political movement in the first half of the 20th century that aimed for the creation of Pakistan from the Muslim-majority areas of British India. It was connected to the per ...

. However, since 2003, women have been allowed to enrol in the

aerospace engineering Aerospace engineering is the primary field of engineering concerned with the development of aircraft and spacecraft. It has two major and overlapping branches: aeronautical engineering and astronautical engineering. Avionics engineering is si ...

program and others at the PAF Academy in Risalpur—including

fighter pilot A fighter pilot is a military aviator trained to engage in air-to-air combat, air-to-ground combat and sometimes electronic warfare while in the cockpit of a fighter aircraft. Fighter pilots undergo specialized training in aerial warfare and ...

training programmes. It has been stated that physical and academic standards are not compromised or exploited to favour women, and those who do not achieve the same performance as their male counterparts are immediately dropped from the course, however the level of enforcement of this rule is unknown. Within the structure of the PAF, a level of segregation between the genders is maintained in line with traditional views. For example, early-morning parades are performed together but some parts of training—mainly physical exercises—are done with males and females separated. According to Squadron Leader Shazia Ahmed, the officer in charge of the first female cadets in the PAF and a

psychologist A psychologist is a professional who practices psychology and studies mental states, perceptual, cognitive, emotional, and social processes and behavior. Their work often involves the experimentation, observation, and interpretation of how indi ...

, this seems to improve the confidence levels of women. In 2005, it was reported that two batches in the PAF Academy's flying wing contained at least ten women, with many more in the engineering and aerospace wings. One such woman—

Cadet A cadet is an officer trainee or candidate. The term is frequently used to refer to those training to become an officer in the military, often a person who is a junior trainee. Its meaning may vary between countries which can include youths in ...

Saba Khan from Quetta, Balochistan—applied after reading a newspaper advertisement stating that the PAF was seeking female cadets. She was one of the first four women to pass the first stages of flying training on propeller-driven light aircraft and move onto faster jet-powered training aircraft. In March 2006, the PAF officially inducted a batch of 34 fighter pilots which included the organization's first four female fighter pilots. Three years of training had been completed by the pilots at PAF Academy – Risalpur before they graduated and were awarded their Flying Badges during the ceremony. Certificates of honour were handed to the successful cadets by General Ahsan Saleem Hayat, then the vice-chief of the

, who acknowledged that the PAF was the first branch of the Pakistani military to introduce women to its combat units. One of the women, Flying Officer Nadia Gul, was awarded a trophy for best academic achievement. The other female graduates were Mariam Khalil, Saira Batool and the above-mentioned Cadet Saba Khan. A second batch of pilots, including three female pilots, graduated from the 117th GD(P) course at PAF Academy – Risalpur in September 2006. The Sword of Honour for best all-round performance was awarded to Aviation Cadet Saira Amin, the first female pilot to win the award. Aviation Cadet Saira Amin also had won the Asghar Hussain Trophy for best performance in academics. In September 2009, it was reported that seven women had qualified as operational fighter pilots on the Chengdu F-7, the first female combat pilots to do so in the PAF's history.

Commanding Officer The commanding officer (CO) or sometimes, if the incumbent is a general officer, commanding general (CG), is the officer in command of a military unit. The commanding officer has ultimate authority over the unit, and is usually given wide latitu ...

Tanvir Piracha emphasized that if the female pilots "are not good enough as per their male counterparts, we don't let them fly." It was noted that some of the female pilots wear the

hijab In modern usage, hijab ( ar, حجاب, translit=ḥijāb, ) generally refers to headcoverings worn by Muslim women. Many Muslims believe it is obligatory for every female Muslim who has reached the age of puberty to wear a head covering. While ...

while others do not, as it is an optional exception to uniform standards should the woman wish to don one.

Religious minorities in the Pakistan Air Force

Since its inception, religious minorities have been free to pursue careers within the Pakistan Armed Forces, with the exception of Hindus until 2001. Following its involvement in the global U.S.-led War on Terror, Pakistan released the Hindu minority in the country from the discriminatory law and granted them the same freedoms that were already present for their

Christian Christians () are people who follow or adhere to Christianity, a monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. The words ''Christ'' and ''Christian'' derive from the Koine Greek title ''Christós'' (Χρι ...

