President President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) * President (education), a leader of a college or university * President (government title) President may also refer to: Automobiles * Nissan President, a 1966–2010 Japanese ...

Arif Alvi Arif-ur-Rehman Alvi (; born 29 July 1949) is a Pakistani dentist and politician currently serving as the 13th President of Pakistan, in office since 9 September 2018. He was a member of the National Assembly of Pakistan from June 2013 to May 2 ...

General A general officer is an officer of high rank in the armies, and in some nations' air forces, space forces, and marines or naval infantry. In some usages the term "general officer" refers to a rank above colonel."general, adj. and n.". O ...

Sahir Shamshad Mirza General Sahir Shamshad Mirza ( ur, ) is a four-star rank general in Pakistan Army, currently serving as the 18th Chairman Joint Chiefs of Staff Committeeappointed to the post on 27 November 2022. Prior to his appointment as Commander of X Corps ...

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 Admi ...

Roundel A roundel is a circular disc used as a symbol. The term is used in heraldry, but also commonly used to refer to a type of national insignia used on military aircraft, generally circular in shape and usually comprising concentric rings of dif ...

Fin flash Military aircraft insignia are insignia applied to military aircraft to identify the nation or branch of military service to which the aircraft belong. Many insignia are in the form of a circular roundel or modified roundel; other shapes such as ...

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 ...

CAIG Wing Loong II The Chengdu GJ-2, also known as Wing Loong 2, is an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) capable of remotely controlled or autonomous flight developed by the Chengdu Aircraft Industry Group in the People's Republic of China. Intended for use as a sur ...

Bell 412 The Bell 412 is a utility helicopter of the Huey family manufactured by Bell Helicopter. It is a development of the Bell 212, with the major difference being the composite four-blade main rotor. Design and development Development began in the ...

Bell AH-1 Cobra The Bell AH-1 Cobra is a single-engined attack helicopter developed and manufactured by the American rotorcraft manufacturer Bell Helicopter. A member of the prolific Huey family, the AH-1 is also referred to as the HueyCobra or Snake. The ...

Selex ES Falco The Falco ( English: hawk) is a tactical unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) designed and produced by Selex ES (now Leonardo formerly Leonardo-Finmeccanica and Finmeccanica, originally by Galileo Avionica of Italy). The UAV is designed to be a medi ...

Gulfstream IV The Gulfstream IV (or G-IV or GIV) and derivatives are a family of twinjet aircraft, mainly for private or business use. They were designed and built by Gulfstream Aerospace, a General Dynamics company based in Savannah, Georgia, United Stat ...

Saab 2000 The Saab 2000 is a twin-engined high-speed turboprop airliner built by Swedish aircraft manufacturer Saab. It is designed to carry 50–58 passengers and cruise at a speed of . Production took place in Linköping in southern Sweden. The Sa ...

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 fe ...

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 ...

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 contr ...

Pakistan Armed Forces The Pakistan Armed Forces (; ) are the military forces of Pakistan. It is the world's sixth-largest military measured by active military personnel and consist of three formally uniformed services—the Army, Navy, and the Air Force, which are ...

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

Pakistan Army The Pakistan Army (, ) is the 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 British India, which occurred as a result ...

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

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 distan ...

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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 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 The prime minister of Pakistan ( ur, , romanized: Wazīr ē Aʿẓam , ) is the head of government of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan. Executive authority is vested in the prime minister and his chosen cabinet, despite the president of Pak ...

.

History

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 , date ...

festival holiday in

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

, an

Indian Air Force The Indian Air Force (IAF) is the air force, 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 ...

(IAF)

English Electric Canberra The English Electric Canberra is a British first-generation, jet-powered medium bomber. It was developed by English Electric during the mid- to late 1940s in response to a 1944 Air Ministry requirement for a successor to the wartime de Havil ...

B(I)58 of No. 106 Squadron entered Pakistani airspace on a

photo reconnaissance Aerial reconnaissance is reconnaissance for a military or strategic purpose that is conducted using reconnaissance aircraft. The role of reconnaissance can fulfil a variety of requirements including artillery spotting, the collection of imag ...

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 Sargodha Air Base 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 ...

. 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.

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 com ...

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

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 Admi ...

Arjan Singh Marshal of the Indian Air Force Arjan Singh, DFC (15 April 1919 – 16 September 2017) was a senior air officer of the Indian Air Force. He served as the 3rd Chief of the Air Staff from 1964 to 1969, leading the Air Force through the Indo-Pa ...

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 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 ...

,

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-Ro ...

and

Folland Gnat The Folland Gnat is a British compact swept-wing subsonic fighter aircraft that was developed and produced by Folland Aircraft. Envisioned as an affordable light fighter in contrast to the rising cost and size of typical combat aircraft, it wa ...

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 ''Flight International'' is a monthly magazine focused on aerospace. Published in the United Kingdom and founded in 1909 as "A Journal devoted to the Interests, Practice, and Progress of Aerial Locomotion and Transport", it is the world's olde ...

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

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-Ro ...

. Sajad Haider, 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 neutralize

Soviet The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, ...

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 Gnat The Folland Gnat is a British compact swept-wing subsonic fighter aircraft that was developed and produced by Folland Aircraft. Envisioned as an affordable light fighter in contrast to the rising cost and size of typical combat aircraft, it wa ...

s. According to

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area, the List of countries and dependencies by population, second-most populous ...

n 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. Per

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area, the List of countries and dependencies by population, second-most populous ...

, 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 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 East Pakistan was a Pakistani province established in 1955 by the One Unit Policy, renaming the province as such from East Bengal, which, in modern times, is split between India and Bangladesh. Its land borders were with India and Myanmar, wit ...

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 armed conflict sparked by the rise of the Bengali ...

between

West Pakistan West Pakistan ( ur, , translit=Mag̱ẖribī Pākistān, ; bn, পশ্চিম পাকিস্তান, translit=Pôścim Pakistan) was one of the two Provincial exclaves created during the One Unit Scheme in 1955 in Pakistan. It was ...

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 The Mukti Bahini ( bn, মুক্তিবাহিনী, translates as 'freedom fighters', or liberation army), also known as the Bangladesh Forces, was the guerrilla resistance movement consisting of the Bangladeshi military, paramilitary ...

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 ...

,

Ambala Ambala () is a city and a municipal corporation in Ambala district in the state of Haryana, India, located on the border with the Indian state of Punjab and in proximity to both states capital Chandigarh. Politically, Ambala has two sub-ar ...

