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In 1933, British colonial government of India
established subcontinent’s first Air Force station near Drigh Road, now called PAF Base Faisal. In 1934, this
element of
the Royal Indian Air Force (RIAF) was extended to the north
for operations
in NWFP. The RIAF had also contributed to the defeat of
Japanese invasion
during World War II.
 In 1947,
the British left sub-continent after dividing
it into two sovereign states of India and Pakistan. Pakistan
Air Force
(PAF) was born immediately afterwards. Distribution of
military assets
between the new states was to follow. However, India with an
inherent
resentment towards the creation of Pakistan tried to subvert
our capabilities
by crippling Pakistan militarily. It denied the then Royal
Pakistan Air
Force (RPAF) even the officially agreed small portions of
weapons, equipment
and aircraft allocated by departing British as its legitimate
share. Much
of what was eventually received from India was inoperable.
Crates of equipment
contained nothing but scrap and waste. The RPAF got 16 fighter
aircraft
as its foundation. It started off with one squadron of eight
Tempest aircraft
and a small remnant of No 1 Squadron Royal Indian Air Force
(RIAF) which
was subsequently utilized to raise No 5 Squadron.
Within three weeks of
independence, Indian
hegemonic designs sparked off the first war between
Pakistan and India.
Pakistan’s young air arm was called upon to fly supply
missions
with one of the two war weary Dakotas. Contending with the
unpredictable
weather, the difficult terrain, and the enemy fighters was
an uphill task.
The strength was replenished with two more Dakotas only as
the skirmishes
resumed the following winters. In the narrow valleys of
Kashmir, the stirring
tale of Flying Officer Mukhtar Dogar defiantly scissoring
his lumbering
Dakota with pursuing RIAF Tempests taking pot-shots at him
defined the
fighting doctrine of the PAF, defend Pakistan and learn to
fight outnumbered.
Within the span of a year this young air force had
completed 437 mercy
drops, delivering more than 500 tons of supplies and food.
 
Whilst
these brave pioneers were documenting
the historic beginning of PAF, the force was faced with the
enigma of
finding aircraft to fly. However, despite the lack of funds
and market
places, PAF entered the jet age in August, 1951 with the
induction of
British built Attackers. Until mid-1950s PAF’ s fighter force
comprised
nearly 100 Hawker Furies and a dwindling number of Tempests.
Then, the
first air defence radar was installed and the PAF was rapidly
setting
up its own advanced flying and technical training
institutions. F-86 Sabers
and T-33 jet trainers were inducted in PAF as a result of the
United States
(US) aid.
From 1955 to1965, the
Air Force armed its
squadrons with the most modern jet fighters and bombers,
Sabers and F-104
Starfighters as fighters, B-57s as bombers and the
ubiquitous C-130s as
transport fleet. The seven years of rigorous training with
realistic threat
perception, planning and preparation had enabled PAF to
inflict a humiliating
defeat on the enemy in 1965 when the mutual hostility of
the rival neighbours
escalated into a war. PAF struck hard its rival and kept
it reeling under
tactics of shock and unpredictability. Many victories came
to PAF pilots
who exacted an even retribution on the enemy, leaving it
in total disarray.
At the end of the war, India had lost 110 aircraft with 19
damaged, not
including those destroyed on the ground at night, against a
loss of 16
PAF planes. Thus the outnumbered PAF emerged triumphant
over a four times
larger force, its air defence controllers, engineers,
logisticians and
hands just as much the heroes as its pilots.
The
third war between the South Asian foes
began when, in December 1971, the Indian Army crossed into
East Pakistan
and from the encircling air Bases ten squadrons of the IAF
challenged
the PAF’ s only squadron, No 14, located at Dhaka. The Tail
Choppers
of 1965 rose heroically to meet the aggressors, and before
their squadron
was grounded by a bombed out runway, they and their ack ack
gunners had
destroyed 23 IAF aircraft. The PAF’ s Mirages, B-57s, Sabers,
F-6s
and a few F-104s spearheaded Pakistan’s retaliation from the
west.
At war’s end IAF had lost 130 aircraft in all. The
three-to-one
kill ratio that Pakistan scored, however, could not prevent
the tragic
fall of Dhaka. The trauma of separation of East Pakistan and
a preventable
military catastrophe affected all Pakistanis deeply and
lingered long
afterwards. However a stoic recovery was brisk. PAF soon
reorganized and
reequipped assimilating the new threat environment on the
sub-continent.
During the
Afghan war in the eighties, PAF
had to keep a constant vigil on its western border. Despite
the fact that
PAF was not allowed hot pursuit into Afghanistan, the pilots
and the ground
controllers together managed to shoot down eight Soviet/Afghan
aircraft
without a single own loss.
The post-Afghan war
period witnessed a resource
constraint with the drying up of traditional sources. The
immediate need
for induction of a hi-tech aircraft was one part of the
crises; the sheer
sustenance of the fleet was another. Due to economic
constraints, PAF
went for cost effective purchases like A-5 aircraft and
such upgrades
as the ROSE, which gave the old Mirages very good
nav-attack, weapon delivery,
and other capabilities. With this, self-reliance picked up
pace and PAF
worked on Griffo radar, Mistral and Anza missiles
simultaneously. To keep
the ageing weapon systems & aircraft from becoming
obsolete, chaff
and flares dispensers, radar warning receivers, and laser
automation for
better weapon delivery were added to the old aircrafts.
The succeeding years
witnessed many significant
developments including the milestones achieved by the
Pakistan Aeronautical
Complex (PAC), Kamra such as F-7P overhaul, aircraft engines
maintenance,
the co–production of K-8 and Super Mushshak aircraft, the
quality
standards achieved by Kamra Avionics and Radar Factory.
The Project JF-17
Thunder was conceived to replace the PAF’ s ageing,
medium-tech fleet
of Mirages, F-7, and A-5 aircraft that would progressively
retire from
service. It is planned to be a multi-role, light-weight
day/night all
weather fighter. It would be able to attack ground targets
and ships,
and engage enemy aircraft at considerable ranges. The
aircraft will be
inducted in PAF by 2006 and will be co-produced at PAC
Kamra. This technological
edge will secure both better national security environment
and economic
benefits for the country.
 
Today, new maintenance concepts and facilities
are based on a more direct communication, optimum use of
software database
and reliable electronic networks. Accompanying the
technological developments,
education and training are duly accentuated with special
emphasis on R
& D.
In the wake of war on
terrorism and with
the reality of living with an implacable opponent,
Pakistan Air Force
keeps on an all-time vigil. During Ops- Sentinel
2001-2002, when India
had amassed its forces on Pak borders, PAF remained ready
for dealing
a telling blow to the enemy.
Derived from the national
military
objectives, the PAF leadership has clearly visualized and
laid down the
operational doctrine for the nation’s air arm. PAF takes its
pick
of the finest young people in the land. It has now acquired
new depths
of human skills and initiative. Together, all branches of
PAF are delivering
unprecedented serviceability rates and efficient management
of all resources.
Poised on the threshold of tomorrow, PAF remains, as the
Quaid said, “Second
to None”; fully abreast with the requisite will and
mechanism to
live by its standards in the coming millennium and beyond. |