Sikh Sikhs ( or ; pa, ਸਿੱਖ, ' ) are people who adhere to Sikhism, Sikhism (Sikhi), a Monotheism, monotheistic religion that originated in the late 15th century in the Punjab region of the Indian subcontinent, based on the revelation of Gu ...

and other various counterparts. Some notable religious minority figures in the Pakistan Air Force include: Air Vice Marshal

Eric Gordon Hall Eric Gordon Hall (12 October 1922 – 17 June 1998) was a Pakistani fighter and bomber pilot, and former Director-General of the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA). A two-star general in the Pakistan Air Force, Hall served as the Vice Chief o ...

, a Christian who served as the Base Commander of Chaklala Air Base during the Indo-Pakistani War of 1965. Air Commodore Nazir Latif and Group Captain Cecil Chaudhry (both Christians) fought in the Indo-Pakistani War of 1965 and later helped establish the Combat Commanders School (CCS). Wing Commander Melvin Leslie Middlecoat was the Commanding Officer of No. 9 Squadron during the 1965 war, he and Squadron Leader

Peter Christy Squadron Leader Peter Christy (1937 – 6 December 1971), SJ, was a PAF bomber pilot and weapon systems officer (WSO). A B-57 Canberra navigator, Squadron Leader Christy was officially declared "missing in action" since December 1971, but wid ...

fought and were KIA in the Indo-Pakistani War of 1971. Patrick Desmond Callaghan was another Christian officer who rose to the rank of Air Vice Marshal. Wing Commander Ronald Felix has been a notable Christian pilot known for being the first to fly the jointly-built Chinese and Pakistani JF-17 Thunder fighter jet since 2010 and was one of two PAF pilots flying the JF-17 at th
2011 Izmir Air Show
in Turkey. In 2020, the Pakistan Air Force recruited Rahul Dev, a Hindu from Tharparkar,

in a major breakthrough for the Hindu minority from this remote distant area of

. He was commissioned as a general duty pilot officer on 6 May 2020.

Equipment

Pakistan Air Force General Dynamics F-16BM Fighting Falcon (altered)

Lockheed L-100 Hercules (L-382B), Pakistan - Air Force AN1084290

Combat aircraft

* Chengdu J-10C: The J-10C is a

multirole combat aircraft A multirole combat aircraft (MRCA) is a combat aircraft intended to perform different roles in combat. These roles can include air to air combat, air support, aerial bombing, reconnaissance, electronic warfare, and suppression of air defens ...

. The PAF have ordered at least 25 aircraft on June 25, 2021 with the number is expected to rise to at least 36. In March 2022, the initial batches of J-10s began to arrive in Pakistan, with at least 12 aircraft in operation in September 2022. * PAC/CAC JF-17 Thunder: A

produced by Pakistan with Chinese assistance, the JF-17 was developed to replace Pakistan's aging fleets of A-5C, F-7P/PG, Mirage III, and Mirage 5 aircraft. Currently, 149 JF-17s are in active service with the PAF, comprising 47 JF-17A Block 1, 62 JF-17A Block 2, and 25 JF-17B Block 2 variants. A further 50 aircraft of the Block III model, incorporating advanced avionics systems and a new AESA radar, are expected to be produced. In addition the PAF is also expected to order 26 of the two-seat JF-17B variant. The JF-17 is set to become the "backbone" of the PAF alongside its fleet of American F-16s. *

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

: The F-16 Fighting Falcon currently serves as the primary air fighter of the Pakistan Air Force (PAF) in addition to its ground attack capabilities. The PAF currently has ~75 F-16s in active service, comprising 44 F-16AM/BM Block 15 MLU, 13 F-16A/B ADF and 18 F-16C/D Block 52+ variants. * Dassault Mirage III: Having been in service since 1967, the Mirage III, together with the Mirage 5, serves as the primary strike aircraft of the PAF. The PAF operates more than 80 Mirage III aircraft, comprising multiple variants including the Mirage IIIEP, IIIEL and IIIO fighter-bomber variants, the latter of which have been upgraded under Project ROSE, the Mirage IIIRP reconnaissance variant and the Mirage IIIBE, IIID, IIIDL and IIIDP training variants, the latter of which have also been upgraded under Project ROSE. * Dassault Mirage 5: The Mirage 5, together with the Mirage III, serves as the PAF's primary strike aircraft. The PAF operates around 90 Mirage 5 aircraft of multiple variants, including Mirage 5PA, PA2, PA3 and 5F ground attack aircraft, the latter of which have been upgraded under Project ROSE, the Mirage 5DR reconnaissance variant and the Mirage 5DD and DPA2 training variants. *

Chengdu F-7PG 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 simil ...