,

Sirsa Sirsa is a city and a municipal council in Sirsa district in the westernmost region of the Indian state of Haryana, bordering Punjab and Rajasthan. It is located in Thar desert. It is located 250 kilometres north-west of New Delhi and 260 kilom ...

,

Halwara Halwara is a township in Punjab state in India.Located in the Ludhiana close to Village Sudhar, Halwara lies on the Mullanpur-Raikot road. It is also famous for its Air Base An air base (sometimes referred to as a military air base, mi ...

and

Jodhpur Jodhpur (; ) is the second-largest city in the Indian state of Rajasthan and officially the second metropolitan city of the state. It was formerly the seat of the princely state of Jodhpur State. Jodhpur was historically the capital of the ...

. 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 Dhaka ( or ; bn, ঢাকা, Ḍhākā, ), formerly known as Dacca, is the capital and largest city of Bangladesh, as well as the world's largest Bengali-speaking city. It is the eighth largest and sixth most densely populated city i ...

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 Air Staff,

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 Admi ...

Anwar Shamim Air Chief Marshal Mohammad Anwar Shamim ( ur, ); (1 October 1931 – 4 January 2013) was a senior air officer of the Pakistan Air Force and was the Chief of Air Staff, appointed to the post in 1978 until retiring in 1985. Born in Haripur, B ...

, was told by then-

President President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) * President (education), a leader of a college or university * President (government title) President may also refer to: Automobiles * Nissan President, a 1966–2010 Japanese ...

and Chief of Army Staff

General A general officer is an officer of high rank in the armies, and in some nations' air forces, space forces, and marines or naval infantry. In some usages the term "general officer" refers to a rank above colonel."general, adj. and n.". O ...

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 Trombay is an eastern suburb in Bombay (Mumbai), India. History Trombay was called Neat's Tongue because of its shape. Once, it was an island nearly 5 km East of Mumbai and was about 8 km in length and 8 km in width. The island ...

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 successf ...

, 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 In late 2001, the United States and its close allies invaded Afghanistan and toppled the Taliban government. The invasion's aims were to dismantle al-Qaeda, which had executed the September 11 attacks, and to deny it a safe base of operation ...

, 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 The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA ), known informally as the Agency and historically as the Company, is a civilian foreign intelligence service of the federal government of the United States, officially tasked with gathering, processing, ...

, 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. Various reports during this period widely indicated that the PAF had in fact covertly engaged in aerial combat against the

Soviet Air Force The Soviet Air Forces ( rus, Военно-воздушные силы, r=Voyenno-vozdushnyye sily, VVS; literally "Military Air Forces") were one of the air forces of the Soviet Union. The other was the Soviet Air Defence Forces. The Air Forces ...

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. Accord ...

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 Squadron leader (Sqn Ldr in the RAF ; SQNLDR in the RAAF and RNZAF; formerly sometimes S/L in all services) is a commissioned rank in the Royal Air Force and the air forces of many countries which have historical British influence. It is als ...

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 Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan,; prs, امارت اسلامی افغانستان is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. Referred to as the Heart of Asia, it is borde ...

. The first three of these (one Su-22, one probable Su-22, and one

An-26 The Antonov An-26 (NATO reporting name: Curl) is a twin-engined turboprop civilian and military transport aircraft, designed and produced in the Soviet Union from 1969 to 1986.Gordon, Yefim. Komissarov, Dmitry & Sergey. "Antonov's Turboprop Twin ...

) 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 ...

). Most of these kills were by the

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 ...

, 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

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 successf ...

afterwards.

U.S. arms embargo (1990–2001)

After the Pressler amendment was passed, the United States placed sanctions 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 maintai ...

on Pakistan starting on 6 October 1990 due to the continuance of the country's nuclear weapons research program. 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 The Panavia Tornado is a family of twin-engine, variable-sweep wing multirole combat aircraft, jointly developed and manufactured by Italy, the United Kingdom and West Germany. There are three primary Tornado variants: the Tornado IDS (inte ...

MRCA (multi-role combat aircraft), and ultimately rejected it. France's Dassault Mirage 2000E and an offer from

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populou ...

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 ...

by

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 countries, Nordic c ...

, 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

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and Northern Asia. It is the largest country in the world, with its internationally recognised territory covering , and encompassing one-ei ...

n manufacturers

Sukhoi The JSC Sukhoi Company (russian: ПАО «Компания „Сухой“», ) is a Russian aircraft manufacturer (formerly Soviet), headquartered in Begovoy District, Northern Administrative Okrug, Moscow, that designs both civilian and mili ...

and

Mikoyan Russian Aircraft Corporation "MiG" (russian: Российская самолётостроительная корпорация „МиГ“, Rossiyskaya samolyotostroitel'naya korporatsiya "MiG"), commonly known as Mikoyan and MiG, was a Russi ...

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 The Taliban (; ps, طالبان, ṭālibān, lit=students or 'seekers'), which also refers to itself by its state (polity), state name, the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, is a Deobandi Islamic fundamentalism, Islamic fundamentalist, m ...

personnel by the

Pakistani military The Pakistan Armed Forces (; ) are the military forces of Pakistan. It is the world's sixth-largest military measured by active military personnel and consist of three formally uniformed services—the Army, Navy, and the Air Force, which are ...

from

Afghanistan Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan,; prs, امارت اسلامی افغانستان is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. Referred to as the Heart of Asia, it is borde ...

. 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 terrorist attacks that took place in November 2008, when 10 members of Lashkar-e-Taiba, an Islamist terrorist organisation from Pakistan, c ...

, 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 The Indian Army is the Land warfare, land-based branch and the largest component of the Indian Armed Forces. The President of India is the Commander-in-Chief, Supreme Commander of the Indian Army, and its professional head is the Chief of Arm ...

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

Pranab Mukherjee Dr. Pranab Mukherjee (11 December 193531 August 2020) was an Indian politician and statesman who served as the 13th president of India from 2012 until 2017. In a political career spanning five decades, Mukherjee was a senior leader in the Indi ...

to the Pakistani President

Asif Ali Zardari Asif Ali Zardari ( ur, ; sd, ; born 26 July 1955) is a Pakistani politician who is the president of Pakistan Peoples Party Parliamentarians and was the co-chairperson of Pakistan People's Party. He served as the 11th president of Pakist ...

