Airforce
- 2. Submitted to: Sir Asim Noon
- 4. Headquarters (Pakistan Air Force) Air Headquarters (AHQ) is the Headquarters of Pakistan Air Force, located at Islamabad. Initially it was established at Peshawar on 15 August 1947.Later it was moved to Karachi on 1 June 1948 and back to Peshawar in 1960. In 1983 construction of Air headquarters was started at Islamabad after it was decided to have all the armed forces headquarters in the capital city. On 1 August 2005 the headquarters was moved from Chaklala, Rawalpindi to Islamabad. During the construction of the headquarters building at Islamabad the headquarters offices were housed at PAF base Chaklala.
- 5. Every Man A Tiger: Pakistan has one of the best, most combat eady airforces in the world. They have to; their neighbour to the east is huge, and the two nations, have a long history of hostilities. For Indian war planners, the Pakistan air Force is their worst fear. Pakistani pilots are respected throughout the world, especially the Islamic world, beause they know how to fly and fight.
- 6. Wars: 1965 India-Pakistan War: 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 over the battle area from the second day of operations.While, Air Chief Marshal Arjan Singh of the Indian Air Force claimed, despite been qualitative inferior, IAFachieved air superiority in three days in the 1965 War. According to the independent sources, the PAF lost some 20 aircraft while the Indians lost 60–75.Despite the intense fighting, the conflict was effectively a stalemate.
- 7. 1971 India-Pakistan War: By late 1971, the intensification of the Independence movement in erstwhile East Pakistan lead to the Bangladesh Liberation War between India and Pakistan .On 22 November 1971, 10 days before the start of a full-scale war, four PAF F-86 Sabre jets attacked Indian and Mukti Bahini positions at Garibpur, near the international border. Two of the four PAF Sabres were shot down and one damaged by the IAF's Folland Gnats.On 3 December, India formally declared war against Pakistan following massive preemptive strikes by the PAF against Indian Air Force installations in Srinagar, Ambala, Sirsa, Halwara and Jodhpur. However, the IAF did not suffer significantly because the leadership had Anticipated such a move and precautions were taken.The Indian Air Force was quick to respond to Pakistani air strikes, following which the PAF carried out mostly defensive sorties.
- 8. Hostilities officially ended at 14:30 GMT on 17 December, after the fall of Dacca on 15 December. The PAF flew about 2,840 sorties and destroyed 45 IAF aircraft while Pakistan lost 75 aircraft. 1967 Arab-Israeli 'Six-Day' War: During this conflict the PAF sent personnel to Egypt, Jordan and Syria to support the Arabs in their battle against the Israelis. Some Pakistani sources have claimed that PAF pilots managed to shoot down ten Israeli aircraft.
- 9. 2011 Abbottabad Operation: An initial investigation report revealed that the Pakistan Air Force (PAF) reported the movement of some half-a-dozen planes near the Jalalabad border at 11 pm before the US helicopters entered Abbottabad to kill Osama bin Laden."One aircraft was identified as a US AWACS and the remaining five were recognised as F-18 jets of the US. These planes flew near the Pakistani border, but did not cross into the airspace of Pakistan," On detection of 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 Abbottabad area until early morning and later returned to their air bases.
- 10. Bases: The PAF has a total of 18 air bases, comprising 11 flying bases and 7 non-flying bases. Flying bases are operational bases from which aircraft operate During peacetime and wartime; whereas non-flying bases conduct either training, administration, maintenance, or mission support.