: The Chengdu F-7 serves primarily as an interceptor, and around 140 aircraft are in service. The PAF has phased out its F-7P aircraft from active service, replaced by the JF-17 Thunder. The F-7PG variant remains the primary variant to remain in service with the PAF, while the two seat FT-7PG variant is in use as operational conversion trainer.

Special mission aircraft

* Saab 2000: The PAF has been operating the Saab 2000 using the Erieye radar as its primary AEW&C platform since 2009. Out of the original four Saab 2000 in service, one was destroyed and two were damaged in a Taliban attack on

in August 2012. The damaged aircraft were subsequently repaired and put back into service. The PAF had ordered three more Erieye AEW&C aircraft from Saab with the first batch having been delivered in 2017. * Shaanxi Y-8: Four ZDK-03 variants, locally designated the

Karakoram The Karakoram is a mountain range in Kashmir region spanning the borders of Pakistan, China, and India, with the northwest extremity of the range extending to Afghanistan and Tajikistan. Most of the Karakoram mountain range falls under the ...

Eagle, are in service. They incorporate a Chinese AESA radar mounted on a Y-8F-600 airframe. * Dassault Falcon 20: The PAF operates three modified Dassault Falcon 20 aircraft with a primary role in electronic warfare. Saab 2000 Erieye

Transport aircraft

* Lockheed C-130 Hercules: The

C-130 Hercules The Lockheed C-130 Hercules is an American four-engine turboprop military transport aircraft designed and built by Lockheed Corporation, Lockheed (now Lockheed Martin). Capable of using unprepared runways for takeoffs and landings, the C-130 ...

has served as the backbone of the PAF's transport fleet since its induction in 1962. 15 aircraft, five C-130Bs, nine C-130Es and one L-100, are currently in service. PAF C-130s have been upgraded with Allison T56-A-15 turboprops and extended fatigue lives. *

: Three Harbin Y-12 are operated as light utility aircraft by the PAF. * Gulfsteam IV: The PAF currently operates two Gulfstream IV-SP variants. * Embraer Phenom 100: Approximately four of these aircraft are in service with the PAF for transportation purposes. * Cessna Citation Excel: Currently, only one of these aircraft are used by the PAF.

: The PAF operates four Il-78MPs. The Il-78 can also be used as a aerial refuelling tankers by adding refuel tanks in the cargo hold.

Aerial refuelling aircraft

: The PAF operates four Il-78MPs equipped with UPAZ refuelling pods, procured from Ukraine, as aerial refuelling tankers. The Il-78 can also be used as a general transporter by removing the refuel tanks from the cargo hold.

Trainer aircraft

Ilyushin IL-78 (R09-001) Pakistan Air Force

* PAC MFI-17 Mushshak: The Mushshak serves as the PAF's basic trainer. The PAF operates 120 Mushshak aircraft, including the improved Super Mushshak variant. * Cessna T-37 Tweet: The PAF has operated the T-37 as a basic jet trainer since 1962, and these have been supplemented over the years with additional aircraft from Turkey and the United States. * Hongdu JL-8: The K-8 is operated as an intermediate trainer, before cadets move on to conversion trainers. The K-8 is also operated by the PAF's aerobatics display team, the ''

Sherdils Sherdils (Urdu: ﺸﻴر دﻝ English: Lion Hearts) is the aerobatics display team of the Pakistan Air Force (PAF) & Royal Pakistan Air Scouts (RPAS). The Sherdils are based at the Pakistan Air Force Academy, Risalpur, Pakistan and consist of ...

''.

Helicopters

* AgustaWestland AW139: Beginning in 2018, the PAF started inducting the AW139 to replace the venerable Alouette. The first AW139 unit became operational in March of that same year. *

Mil Mi-17 The Mil Mi-17 ( NATO reporting name: Hip) is a Soviet-designed Russian military helicopter family introduced in 1975 (Mi-8M), continuing in production at two factories, in Kazan and Ulan-Ude. It is known as the Mi-8M series in Russian servic ...

: The PAF also operates the Mi-171, which serves primarily in CSAR roles.

Air defence systems

* MBDA

Spada 2000 Spada is the Italian word for ''sword'' and a surname of Italian origin. It may refer to: People * Bernardino Spada (1594–1661), Italian Roman Catholic cardinal; patron of the arts * Constanza Spada, stage name of Italian actress, singer and mod ...