(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 Jalalabad (; Dari/ ps, جلال‌آباد, ) is the fifth-largest city of Afghanistan. It has a population of about 356,274, and serves as the capital of Nangarhar Province in the eastern part of the country, about from the capital Kabul. Jala ...

border Borders are usually defined as geographical boundaries, imposed either by features such as oceans and terrain, or by political entities such as governments, sovereign states, federated states, and other subnational entities. Political borders ca ...

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 fourt ...

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 his death in 2011. Ideologically a pan-Islamist, his group is designated ...

. "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

Pakistan Army The Pakistan Army (, ) is the 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 British India, which occurred as a result ...

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 Administrative units of Pakistan, four provinces of Pakistan. Located in the Geography of Pakistan, ...

. 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 The Taliban (; ps, طالبان, ṭālibān, lit=students or 'seekers'), which also refers to itself by its state (polity), state name, the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, is a Deobandi Islamic fundamentalism, Islamic fundamentalist, m ...

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 primari ...

, a new "counter-terrorist doctrine" had to be improvised. The PAF's ''

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

'' exercise focused on extensive training of combat personnel to undertake

COIN A coin is a small, flat (usually depending on the country or value), round piece of metal or plastic used primarily as a medium of exchange or legal tender. They are standardized in weight, and produced in large quantities at a mint in order ...

operations. New equipment was inducted to improve the PAF's joint intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) capabilities. A

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

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 South Waziristan District ( ps, سويلي وزیرستان ولسوالۍ, ur, ) was a district in Dera Ismail Khan Division of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa before splitting in to Lower South Waziristan District and Upper South Waziristan District and ...

, 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 A government is the system or group of people governing an organized community, generally a state. In the case of its broad associative definition, government normally consists of legislature, executive, and judiciary. Government i ...

figures but Pakistan's then-Chief of Army Staff, General Ashfaq Kayani, gave a public apology on 17 April. It is reported that

BBC News BBC News is an operational business division of the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) responsible for the gathering and broadcasting of news and current affairs in the UK and around the world. The department is the world's largest broadc ...

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 ...

in

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 (which proved to be a local Kashmiri youth 22 year old Adil Ahmed Dar resident of Kakapora Indian side of Kashmir), even Pakistan offered to share credible evidences, India suddenly conducted an offensive

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 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 P ...

in

Khyber Pakhtunkhwa 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 ...

province, several miles inside the province's boundary with Pakistan-administered Kashmir. Pakistan's military, the first to announce the airstrike on the morning of 26 February, described the Indian planes as dropping 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 launched a counter-offensive by striking six targets near Indian military installations through a codenamed "Operation Swift Retort" bombing inside the Indian Controlled Kashmir near Indian military sites. During the Operation Pakistan used its Electronic Jamming in Indian space that disturbed the communication link between aerial and ground assests. Indian Air Force jets were scrambled to intercept the PAF jets inside Jammu and Kashmir. Following the interception, a fierce

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 majo ...

ensued and Pakistani aircraft shot down an Indian

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 ...

. Meanwhile a MI 17 helicopter of the Indian Army Aviation branch carrying 6 Indian soldiers was shot down by Indian air defense system resulting in losses of all crew and 6 Indian soldiers. IAF-mig-21-wreckage

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. Pakistan would later go on to accept that F16s 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 Abhinandan Varthaman VrC (born 21 June 1983) is an Indian Air Force fighter pilot who, during the 2019 India–Pakistan standoff, was involved in entering Pakistani airspace and his MIG 21 was shot down by Pakistani PAF F-16 on 27 February 201 ...

, 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.

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.

Structure

Headquarters

* Air Headquarters (AHQ),

Islamabad Islamabad (; ur, , ) is the capital city of Pakistan. It is the country's ninth-most populous city, with a population of over 1.2 million people, and is federally administered by the Pakistani government as part of the Islamabad Capital ...

Commands

*Northern Air Command (NAC),

Peshawar Peshawar (; ps, پېښور ; hnd, ; ; ur, ) is the sixth most populous city in Pakistan, with a population of over 2.3 million. It is situated in the north-west of the country, close to the International border with Afghanistan. It is ...

* Central Air Command (CAC),

Sargodha Sargodha (Punjabi and ur, ) is a city and capital of Sargodha Division, located in Punjab province, Pakistan. It is Pakistan's 12th largest city by population and one of the fastest-growing cities of the country. Sargodha is also known as t ...

*Southern Air Command (SAC),

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

*Air Defence Command (ADC),

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 ...

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

Weapons Production Establishments

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

Bases

The PAF has 22 airbases of which 14 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 *1 PAF Base Mushaf (

Sargodha Sargodha (Punjabi and ur, ) is a city and capital of Sargodha Division, located in Punjab province, Pakistan. It is Pakistan's 12th largest city by population and one of the fastest-growing cities of the country. Sargodha is also known as t ...

) *2

PAF Base Bholari PAF Base Bholari near the town of Bholari, located in Jamshoro District in Sindh Province, northeast of Karachi. It is one of Pakistan's most modern main operational bases which was inaugurated in December 2017. Construction of the base started i ...

( Bholari)

Jamshoro District Jamshoro District ( sd, ضلعو ڄام شورو, ur, ), is a district of Sindh province, Pakistan. Jamshoro city is the capital while Kotri is the largest city of the Jamshoro District. The district borders Dadu district to the north. To the e ...

,

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 ...

*3

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

(

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

) *4

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 famous ...

) *5 PAF Base Peshawar (Peshawar) *6

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

(

Chakwal Chakwal (Punjabi and ur, ) is a city in Rawalpindi Division, Punjab province, Pakistan. It is the 66th largest city of Pakistan by population. Chakwal is located 90 kilometres south-west of the federal capital, Islamabad and 270 kilomet ...

) *7 PAF Base Samungli (

Quetta Quetta (; ur, ; ; ps, کوټه‎) is the tenth most populous city in Pakistan with a population of over 1.1 million. It is situated in south-west of the country close to the International border with Afghanistan. It is the capital of th ...

) *8 PAF Base M.M. Alam ( Mianwali) *9

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 Rashid Minhas, who was awarded the Nishan-e-Haider for valor in the Indo-Pakistani War of 1971 ...

( Kamra) *10

PAF Base Nur Khan Pakistan Air Force Base Nur Khan (founded as RAF Station Chaklala and previously known as PAF Base Chaklala) is an active Pakistan Air Force airbase located in Chaklala, Rawalpindi, Punjab province, Pakistan. The former Benazir Bhutto Internati ...