- 11. Flying bases: PAF Base Mushaf (Sargodha) PAF Base Masroor (Karachi) PAF Base Rafiqui (Shorkot) PAF Base Peshawar PAF Base Samungli (Quetta) PAF Base Mianwali PAF Base Minhas (Kamra) PAF Base Chaklala (Rawalpindi) PAF Base Faisal (Karachi) PAF Base Risalpur (Pakistan Air Force Academy) (Risalpur) PAF Base Shahbaz (Jacobabad) Non-flying bases: PAF Base Korangi Creek (Karachi) PAF Base Malir (Karachi) PAF Base Kohat (Kohat) PAF Base Lahore (Lahore) PAF Base Sakesar (Sakesar) PAF Base Lower Topa (Murree) PAF Base Kalabagh (Nathia Gali)
- 13. List of Air Chiefs: 1. Air Vice Marshal Allan Perry-Keene (15 August 1947 – 17 February 1949) 2. Air Vice Marshal Richard Atcherley (18 February 1949 – 6 May 1951) 3. Air Vice Marshal Leslie William Cannon (7 May 1951 – 19 June 1955) 4. Air Vice Marshal Arthur McDonald (20 June 1955 – 22 July 1957) 5. Air Marshal Asghar Khan (23 July 1957 – 22 July 1965) 6. Air Marshal Nur Khan (23 July 1965 – 31 August 1969) 7. Air Marshal Abdul Rahim Khan (1 September 1969 – 2 March 1972) 8. Air Marshal Zafar Chaudhry (3 March 1972 – 15 April 1974) 9. Air Chief Marshal Zulfiqar Ali Khan (16 April 1974 – 22 July 1978) 10. Air Chief Marshal Anwar Shamim (23 July 1978 – 5 March 1985) 11. Air Chief Marshal Jamal A. Khan (6 March 1985 – 8 March 1988) 12. Air Chief Marshal Hakimullah (9 March 1988 – 9 March 1991) 13. Air Chief Marshal Farooq Feroze Khan (9 March 1991 – 8 November 1994)
- 14. List of Air Chiefs: Air Chief Marshal Abbas Khattak (8 November 1994 – 7 November 1997) Air Chief Marshal Parvaiz Mehdi Quresh (7 November 1997 – 20 November 2000) Air Chief Marshal Mushaf Ali Mir (20 November 2000 – 20 February 2003) Air Chief Marshal Kaleem Saadat (18 March 2003 – 18 March 2006) Air Chief Marshal Tanvir Mahmood Ahmed (18 March 2006 – 18 March 2009) Air Chief Marshal Rao Qamar Suleman (19 March 2009 – 19 March 2012) Air Chief Marshal Tahir Rafique Butt (19 March 2012 – 19 March 2015) Air Chief Marshal Sohail Aman (19 March 2015 – present)
- 15. Awards for valour: The Nishan-e-Haider , is the highest military award given by Pakistan. Pilot Officer Rashid Minhas (1951–20 August 1971) is theonly officer of the PAF to be awarded the Nishan-e-Haider for sacrificing his life to save an aircraft from being hijacked to India.Other awards include: Squadron Leader Muhammad Mahmood Alam — awarded for downing nine fighters, five in a minute, of the Indian Air Force in air-to-air combat. Squadron Leader Sarfaraz Ahmed Rafiqui Shaheed — 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.
- 16. Aircraft: There are different types of aircraft under the Pakistan Air Force. Some of the followings are given as follow: 1. Combat aircraft 2. Aerial refueling aircraft 3. Transport aircraft 4. Air defence systems 5. Drone technology
- 17. Combat Aircraft: The PAF currently operates approximately 450 combat aircraft of 4 different types, which are planned to be Reduced to 2 multirole types, namely the F-16 and JF-17, by 2025. There are around 20 front-line squadrons. The most capable fighter in PAF service from 1983 to 2007 has been the F-16 Fighting Falcon. 40 of the F-16A/B Block 15 models were delivered from 1983 to 1987. In 2006, 12 F-16C and 6 F-16D Block 52+ were ordered with a further 18 aircraft optional. 14 of the optional fighters were ordered in 2010.The first batch of 3 F-16C/D fighters landed at PAF Base Shahbaz, Jacacobad, on 26 June 2010.Pakistan also received 14 used F-16s from the US free of cost.
- 18. Aerial refueling Aircraft: In December 2009 the PAF received its first of four Il-78 aircraft which is capable of aerial refuellingas well as transporting cargo. Aerial refuelling capability was first demonstrated during the High Mark 2010 exercise on 6 April 2010 when two of the PAF's Mirage III fighters were simultaneously refuelled in the air by the Il-78.
- 19. Transport Aircraft: The C-130 Hercules has been the PAF's primary tactical transport aircraft since its induction in the early 1960s. Currently 5 C-130B and 11 C-130E models are in service, upgraded with Allison T56-A-15 turboprops and extended fatigue lives by Lockheed- Georgia Company.The C-130 is supplemented by 4 CASA CN- 235 STOL transports, although the 4th aircraft is equipped with an interior for transporting VIPs such as the PAF Chief of Air Staff. Heavy-lift transports comprise 3 Boeing 707s transferred from Pakistan International Airlines starting 1986.
- 20. Drone technology: On 7 September 2015, Pakistan became the ninth nation to develop and use an armed unmanned Combat aerial vehicle (drone) named Burraq. Pakistan, first started exploring the drone technology when it acquired Falco drones from Selex Galileo of Italy for $40 million in 2008. Since then Pakistan have been developing Falco in Pakistan Aeronautical Complex in collaboration with the Italian firm. Then, Burraq was developed Which was based on the same Falco 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 were used majorly during the Operation Zarb-e-Azb.