– A medium altitude air defence system consisting of a radar with a range of 60 kilometres and four 6-cell missile launchers that can intercept enemy missiles and aircraft at a range of over 20 kilometres. A contract for ten batteries was signed when Aspide was selected over competing systems from Raytheon, Diehl BGT and

Saab AB Saab AB (originally , later just SAAB and Saab Group) is a Swedish aerospace and defence company, founded in 1937. Headquartered in Stockholm, the development and the manufacturing is undertaken in Linköping. Saab produced automobiles from 194 ...

after pre-contract firing tests in Pakistan with assistance from the Italian Air Force. Reports state that Pakistan tested the air defence system in July 2010, following deliveries of the first few batteries. Deliveries of all ten batteries are reported to have been completed in 2013 with further orders possible upon immediate request. The missile system was tested by the Range & Instrumentation Division of

SUPARCO The Space & Upper Atmosphere Research Commission (SUPARCO) ( ur, ) is the :Pakistan federal departments and agencies, executive and List of government space agencies, national space agency of Pakistan. It is headquartered at the capital city ...

in synergy with the PAF. Three drones were successfully intercepted and shot down by the missile system following extensive testing. * Crotale – With the procurement of the Spada 2000, Pakistan reportedly decommissioned most of its Crotale short-range air defence missile systems.Pakistan Targets Air Combat
Defense News (14 July 2008). Retrieved 8 September 2010. However some modernized variants still remain in active service. * HQ-9B – In October 2003, it was reported that China had closed a deal with Pakistan to supply an unspecified number of FT-2000 systems, an anti-radiation variant of the HQ-9 long-range air defence system. However, in March 2009, a report was published stating that Pakistan was not considering importing the missile. It was reported in mid-2008 that Pakistan intended to purchase a high altitude air-missile defence system and the FD-2000, another variant of HQ-9, was expected to be chosen. In 2023 PAF inducted the HQ-9B variant into service with a reported range of 260 km. * AML HE 60-20 – A modified version of the

Panhard armoured vehicle equipped with a 20mm anti-aircraft cannon used primarily for on-base security. At least five were originally in service in the late 1990s.''African Defence Journal'': Article "Panhard Armoured Cars and Reconnaissance Vehicles in Africa". The Journal Publishers, 1981 volume, Collected Issues 5–16 p. 58.

Drone technology

On 7 September 2015, Pakistan became the fifth nation globally to develop and use an armed unmanned combat aerial vehicle (drone), the NESCOM Burraq. Pakistan first started exploring drone technology when it acquired Falco drones from Selex Galileo for approximately $40 million in 2008. Since then, Pakistan has been developing variants of the original Falco drone in the Pakistan Aeronautical Complex (PAC) in collaboration with the Italian firm. The Burraq was developed which was based on the Falco's technology. By March 2015, Pakistan was able to test-fire Burraq armed with an air-to-surface missile named Barq with pin-point precision. Burraq drones were used extensively to provide support to the

during Operation Zarb-e-Azb. Pakistan has already talked with Turkey to manufacture parts for Anka UAV and possibly to produce the combat drones locally. Also the CAIG Wing Loong II UCAVs will be produced in Pakistan with joint collaboration with

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...

Modernisation and acquisitions

For a brief period, the Pakistan Air Force experienced a stall in modernization efforts, however this ended in April 2006 when the Pakistani cabinet approved the PAF's proposals to procure new aircraft and systems from several sources, including modern combat aircraft from the United States and China. The AFFDP 2019 (Armed Forces Development Programme 2019) would oversee the extensive modernization of the PAF from 2006 to 2019. On 24 July 2008, the Bush administration informed the U.S. Congress that it planned to shift nearly $230 million of $300 million in aid from counter-terrorism programs to upgrading Pakistan's ageing F-16s. The administration had previously announced on 27 June 2008 that it was proposing to sell

ITT Corporation ITT Inc., formerly ITT Corporation, is an American worldwide manufacturing company based in Stamford, Connecticut. The company produces specialty components for the aerospace, transportation, energy and industrial markets. ITT's three businesses ...

's electronic warfare gear valued at up to $75 million to enhance Pakistan's existing inventory of F-16s. Pakistan has asked about buying as many as 21 AN/ALQ-211(V)9 Advanced Integrated Defensive Electronic Warfare Suite Pods (AIDEWS) as well as other related equipment. The proposed sale will ensure that the existing fleet is "compatible" with new F-16 Block 50/52 fighters being purchased by Islamabad. After

9/11 The September 11 attacks, commonly known as 9/11, were four coordinated suicide terrorist attacks carried out by al-Qaeda against the United States on Tuesday, September 11, 2001. That morning, nineteen terrorists hijacked four commercial ...