(Rawalpindi) *11

PAF Base Faisal Pakistan Air Force Base Faisal ( ur, ), founded as RAF Drigh Road, now called Shahrah-e-Faisal. This air force base is located at Karachi, Sindh, Pakistan. In 1975, it was named after the late King Faisal of Saudi Arabia. It is the site of PA ...

(Karachi) *12 PAF Base Risalpur (Pakistan Air Force Academy) ( Risalpur) *13 PAF Base Shahbaz (

Jacobabad Jacobabad ( ur, and sd, جيڪب آباد; formerly Khanger or Khangarh) is a city in Sindh, Pakistan, serving as both the capital city of Jacobabad District and the administrative center of Jacobabad Taluka, an administrative subdivisi ...

) *14 PAF Base Sukkur ( Dadu) Non-flying bases *

PAF Base Korangi Creek Pakistan Air Force Airmen Academy Korangi Creek is "Home of Airmen". It was PAF Base which imparts only technical training to Aero Apprentices and training of non-technical trades was going on another PAF Bases, so PAF needed to train all Airmen a ...

(Karachi) *

PAF Base Malir PAF (Pakistan Air Force) Base Malir is a non-flying Pakistan Air Force Base. The Malir base was originally built by British during the World War II as the last line of defense against the Wehrmacht. After the war, it was used as the processing ar ...

(Karachi) *PAF Base Lower Topa (

Murree Murree (Punjabi, Urdu: مری) is a mountain resort city, located in the Galyat region of the Pir Panjal Range, within the Muree District of Punjab, Pakistan. It forms the outskirts of the Islamabad-Rawalpindi metropolitan area, and is about ...

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

Kohat Kohat ( ps, کوهاټ; ur, ) is a city that serves as the capital of the Kohat District in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan. It is regarded as a centre of the Bangash tribe of Pashtuns, who have lived in the region since the late 15th century ...

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

Nathia Gali Nathia Gali or Nathiagali ( ur, ) is a hill station and mountain resort town located in the Abbottabad District of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan. It is located at the centre of the Galyat range, where several hill stations are situated. Nat ...

)

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 contex ...

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 ''st ...

* Warehouse and Factory Personnel *

Clerk A clerk is a white-collar worker who conducts general office tasks, or a worker who performs similar sales-related tasks in a retail environment. The responsibilities of clerical workers commonly include record keeping, filing, staffing service ...

Special forces

The Pakistan Air Force's Special Services Wing (SSW) is the branch's elite

special operations Special operations (S.O.) are military activities conducted, according to NATO, by "specially designated, organized, selected, trained, and equipped forces using unconventional techniques and modes of employment". Special operations may include ...

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 The United States Air Force (USAF) is the air service branch of the United States Armed Forces, and is one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. Originally created on 1 August 1907, as a part of the United States Army Si ...

's Special Tactics Squadrons with some elements inspired by the

United States Army Rangers United States Army Rangers, according to the US Army's definition, are personnel, past or present, in any unit that has the official designation "Ranger". The term is commonly used to include graduates of the US Army Ranger School, even if t ...

. The unit remained active but saw little prioritization by the

Pakistani military The Pakistan Armed Forces (; ) are the military forces of Pakistan. It is the world's sixth-largest military measured by active military personnel and consist of three formally uniformed services—the Army, Navy, and the Air Force, which are ...

until after the

Kargil War The Kargil War, also known as the Kargil conflict, was fought between India and Pakistan from May to July 1999 in the Kargil district of Jammu and Kashmir and elsewhere along the Line of Control (LoC). In India, the conflict is also referre ...

. 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

In its early history,

women A woman is an adult female human. Prior to adulthood, a female human is referred to as a girl (a female child or Adolescence, adolescent). The plural ''women'' is sometimes used in certain phrases such as "women's rights" to denote female hum ...

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 Nursing is a profession within the health care sector focused on the care of individuals, families, and communities so they may attain, maintain, or recover optimal health and quality of life. Nurses may be differentiated from other health c ...

or in other similar disciplines). Aside from these exceptions, the Pakistan Air Force (PAF) had remained strictly all-

male Male (symbol: ♂) is the sex of an organism that produces the gamete (sex cell) known as sperm, which fuses with the larger female gamete, or ovum, in the process of fertilization. A male organism cannot reproduce sexually without access to ...

throughout its history, and women (as well as male youths under the age of 18) were prohibited from being deployed for 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. 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 s ...

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 Perception () is the organization, identification, and interpretation of sensory information in order to represent and understand the pre ...

, 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 Engineering is the use of scientific principles to design and build machines, structures, and other items, including bridges, tunnels, roads, vehicles, and buildings. The discipline of engineering encompasses a broad range of more speciali ...

and

aerospace Aerospace is a term used to collectively refer to the atmosphere and outer space. Aerospace activity is very diverse, with a multitude of commercial, industrial and military applications. Aerospace engineering consists of aeronautics and ast ...

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 Quetta (; ur, ; ; ps, کوټه‎) is the tenth most populous city in Pakistan with a population of over 1.1 million. It is situated in south-west of the country close to the International border with Afghanistan. It is the capital of th ...

,

Balochistan Balochistan ( ; bal, بلۏچستان; also romanised as Baluchistan and Baluchestan) is a historical region in Western and South Asia, located in the Iranian plateau's far southeast and bordering the Indian Plate and the Arabian Sea coastline. ...

—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 Jet propulsion is the propulsion of an object in one direction, produced by ejecting a jet of fluid in the opposite direction. By Newton's third law, the moving body is propelled in the opposite direction to the jet. Reaction engines operating on ...

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 A general officer is an officer of high rank in the armies, and in some nations' air forces, space forces, and marines or naval infantry. In some usages the term "general officer" refers to a rank above colonel."general, adj. and n.". O ...

Ahsan Saleem Hayat General Ahsan Saleem Hayat ( ur, ; born 10 January 1948), is a senior officer of the Pakistan Army who served as the Vice Chief of Army Staff of the Pakistan Army from 2004 until his retirement in 2007. Prior to that, he served as the oper ...

, then the vice-chief of the

Pakistan Army The Pakistan Army (, ) is the 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 British India, which occurred as a result ...

, 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 A flight cadet is a military or civilian occupational title that is held by someone who is in training to perform aircrew duties in an airplane. The trainee does not need to become a pilot, as flight cadets may also learn to serve as a bombardie ...

