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Featured 60 Aircraft To Participate in 'Shaheen X' Exercise Being Held in China

Excellent! I guess this exercise may include SEAD, deep strikes and such missions. So other than jets or UAV, perhaps PLAAF might bring some SAM/AD like HQ-9B, HQ-16, S400 into the game serving as "blue team". How two forces increase interoperability is indeed interesting to see.
This happened during Shaheen VIII. We’d see a bigger, better and more complicated version this time.
 
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I stand corrected... On the F-7 it seems like as per sources F-7 is officially retired in 2020 none of them are in service.. I admit the F7 messed up my initial calculated numbers because they are technically retired 2 years ago but I was not wrong either in my calculation and tracking down the sources the only missing link was the F7 being retired which didn't come up on my sources..

As per source
PAF got 186 F-7s in total. Not 186 F7Ps and 60 F7PGs.
Thats 126 F7Ps, a bunch of which crashed, the rest were retired. 12 PGs have crashed, 48 remain in service, those 48 are the only F7 fighters in service in the PAF. Number 2 squadron (2015), number 14 squadron (2017), number 18 squadron (2020), CSS F7Ps etc were all retired and replaced with JF-17s.

Keep in mind a small number of those 126 F7Ps were dual seat F7TP trainers that remain in service.
 
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some sides are claiming 450 in service but the most accurate is the wikipedia after doing some heavy research..

Also your reasoning is not realistic example PAF has 60 of it's 186 F-7 are you telling me that 127 just vanished without a trace? There is 53 Mirage 5 in service out of 139 so you are saying nearly 100 just vanished or cannibalized?` The same with Mirage 3 69 in service out of 135 are you telling me 65 Mirage 3 just vanished to nowhere? All of them were introduced post war and Pak has not been in war for over half a century. It doesn't add up your theory. These are reservers as mentioned..

Also always make sure to follow the source because nobody would update anything randomly on wiki without providing atleast 2 sources with it.. Follow the source instead of resorting to guessing.. These aircrafts are in inventory just not in service but 447 are in service to be exact but the remaining 200+ are safe in inventory and stored..

Also the PAF is in love with solely F-16 and F-17 meaning F-7, Mirage 5 and Mirage 3 was reduced they stored away more than 70% of them instead use Both JF-17 and F-16 with full capacity meaning all of them are in service. So you have 210 JF17+F-16 in service plus 30% of F-7+Mirage 5 and Mirage 3 the remaining 70% is stored
Not stored - acting a gate guardians, rusting on PAF bases ( check Google Earth) or turned into pots and pans.
 
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This happened during Shaheen VIII. We’d see a bigger, better and more complicated version this time.
The have done that in Shaheen VIII? Excellent! For PLAAF-PAF joint force their next war is going to be very short and high intensity, initial phase should last no more than few hours during which all enemy AD and long range arsenal must be neutralized, in order to proceed with bombing, paratroops delivery and other missions in subsequent phase. PLAAF-PAF must continue to increase frequency/scale of such drills.

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I’ve given this some thoughts. Since there are strong rumors of Pakistan acquiring J-10Cs, one thing they can try differently this year is to simulate a potential IAF strike package with future PAF counter.

PAF side: J-10C, JF-17 Block II, F-7P/Mirage III with AWAC support from ZDK-03.

“IAF” side: J-16 or J-11BS (simulating MKI), J-10C (simulating Rafale), and J-10A (Mirage 2000) or JH-7A (Jaguar), with KJ-500 support.

Another thing they can try is incorporate dedicated EW aircraft, not just fighters with jamming pods, to the exercise.
 
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60 is alot of aircraft for an exercise - but when there are only 2 air arms involved - that is a hell of a lot of aircraft. Unusal. Interoperatability between PAF and PLAAF is the key here. Would be coold if some J20s and J16Ds came to the party aswell - would be a welcome wake up call for PAF interms of the advantages of both stealth aircraft - and fighter jet based EW aircraft.

Happy hunting PAF / PLAAF !!!!
It sounds like the PAF is trying to get more of its units and personnel familiar with Chinese support systems (e.g., AEW&C, EA/ECM).
 
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I’ve given this some thoughts. Since there are strong rumors of Pakistan acquiring J-10Cs, one thing they can try differently this year is to simulate a potential IAF strike package with future PAF counter.

PAF side: J-10C, JF-17 Block II, F-7P/Mirage III with AWAC support ZDK-03.

“IAF” side: J-16 or J-11BS (simulating MKI), J-10C (simulating Rafale), and J-10A (Mirage 2000) or JH-7A (Jaguar), with KJ-500 support.

Another thing they can try is incorporate dedicated EW aircraft, not just fighters with jamming pods, to the exercise.
Yes it's like PAF training in a defensive scenario with PLAAF acting as "blue team".

What interests me though will be PLAAF-PAF joint operation in an offensive mode, or full-scale war from two-fronts.
 
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PAF got 186 F-7s in total. Not 186 F7Ps and 60 F7PGs.
Thats 126 F7Ps, a bunch of which crashed, the rest were retired. 12 PGs have crashed, 48 remain in service, those 48 are the only F7 fighters in service in the PAF. Number 2 squadron (2015), number 14 squadron (2017), number 18 squadron (2020), CSS F7Ps etc were all retired and replaced with JF-17s.

Keep in mind a small number of those 126 F7Ps were dual seat F7TP trainers that remain in service.
I think the Shooters squadron is still flying F7Ps as LIFT at Mianwali. Its not a numbered squadron so you are right all F7s apart from training are retired (not counting any FTs in OCU of PGs).
 
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