, the U.S. and Pakistan began discussing the release of the embargoed F-16s and Pakistan's ability to purchase new aircraft. Of the 28 F-16A/B built under the ''Peace Gate III/IV'' contracts and embargoed in 1990, 14 were delivered as EDA (Excess Defense Articles) from 2005 to 2008, two of which were delivered on 10 July 2007. Between 2005 and 2008, 14 F-16A/B Block 15 OCU fighters were delivered to the PAF under renewed post-9/11 ties between the U.S. and Pakistan. These had originally been built for Pakistan under the Peace Gate III/IV contracts but were never delivered due to the subsequent U.S. arms embargo imposed on Pakistan in 1990. To upgrade the F-16A/B fleet, 32 Falcon STAR kits were purchased for the original ''Peace Gate I'' aircraft and 35 Mid-Life Update (MLU) kits were ordered, with 11 more MLU kits optional. Four F-16A/B being upgraded in the U.S. to F-16AM/BM had an expected delivery date of December 2011. F-16A/B in the PAF's service were to be upgraded starting in October 2010 by Turkish Aerospace Industries, at a rate of one per month. The ''Peace Drive I'' contract for 12 F-16C and six F-16D Block 52+ (Advanced Block 52) aircraft, powered by F100-PW-229 engines was signed on 30 September 2006. The first F-16 to be completed, an F-16D, was rolled out on 13 October 2009 and began flight testing immediately. The first batch of F-16C/D Block 52+, two F-16D and one F-16C landed at PAF Base Shahbaz, Jacobabad, on 26 June 2010. One more F-16C was received by 5 July 2010. On 13 December 2008, the Government of Pakistan stated that two

aircraft were intercepted by the Pakistan Air Force a few kilometers inside Pakistani airspace. This charge is denied by the Indian government. During talks with a delegation from the French Senate on 28 September 2009, Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani stated that the PAF had used most of its stockpile of laser-guided munitions against militants in the Malakand and FATA regions and that replacements for such types of equipment were urgently required. Pakistan Air Force Shaanxi ZDK-03 (Y-8) inflight

Pakistan Air Force Shaanxi ZDK-03 (Y-8) inflight

In December 2009, Pakistan saw the delivery of the PAF's first Saab 2000 Erieye AEW&C from

and an Il-78MP

aerial refueling tanker Aerial refueling, also referred to as air refueling, in-flight refueling (IFR), air-to-air refueling (AAR), and tanking, is the process of transferring aviation fuel from one aircraft (the List of tanker aircraft, tanker) to another (the receive ...

/ military transport aircraft from Ukraine. The PAF was reported to be considering purchasing the Chinese Hongdu L-15 advanced jet trainer to train pilots for high-tech fighters such as the FC-20. Extensive evaluations of the aircraft took place in Pakistan in December 2009. According to Air Chief Marshal (ACM)

Rao Qamar Suleman Rao Qamar Suleman, (Urdu: راؤ قمر سلیمان) was the 12th Chief of Air Staff of the Pakistan Air Force. The four-star ranked general commanded the PAF from 2009 to 2012. Earlier, Suleman served as Deputy Chief of Air Staff of Operati ...

(then Chief of the Air Staff), the new fighters would eliminate the PAF's limitations in conducting precision night-time strike operations, as the existing capability was based on around 34 Dassault Mirage 5 fighters upgraded with new avionics for night-time precision strike missions under the Retrofit of Strike Element (ROSE) programme during 1999–2004. The SABIR (Special Airborne Mission Installation & Response System), a FLIR system that has Brite Star II and Star Safire III EO/IR sensors installed on a C-130 saw extensive usage during the Pakistani military's operations against militants in the FATA region. In 2021, Pakistan agreed to buy 36 Chengdu J-10CP multirole fighter aircraft from China to counter the Dassault Rafale which India bought from France. On March 11, 2022, PAF inducted modern J-10C fighter aircraft in its fleet, the formal ceremony was conducted at the Minhas Airbase Kamra. At a ceremony in January 2024, Pakistan announced its intent to acquire the

FC-31 The Shenyang FC-31 Gyrfalcon ( zh, s=鹘鹰, p=Gǔ yīng), also known as the J-31 is a Chinese prototype mid-sized twinjet 5th-generation fighter aircraft developed by Shenyang Aircraft Corporation (SAC). The official nickname published by SAC ...

aircraft.