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 s ...

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 Hindus (; ) are people who religiously adhere to Hinduism. Jeffery D. Long (2007), A Vision for Hinduism, IB Tauris, , pages 35–37 Historically, the term has also been used as a geographical, cultural, and later religious identifier for ...

until 2001. Following its involvement in the global U.S.-led

War on Terror The war on terror, officially the Global War on Terrorism (GWOT), is an ongoing international counterterrorism military campaign initiated by the United States following the September 11 attacks. The main targets of the campaign are militant ...

, 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 ...

, a Christian who served as the

Base Commander The base commander is the officer assigned to command a military base. In the United States armed forces, a base commander is generally at least an O-6 grade officer, which means colonel (Army, Air Force, Marines) or captain (Navy, Coast Guard ...

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 fought and were KIA in the

Indo-Pakistani War of 1971 The Indo-Pakistani War of 1971 was a military confrontation between India and Pakistan that occurred during the Bangladesh Liberation War in East Pakistan from 3 December 1971 until the Pakistani capitulation in Dhaka on 16 Decem ...

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

fighter jet since 2010 and was one of two PAF pilots flying the JF-17 at th
2011 Izmir Air Show
in

Turkey Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with a small portion on the Balkan Peninsula ...

. In 2020, the Pakistan Air Force recruited Rahul Dev, a Hindu from Tharparkar,

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 ...

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

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 ...

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

Aircraft inventory

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

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

Combat aircraft

*

General Dynamics 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 success ...

: 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. * PAC/CAC JF-17 Thunder: 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 defen ...

produced by

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

with Chinese assistance, the JF-17 was developed to replace Pakistan's aging fleets of A-5, F-7P/PG, Mirage III, and Mirage 5aircraft. Currently, 134 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 Avionics (a blend of ''aviation'' and ''electronics'') are the electronic systems used on aircraft. Avionic systems include communications, navigation, the display and management of multiple systems, and the hundreds of systems that are fit ...

systems and a new

AESA radar An active electronically scanned array (AESA) is a type of phased array antenna, which is a computer-controlled array antenna in which the beam of radio waves can be electronically steered to point in different directions without moving the an ...

, 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 American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, pe ...

F-16s. * Chengdu J-10C: The J-10C is a multirole combat aircraft. In March 2022, the initial batches of J-10s began to arrive in Pakistan. * 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 Project ROSE ("Retrofit of Strike Element") was a program initiated by the Pakistan Air Force (PAF) at their Pakistan Aeronautical Complex for the upgrade of the avionics of its aging Dassault Mirage III and Mirage 5 fighter jets, which had bee ...

, 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 Project ROSE ("Retrofit of Strike Element") was a program initiated by the Pakistan Air Force (PAF) at their Pakistan Aeronautical Complex for the upgrade of the avionics of its aging Dassault Mirage III and Mirage 5 fighter jets, which had bee ...

. *

Dassault Mirage 5 The Dassault Mirage 5 is a French supersonic attack aircraft designed by Dassault Aviation during the 1960s and manufactured in France and a number of other countries. It was derived from Dassault's popular Mirage III fighter and spawned severa ...

: 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 Project ROSE ("Retrofit of Strike Element") was a program initiated by the Pakistan Air Force (PAF) at their Pakistan Aeronautical Complex for the upgrade of the avionics of its aging Dassault Mirage III and Mirage 5 fighter jets, which had bee ...

, the Mirage 5DR reconnaissance variant and the Mirage 5DD and DPA2 training variants. * Chengdu F-7PG: The Chengdu F-7 serves primarily as an interceptor, and around 140 aircraft are in service. The PAF has phased out most of its F-7P aircraft from active service, with the remaining aircraft set to be replaced by the JF-17 Thunder in the coming years. The F-7PG variant remains the primary variant to remain in service with the PAF, while the two seat FT-7P and FT-7PG variants are in use as operational conversion trainers.

Special mission aircraft

*

Saab 2000 The Saab 2000 is a twin-engined high-speed turboprop airliner built by Swedish aircraft manufacturer Saab. It is designed to carry 50–58 passengers and cruise at a speed of . Production took place in Linköping in southern Sweden. The Sa ...

: 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 The Taliban (; ps, طالبان, ṭālibān, lit=students or 'seekers'), which also refers to itself by its state (polity), state name, the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, is a Deobandi Islamic fundamentalism, Islamic fundamentalist, m ...

attack on

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 Rashid Minhas, who was awarded the Nishan-e-Haider for valor in the Indo-Pakistani War of 1971 ...

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 as 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 also in service. These incorporate a Chinese AESA radar mounted on a Y-8F-600 airframe. *

Dassault Falcon 20 The Dassault Falcon 20 is a French business jet developed and manufactured by Dassault Aviation. The first business jet developed by the firm, it became the first of a family of business jets to be produced under the same name; of these, both t ...

: The PAF operates three modified Dassault Falcon 20 aircraft with a primary role in

electronic warfare Electronic warfare (EW) is any action involving the use of the electromagnetic spectrum (EM spectrum) or directed energy to control the spectrum, attack an enemy, or impede enemy assaults. The purpose of electronic warfare is to deny the opponent ...

.

Transport aircraft

*

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

: The

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

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

turboprop A turboprop is a turbine engine that drives an aircraft propeller. A turboprop consists of an intake, reduction gearbox, compressor, combustor, turbine, and a propelling nozzle. Air enters the intake and is compressed by the compressor. ...

s and extended fatigue lives. * CASA/IPTN CN-235: The PAF operates three CN-235-220

STOL A short takeoff and landing (STOL) aircraft is a conventional fixed-wing aircraft that has short runway requirements for takeoff and landing. Many STOL-designed aircraft also feature various arrangements for use on airstrips with harsh condi ...

transporters as medium transport, in addition to one aircraft equipped for VIP transport operations. *

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 fe ...

: Three Harbin Y-12 are operated as light

utility aircraft A utility aircraft is a general-purpose light airplane or helicopter, usually used for transporting people, freight or other supplies, but is also used for other duties when more specialized aircraft are not required or available. The term can a ...

by the PAF. * Gulfsteam IV: The PAF currently operates two Gulfstream IV-SP variants. *

Embraer Phenom 100 The Embraer EMB-500 Phenom 100 is a light business jet designed and produced by the Brazilian aircraft manufacturer Embraer. The project was announced in November 2005. On 26 July 2007, the aircraft made its first flight. It was awarded a typ ...