Planned acquisitions

Mass production of the PAC JF-17 Thunder A Block-3, a 4.5 generation aircraft, is underway to replace the F-16 as the "backbone" of the Pakistan Air Force's arsenal. After every 3–5 years, newer blocks of the aircraft are expected to be produced. Pakistan has been in extensive talks with China to acquire between 40 and 60 upgraded fifth-generation Shenyang FC-31

stealth fighter Stealth aircraft are designed to avoid detection using a variety of technologies that reduce reflection/emission of radar, infrared, visible light, radio frequency (RF) spectrum, and audio, collectively known as stealth technology. The F-117 Nig ...

aircraft (J-31 for short). The TAI TF-X, another fifth-generation aircraft under development by Turkey (intended to operate with critical assets such as the American F-35 Lightning II) has also been a viable offer for Pakistan, as these fighters can greatly strengthen the PAF's fleet before the country's own fifth-generation fighter is developed under Project Azm. Pakistan is also reportedly working on developing a strong arsenal of UAVs alongside China's CAIG GJ-2 MALE-UCAV.

Project Azm

On 7 July 2017, the Pakistan Air Force announced the development of a fifth-generation fighter aircraft, a medium-altitude long-endurance unmanned aerial vehicle (MALE UAV) and munitions under the banner of Project ''Azm'' ( Urdu for resolve/determination). Air Chief Marshal (ACM) Sohail Aman stated that the design phase for the MALE UAV was in its final stages.

Military exercises

PAF Mirage III ROSE - USN F-18 - USAF and RJAF F-16 - side view

The Pakistan Air Force sent a contingent of six

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

A/B fighters to the 2004 international Anatolian Eagle exercise in Turkey. In 2005, after around one year of planning, the PAF held the High Mark 2005

military exercise A military exercise or war game is the employment of military resources in training for military operations, either exploring the effects of warfare or testing strategies without actual combat. This also serves the purpose of ensuring the com ...

which lasted for one month and also involved the

and

. The scenario saw two opposing forces, Blueland and Foxland, engaging in simulated combat which involved both offensive and defensive operations. It was stated that the exercise would consist of three stages and PAF aircraft would fly around 8200 sorties. The involvement of units from the Pakistan Army and Navy was aimed at providing more realistic operational scenarios. High Mark 2005 followed the Tempest-1 military exercise which was focused purely on

air power Airpower or air power consists of the application of military aviation, military strategy and strategic theory to the realm of aerial warfare and close air support. Airpower began in the advent of powered flight early in the 20th century. Airpo ...

but differed in terms of the duration, intensity and complexity of all air operations being conducted. In 2008, the Turkish Air Force sent five F-16C/D fighters and 50 personnel from 191 ''Cobras'' Squadron to Pakistan to take part in the joint Indus Viper exercise at PAF Base Mushaf. In the summer of 2005, a PAF team of 20

airmen An airman is a member of an air force or air arm of a nation's armed forces. In certain air forces, it can also refer to a specific enlisted rank. An airman can also be referred as a soldier in other definitions. In civilian aviation usage, t ...

, including pilots, navigators, engineers, maintenance technicians and a C-130E was sent to the United States to take part in the AMC (

Air Mobility Command Air Mobility Command (AMC) is a major command (MAJCOM) of the U.S. Air Force. It is headquartered at Scott Air Force Base, Illinois, east of St. Louis, Missouri. Air Mobility Command was established on 1 June 1992, and was formed from elements ...

) Rodeo. The PAF again took part in the AMC Rodeo two years later, in July 2007. In 2009, while undertaking combat operations against militants in the FATA and

Swat In the United States, a SWAT team (special weapons and tactics, originally special weapons assault team) is a police tactical unit that uses specialized or military equipment and tactics. Although they were first created in the 1960s to ...

regions, the PAF initiated the Saffron Bandit exercise with the aim of training the PAF's entire combat force to undertake such anti-terrorist operations. In December 2009, the PAF sent six Chengdu F-7PG fighters of No. 31 Wing based at PAF Base Samungli to the United Arab Emirates to take part in the Air Tactics Leadership Course (ATLC)—also known as Exercise Iron Falcon—at Al Dhafra Air Base. The PAF's High Mark 2010 exercise was launched on 15 March 2010, the first time a High Mark exercise had been conducted since 2005, after all PAF received their Air Tasking Orders (ATO). The country-wide exercise involved units based all over Pakistan, from Skardu to the Arabian Sea, at all Main Operating Bases and

Forward Operating Bases A forward operating base (FOB) is any secured forward operational level military position, commonly a military base, that is used to support strategic goals and tactical objectives. A FOB may or may not contain an airfield, hospital, machine ...

. Joint operations involving the Pakistan Army and Pakistan Navy were also conducted, aiming to test and improve integration and co-operation between the three branches of the Pakistan Armed Forces. Operations emphasized a near-realistic simulation of a wartime environment, exposure of PAF aircrews to contemporary concepts of air combat, new employment concepts and joint operations between the Pakistan Air Force, Army and Navy. New inductions such as the JF-17 Thunder, Saab 2000 Erieye AEW&C and Il-78 MRTT also saw service in this exercise. On 6 April 2010, the end of the first phase of exercise High Mark 2010 was celebrated with a 90-minute firepower demonstration at the PAF's firing range facility in the deserts of Thal. The H-2 SOW was also shown to the public for the first time, being launched from around 60 km away before hitting its target, and a mock

counter-insurgency Counterinsurgency (COIN) is "the totality of actions aimed at defeating irregular forces". The Oxford English Dictionary defines counterinsurgency as any "military or political action taken against the activities of guerrillas or revolutionar ...

operation was performed by participating forces. The demo heralded the beginning of High Mark 2010's second phase, where the PAF would practice joint operations with the Pakistan Army during its own exercise ''Azm-e-Nau-3'' (New Resolve 3). During High Mark 2010, a Chengdu F-7 and Mirage 5 fighter practiced landing, refueling and take-off operations from a motorway. It was reported that the PAF is in negotiations with the Ministry of Communications to set up any required facilities for PAF operations on various motorways in Pakistan. PAF Mirage III ROSE alert scramble competition Falcon Air Meet 2010

PAF Mirage III ROSE alert scramble competition Falcon Air Meet 2010

In July 2010, the PAF sent six F-16B fighters of No. 9 ''Griffins'' Squadron and 100 PAF personnel to Nellis Air Force Base in the U.S. to participate in the international

Red Flag Red flag may refer to: * Red flag (idiom), a metaphor for something signalling a problem ** Red flag warning, a term used by meteorologists ** Red flag (battle ensign), maritime flag signaling an intention to give battle with no quarter (fight to ...

exercise for the first time. During the exercise, the PAF pilots practiced in-flight refuelling with their F-16s using the

Boeing KC-135 Stratotanker The Boeing KC-135 Stratotanker is an American military aerial refueling aircraft that was developed from the Boeing 367-80 prototype, alongside the Boeing 707 airliner. It is the predominant variant of the C-135 Stratolifter family of transpor ...

. In October 2010, the PAF's No. 7 ''Bandits'' Squadron sent a team of its Dassault Mirage III ROSE fighters to Jordan to participate in the Falcon Air Meet 2010 exercise at the Azraq Royal Jordanian Air Base. January 2011 saw a PAF contingent of F-16A/B and Dassault Mirage fighters take part in the Al-Saqoor II exercise in Saudi Arabia with the Royal Saudi Air Force. In March 2011, a joint Sino-Pakistani exercise, codenamed ''Shaheen-1'', was conducted involving a contingent of Chinese aircraft and personnel from the PLAAF. Information on which aircraft were used by each side in the exercise remained classified, but photos of Pakistani pilots inspecting what appeared to be Chinese Shenyang J-11B fighters were released on the internet. The exercise lasted for around four weeks and was the first time the PLAAF had deployed to Pakistan and conducted "operational" aerial maneuvers with the PAF.

Involvement in Pakistani society

The Pakistan Air Force, alongside other branches of the

armed forces A military, also known collectively as armed forces, is a heavily armed, highly organized force primarily intended for warfare. It is typically authorized and maintained by a sovereign state, with its members identifiable by their distinct ...

has played an integral part in the civil society of Pakistan since its inception. In 1996, General Jehangir Karamat described the Pakistani military's relations with Pakistan's populace: In times of natural disaster such as the chaotic floods of 1992 or the October 2005 earthquake, PAF engineers, medical and logistics personnel alongside the rest of the armed forces played a major role in bringing relief aid and supplies to those who were affected. In addition to the PAF's involvement in relief activities at home, it has also helped the Pakistani military's responses to natural disasters in many other countries globally. The PAF was involved in the dispatching of relief to Indonesia, Bangladesh and

Sri Lanka Sri Lanka (, ; si, ශ්‍රී ලංකා, Śrī Laṅkā, translit-std=ISO (); ta, இலங்கை, Ilaṅkai, translit-std=ISO ()), formerly known as Ceylon and officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, is an ...

after they were hit by the

2004 Indian Ocean earthquake and tsunami An earthquake and a tsunami, known as the Boxing Day Tsunami and, by the scientific community, the Sumatra–Andaman earthquake, occurred at 07:58:53 local time (UTC+7) on 26 December 2004, with an epicentre off the west coast of northern Suma ...