: 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.

Aerial refuelling aircraft

*

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 ...

: The PAF operates four Il-78MPs equipped with UPAZ refuelling pods, procured from

Ukraine Ukraine ( uk, Україна, Ukraïna, ) is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the second-largest European country after Russia, which it borders to the east and northeast. Ukraine covers approximately . Prior to the ongoing Russian inva ...

, 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 PAC MFI-17 Mushshak (Urdu: مشاق) (English: ''Proficient'') is a license-built fixed-gear basic trainer aircraft manufactered by PAC. An improved version of the Saab Safari (MFI-15), the MFI-17 is manufactured in Kamra, Pakistan by Pak ...

: 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 Cessna T-37 Tweet (designated Model 318 by Cessna) is a small, economical twin-engined jet trainer type which flew for decades as a primary trainer for the United States Air Force (USAF) and in the air forces of several other nations. The T ...

: 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 Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with a small portion on the Balkan Peninsula ...

and the United States. *

Hongdu JL-8 The Hongdu JL-8 (Nanchang JL-8), also known as the Karakorum-8 or K-8 for short, is a two-seat intermediate jet trainer and a light attack aircraft designed in the People's Republic of China by China Nanchang Aircraft Manufacturing Corporatio ...

: 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 Aerobatics is the practice of flying maneuvers involving aircraft attitudes that are not used in conventional passenger-carrying flights. The term is a portmanteau of "aerial" and "acrobatics". Aerobatics are performed in aeroplanes and glide ...

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 consis ...

''. * Shenyang J-6: A small number of FT-6s remain in service as jet trainers.

Helicopters

*

Aérospatiale Alouette III The Aérospatiale Alouette III (, ''Lark''; company designations SA 316 and SA 319) is a single-engine, light utility helicopter developed by French aircraft company Sud Aviation. During its production life, it proved to be a relatively popular r ...

: The Alouette III served as the PAF's primary

search and rescue Search and rescue (SAR) is the search for and provision of aid to people who are in distress or imminent danger. The general field of search and rescue includes many specialty sub-fields, typically determined by the type of terrain the search ...

platform since the 1960s, also serving as a

liaison aircraft A liaison aircraft (also called an army cooperation aircraft) is a small, usually unarmed aircraft primarily used by military forces for artillery observation or transporting commanders and messages. The concept developed before World War II and ...

. *

AgustaWestland AW139 The AgustaWestland AW139 is a medium-lift twin-engined helicopter developed and produced by the Anglo-Italian helicopter manufacturer AgustaWestland, later wholly owned by Leonardo S.p.A. It is marketed at several different roles, including V ...

: 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 service. ...

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

Air defence systems

*

MBDA MBDA is a European multinational developer and manufacturer of missiles.MBDA Inc. US Division Co ...

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 mode ...

– 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 Raytheon Technologies Corporation is an American multinational aerospace and defense conglomerate headquartered in Arlington, Virginia. It is one of the largest aerospace and defense manufacturers in the world by revenue and market capitali ...

, 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 19 ...

after pre-contract firing tests in Pakistan with assistance from the

Italian Air Force , colours = , colours_label = , march = (Ordinance March of the Air Force) by Alberto Di Miniello , mascot = , anniversaries = 28 March ...

. 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 in synergy with the PAF. Three drones were successfully intercepted and shot down by the missile system following extensive testing. 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. * HQ-2 – The PAF extensively uses a Chinese adaptation of the

Soviet The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, ...

S-75 Dvina The S-75 (Russian: С-75; NATO reporting name SA-2 Guideline) is a Soviet-designed, high-altitude air defence system, built around a surface-to-air missile with command guidance. Following its first deployment in 1957 it became one of the most w ...

high altitude air defence system, with reportedly 12 or more batteries procured in the 1970s. *

HQ-9 The HQ-9 () is a long-range semi-active radar homing (SARH) surface-to-air missile (SAM) developed by the People's Republic of China. The naval variant is the HHQ-9 (). Description The HQ-9 is a derivative of the Russian S-300. Justin Bronk d ...

– 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. * AML HE 60-20: A modified version of 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 ...

Panhard Panhard was a French motor vehicle manufacturer that began as one of the first makers of automobiles. It was a manufacturer of light tactical and military vehicles. Its final incarnation, now owned by Renault Trucks Defense, was formed ...

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 An unmanned combat aerial vehicle (UCAV), also known as a combat drone, colloquially shortened as drone or battlefield UAV, is an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) that is used for intelligence, surveillance, target acquisition, and reconnaissance ...

(drone), the

NESCOM Burraq 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 ...

. 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

Pakistan Army The Pakistan Army (, ) is the 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 British India, which occurred as a result ...

during

Operation Zarb-e-Azb Operation Zarb-e-Azb (Pashto/ ur, ALA-LC: ) was a joint military offensive conducted by the Pakistan Armed Forces against various militant groups, including the Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan, the ...

. Pakistan has already talked with

Turkey Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with a small portion on the Balkan Peninsula ...

to manufacture parts for Anka UAV and possibly to produce the combat drones locally. Also the

CAIG Wing Loong II The Chengdu GJ-2, also known as Wing Loong 2, is an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) capable of remotely controlled or autonomous flight developed by the Chengdu Aircraft Industry Group in the People's Republic of China. Intended for use as a sur ...

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 List of countries and dependencies by population, most populous country, with a Population of China, population exceeding 1.4 billion, slig ...

.

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 Counterterrorism (also spelled counter-terrorism), also known as anti-terrorism, incorporates the practices, military tactics, techniques, and strategies that governments, law enforcement, business, and intelligence agencies use to combat or ...

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 business ...

'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 Islamabad (; ur, , ) is the capital city of Pakistan. It is the country's ninth-most populous city, with a population of over 1.2 million people, and is federally administered by the Pakistani government as part of the Islamabad Capital ...

. 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 commerci ...

, 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 Turkish Aerospace Inc. ( tr, Türk Havacılık ve Uzay Sanayi A.Ş., TUSAŞ) is the center of technology in design, development, manufacturing, integration of aerospace systems, modernization and after sales support in Turkey. Located in Ankara ...

, 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 Jacobabad ( ur, and sd, جيڪب آباد; formerly Khanger or Khangarh) is a city in Sindh, Pakistan, serving as both the capital city of Jacobabad District and the administrative center of Jacobabad Taluka, an administrative subdivisi ...

, on 26 June 2010. One more F-16C was received by 5 July 2010. On 13 December 2008, the

Government of Pakistan The Government of Pakistan ( ur, , translit=hakúmat-e pákistán) abbreviated as GoP, is a federal government established by the Constitution of Pakistan as a constituted governing authority of the four provinces, two autonomous territorie ...

stated that two

Indian Air Force The Indian Air Force (IAF) is the air force, 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 ...

aircraft were intercepted by the Pakistan Air Force a few kilometres inside Pakistani airspace. This charge is denied by the Indian government. During talks with a delegation from the

French Senate The Senate (french: Sénat, ) is the upper house of the French Parliament, with the lower house being the National Assembly, the two houses constituting the legislature of France. The French Senate is made up of 348 senators (''sénateurs'' a ...

on 28 September 2009,

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 ...

Yousuf Raza Gilani Yusuf Raza Gilani (Urdu: ; born 9 June 1952), is a Pakistani politician who served as 18th Prime Minister of Pakistan from 25 March 2008, until his retroactive disqualification and ouster by the Supreme Court of Pakistan on 26 April 2012. He ...

stated that the PAF had used most of its stockpile of laser-guided munitions against

militants The English word ''militant'' is both an adjective and a noun, and it is generally used to mean vigorously active, combative and/or aggressive, especially in support of a cause, as in "militant reformers". It comes from the 15th century Latin " ...

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

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 countries, Nordic c ...

and an Il-78MP aerial refuelling tanker/

military transport aircraft A military transport aircraft, military cargo aircraft or airlifter is a military-owned transport aircraft used to support military operations by airlifting troops and military equipment. Transport aircraft are crucial to maintaining supply ...

from

Ukraine Ukraine ( uk, Україна, Ukraïna, ) is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the second-largest European country after Russia, which it borders to the east and northeast. Ukraine covers approximately . Prior to the ongoing Russian inva ...

. 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 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 Forward-looking infrared (FLIR) cameras, typically used on military and civilian aircraft, use a thermographic camera that senses infrared radiation. The sensors installed in forward-looking infrared cameras, as well as those of other thermal ...

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 The Dassault Rafale (, literally meaning "gust of wind", and "burst of fire" in a more military sense) is a French twin-engine, canard delta wing, multirole fighter aircraft designed and built by Dassault Aviation. Equipped with a wide range ...

which India bought from

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

. On March 11, 2022, PAF inducted modern J-10C fighter aircraft in its fleet, the formal ceremony was conducted at the Minhas Airbase Kamra.

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 Ni ...

aircraft (J-31 for short). The

TAI TF-X The TAI TF-X (Turkish Fighter) is a stealth twin-engine all-weather air superiority fighter in development by Turkish Aerospace Industries (TAI) and BAE Systems as its sub-contractor. The aircraft is planned to replace F-16 Fighting Falcons o ...

, another fifth-generation aircraft under development by Turkey (intended to operate with critical assets such as the American

F-35 Lightning II The Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning II is an American family of single-seat, single-engine, all-weather stealth multirole combat aircraft that is intended to perform both air superiority and strike missions. It is also able to provide elect ...

) 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 The Pakistan Aeronautical Complex ( ur, ), or PAC) is a major defense contractor and an aerospace manufacturer that is headquartered in Kamra, Punjab, Pakistan. The Pakistan Aeronautical Complex is one of the largest defense contractor in ...

. 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 Urdu (;"Urdu"
'' 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 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 successf ...

A/B fighters to the 2004 international

Anatolian Eagle Anatolian Eagle is an air force exercise hosted by the Turkish Air Force and held at 3rd Main Jet Base at Konya, Turkey. There are both national and international exercises held, the international exercises usually involving air arms of the Unit ...

exercise in

Turkey Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with a small portion on the Balkan Peninsula ...

. 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 co ...

which lasted for one month and also involved the

Pakistan Army The Pakistan Army (, ) is the 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 British India, which occurred as a result ...

and

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

. 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. Airp ...

but differed in terms of the duration, intensity and complexity of all air operations being conducted. In 2008, the

Turkish Air Force The Turkish Air Force ( tr, ) is the aerial warfare service branch of the Turkish Armed Forces. The Turkish Air Force can trace its origins back to June 1911 when it was founded by the Ottoman Empire, however, the air force as it is known to ...

sent five F-16C/D fighters and 50 personnel from 191 ''Cobras'' Squadron to

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

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, ...

, including pilots,

navigator A navigator is the person on board a ship or aircraft responsible for its navigation.Grierson, MikeAviation History—Demise of the Flight Navigator FrancoFlyers.org website, October 14, 2008. Retrieved August 31, 2014. The navigator's prima ...

s,

engineer Engineers, as practitioners of engineering, are professionals who Invention, invent, design, analyze, build and test machines, complex systems, structures, gadgets and materials to fulfill functional objectives and requirements while considerin ...

s, maintenance technicians and a

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

E was sent to the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country Continental United States, primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., ...

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 elemen ...

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

militants The English word ''militant'' is both an adjective and a noun, and it is generally used to mean vigorously active, combative and/or aggressive, especially in support of a cause, as in "militant reformers". It comes from the 15th century Latin " ...

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

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 The United Arab Emirates (UAE; ar, اَلْإِمَارَات الْعَرَبِيَة الْمُتَحِدَة ), or simply the Emirates ( ar, الِْإمَارَات ), is a country in Western Asia (Middle East, The Middle East). It is ...

to take part in the Air Tactics Leadership Course (ATLC)—also known as Exercise Iron Falcon—at

Al Dhafra Air Base Al Dhafra Air Base ( ar, قاعدة الظفرة الجوية) is a military installation in the United Arab Emirates. The base is located approximately south of Abu Dhabi and is operated by the United Arab Emirates Air Force. Facilities The a ...

. 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 , nickname = , motto = , image_skyline = , map_caption = , pushpin_map = Gilgit Baltistan#Pakistan , pushpin_label_position ...

to the

Arabian Sea The Arabian Sea ( ar, اَلْبَحرْ ٱلْعَرَبِيُّ, Al-Bahr al-ˁArabī) is a region of the northern Indian Ocean bounded on the north by Pakistan, Iran and the Gulf of Oman, on the west by the Gulf of Aden, Guardafui Channe ...

, 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 sh ...