. Coordinating a synergized response, the Pakistan Armed Forces sent ships and helicopters with aid and personnel to assist in the international relief operation.

In popular culture

In Pakistani literature, the shaheen falcon has a special association with the poetry of the country's national poet,

Allama Muhammad Iqbal Sir Muhammad Iqbal ( ur, ; 9 November 187721 April 1938), was a South Asian Muslim writer, philosopher, Quote: "In Persian, ... he published six volumes of mainly long poems between 1915 and 1936, ... more or less complete works on philoso ...

. The bird also appears on the official representative badge of the Pakistan Air Force. Various Urdu-language drama serials on the PAF have been written, produced, directed, and televised nationwide. Notable Urdu drama serials and films involving the PAF are ''Shahpar'' and ''

Sherdil ''Sherdil'' (Urdu: "Lionheart") is a 2019 Pakistani action film produced by NK Pictures. It is written and produced by Nomaan Khan, directed by Azfar Jafri, and stars Mikaal Zulfiqar, Hassan Niazi, Armeena Rana Khan and Sabeeka Imam. The film ...

'', which were televised on PTV and

ARY Digital ''ARY Digital'' ( ur, ) is a Pakistani pay television network available in Pakistan, the Middle East, North America and Europe. The ARY Group of companies is a Dubai-based holding company founded by a Pakistani businessman, Abdul Razzak Yaqoob ...

, respectively.

Notable personnel

The Nishan-e-Haider (), is the highest military award of Pakistan, and is roughly equivalent in value to the United States' Medal of Honor.

Pilot Officer Pilot officer (Plt Off officially in the RAF; in the RAAF and RNZAF; formerly P/O in all services, and still often used in the RAF) is the lowest commissioned rank in the Royal Air Force and the air forces of many other Commonwealth countri ...

Rashid Minhas Pilot Officer Rashid Minhas ( ur, ) was a Pakistani pilot in the Pakistan Air Force. Minhas was the only PAF officer to receive the highest valour award, the Nishan-e-Haider. He was also the youngest person and the shortest-serving officer to ...

(1951 – 20 August 1971) is the only officer of the PAF to have been awarded the Nishan-e-Haider for sacrificing his life to save an aircraft from being hijacked to India. Other notable recipients of major military awards include: * Air Commodore Muhammad Mahmood Alam – awarded for downing nine fighters (of which five were downed within one minute) of the

in direct air-to-air combat.Alam's Speed-shooting Classic
. Defencejournal.com (6 September 1965). Retrieved 8 September 2010. (

Sitara-e-Jurat Sitara-e-Jurat (, Star of Courage) is the third highest military award of Pakistan. It was established in 1957 after Pakistan became a republic; however, it was instituted retrospectively back to 1947. It is awarded for Courage, gallantry or dist ...

) * Air Commodore Najeeb Ahmed Khan – B-57 Canberra bomber pilot who raided the Adampur Airbase several times during the 1965 war. (

) * Squadron Leader

Sarfaraz Ahmed Rafiqui Squadron Leader Sarfaraz Ahmed Rafiqui was a fighter pilot in the Pakistan Air Force who is known for his gallant actions in two of the aerial dogfights during Indo-Pakistani War of 1965, and is a recipient of both the Hilal-e-Jurat (Crescen ...

– awarded for refusing to abandon his group of fighters during a battle despite his guns being jammed. He continued his attempts to assist his squadron in the battle by chasing enemy fighters until eventually being shot down. ( Hilal-e-Jurat,

) * Air Marshall

Nur Khan Air Marshal Malik Nur Khan Awan ( ur, ; 22 February 1923 – 15 December 2011) commonly known as Nur Khan, was a three-star air officer, politician, sports administrator, and the Commander-in-Chief of the Pakistan Air Force, serving under ...

– awarded for personally leading several operational missions that uplifted morale and enabled the air force to assert control over a larger and better-equipped enemy. ( Hilal-e-Jurat)

Notes

References

External links

*
Aircraft of the Pakistan Air Force and general equipment
* ''The National Interest,'
How Pakistan's Air Force fought back after the Soviet Invasion of Afghanistan
{{Air forces * 1947 establishments in Pakistan Military units and formations established in 1947 Government of Pakistan