. 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 The Pakistan Armed Forces (; ) are the military forces of Pakistan. It is the world's sixth-largest military measured by active military personnel and consist of three formally uniformed services—the Army, Navy, and the Air Force, which are ...

. Operations emphasized a near-realistic simulation of a wartime environment, exposure of PAF aircrews to contemporary concepts of

air combat ''Air Combat'' is a 1995 combat flight simulator developed and published for the PlayStation by Namco. Players control an aircraft and are tasked with completing a series of missions, with objectives ranging from destroying formations of enemie ...

, new employment concepts and joint operations between the Pakistan Air Force, Army and Navy. New inductions such as the

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

, 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, refuelling 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 Nellis Air Force Base ("Nellis" colloq.) is a United States Air Force installation in southern Nevada. Nellis hosts air combat exercises such as Exercise Red Flag and close air support exercises such as Green Flag-West flown in " Military ...

in the U.S. to participate in the international Red Flag exercise for the first time. During the exercise, the PAF pilots practiced

in-flight refuelling 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 tanker) to another (the receiver) while both aircraft a ...

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 trans ...

. In October 2010, the PAF's No. 7 ''Bandits'' Squadron sent a team of its Dassault Mirage III

ROSE A rose is either a woody perennial flowering plant of the genus ''Rosa'' (), in the family Rosaceae (), or the flower it bears. There are over three hundred species and tens of thousands of cultivars. They form a group of plants that can be ...

fighters to

Jordan Jordan ( ar, الأردن; tr. ' ), officially the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan,; tr. ' is a country in Western Asia. It is situated at the crossroads of Asia, Africa, and Europe, within the Levant region, on the East Bank of the Jordan Rive ...

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 Saudi Arabia, officially the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), is a country in Western Asia. It covers the bulk of the Arabian Peninsula, and has a land area of about , making it the fifth-largest country in Asia, the second-largest in the Ara ...

with the

Royal Saudi Air Force The Royal Saudi Air Force ( ar, ‎الْقُوَّاتُ الْجَوِّيَّةُ الْمَلَكِيَّةْ ٱلسُّعُوْدِيَّة, Al-Quwwat Al-Jawiyah Al-Malakiyah as-Su’udiyah) (RSAF) is the aviation branch of the Saudi Arabia ...

. 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 Internet (or internet) is the global system of interconnected computer networks that uses the Internet protocol suite (TCP/IP) to communicate between networks and devices. It is a '' network of networks'' that consists of private, p ...

. The exercise lasted for around four weeks and was the first time the PLAAF had deployed to Pakistan and conducted "operational" aerial manoeuvres 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 A general officer is an officer of high rank in the armies, and in some nations' air forces, space forces, and marines or naval infantry. In some usages the term "general officer" refers to a rank above colonel."general, adj. and n.". O ...

Jehangir Karamat described the Pakistani military's relations with

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

'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 Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania between the Indian and Pacific oceans. It consists of over 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, Java, Sulawesi, and parts of Borneo and New Gui ...

,

Bangladesh Bangladesh (}, ), officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh, is a country in South Asia. It is the eighth-most populous country in the world, with a population exceeding 165 million people in an area of . Bangladesh is among the mo ...

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 ...

. 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 Pakistani literature ( ur, ) is a distinct literature that gradually came to be defined after Pakistan gained nationhood status in 1947, emerging out of literary traditions of the South Asia. The shared tradition of Urdu literature and English l ...

, the

shaheen falcon The shaheen falcon (''Falco peregrinus peregrinator'') is a non-migratory subspecies of the peregrine falcon found mainly in the Indian subcontinent. It has also been described as a migratory subspecies. Describes subspecies ''peregrinator'' "f ...

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 philos ...

. 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 Urdu (;"Urdu"
'' 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 Dubai (, ; ar, wikt:دبي, دبي, translit=Dubayy, , ) is the List of ...

, respectively.

Notable personnel

The Nishan-e-Haider (), is the highest military award of

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

, and is roughly equivalent in value to the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country Continental United States, primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., ...

'

Medal of Honor The Medal of Honor (MOH) is the United States Armed Forces' highest military decoration and is awarded to recognize American soldiers, sailors, marines, airmen, guardians and coast guardsmen who have distinguished themselves by acts of val ...

.

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 India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area, the List of countries and dependencies by population, second-most populous ...

. 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

Indian Air Force The Indian Air Force (IAF) is the air force, 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 ...

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 gallantry or distinguishe ...

) * Air Commodore Najeeb Ahmed Khan –

B-57 Canberra The Martin B-57 Canberra is an American-built, twin-engined tactical bomber and reconnaissance aircraft that entered service with the United States Air Force (USAF) in 1953. The B-57 is a license-built version of the British English Electric ...

bomber pilot who raided the Adampur Airbase several times during the 1965 war. *

Squadron Leader Squadron leader (Sqn Ldr in the RAF ; SQNLDR in the RAAF and RNZAF; formerly sometimes S/L in all services) is a commissioned rank in the Royal Air Force and the air forces of many countries which have historical British influence. It is als ...

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.CITATION OF PAF SHAHEEDS – 1
. Defencejournal.com. Retrieved 8 September 2010. ( Hilal-e-Jurat, Sitara-e-Jurat) * Nur Khan

Notes

References

External links

*
Aircraft of the Pakistan Air Force and general equipment
{{Air forces Military of Pakistan 1947 establishments in Pakistan Military units and formations established in 1947 Government of Pakistan Pakistan federal departments and agencies

History

1959 Indian aerial intrusion

Indo-Pakistani War of 1965

Indo-Pakistani War of 1971

1979–1989 Soviet–Afghan War

U.S. arms embargo (1990–2001)

War in Afghanistan (2001–2021)

2008 post-Mumbai attacks air alert

2011 U.S. raid in Abbottabad

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

2019 India–Pakistan standoff

2022 Pakistani airstrikes in Afghanistan

Structure

Headquarters

Commands

Training Establishments

Weapons Production Establishments

Bases

Squadrons

Rank structure

Special forces

Women in the Pakistan Air Force

Religious minorities in the Pakistan Air Force

Aircraft inventory

Combat aircraft

Special mission aircraft

Transport aircraft

Aerial refuelling aircraft

Trainer aircraft

Helicopters

Air defence systems

Drone technology

Modernisation and acquisitions

Planned acquisitions

Project Azm

Military exercises

Involvement in Pakistani society

In popular culture

Notable personnel

See also

Notes

References

External links