The Eagle
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I do not dispute that argument, my point is that the phliosophy behind putting the best young pilots into F-16s does not mean that they will become the best CAS 30 years later.
My friend,
Back in the day, there was nothing top notch like F-16 as per our need & requirement. There's no philosophy of to select an F-16 jockey to be the leader as such except that there was no other choice. Our generation needs to understand and see things in broader aspect.
F-16 wasn't just a fighting machine for PAF/Pakistan. It brought a lot of opportunities to get at par with western war fighting psych, introduced us to modern world warfare, got us a reach to western weaponry, to be able to learn & study modern administration, to be able to get knowledge about maintenance & supply chain management, provided us experience on level of modern day air forces by way of overseas training, to get the know how of advance military application of modern machine & employment of tactics by way of training & learning from abroad, office administration & management and last but not least, provided an opportunity of decision making capability based upon learning the situation along with polishing the future leadership for the institute.
Whatever weapon is hanged under F-16 has its own different area of details & provided a whole set of information & knowledge. From ground crew to the pilots, the maintenance engineering to the marketing, the operation capability to leadership; it contains the wholesome package for PAF. These are the reasons that I see in short that why such psych had the favour above all. No other platform provided us with bonuses and a whole new school of Air Force ideology & opportunity to become one of the top Air Forces. This is how we need to look at it for a platform back in the day.
Now, the times changed and we are moving towards self reliance. Now, the tactics changed, technology evolved, AI taking the center stage, EW playing its part in war fighting capability, the machine is not alone the force but so many factors are now deciding results for a capable & top notch Air Force. Therefore, slowly & by the time, criteria of new leadership will be changed. The change will come after induction, application & successful deployment of new tactics due to new technology & new warfighting machines mixed in a whole new warfare & strategies. We need to look into top air forces and their transition of selecting the leadership. A leader must have gone through all the domains, hurdles, sweating & even ready to pay with blood so he/she can be successful to lead the force because, the person knows everything from ground to top as what to do, what needs to be done, how it should be done & what's next to get done.
These Viper Riders have gone through every rugged situation & hardship to polish their skills not just to be a pilot but a leader. That is the reason why PAF is among the top Air Forces given its professionalism & discipline as well as the criteria to live in the family. The F-16 may not be here after 30 years or so and there will be a totally different war fighting style as well as the machines but F-16s really provided to what was needed for today & may be a decade to come. The F-16 provided everything as explained above to keep us at par with modern air forces, to get rid of challenges, the employment of skills to deter any threat & provided the best of leadership given the access to Western World psych/education/learning which will remain plausible for a decade to come at-least.
My humble submission is that, we shall not be quick to issue conclusive remarks & statements as such without looking deep into the course of action and factors behind that. It is just easy for people to taunt & merely refer to alleged sanctions in future or fear that F-16s are gone but due to the pilot attachment, it may not let us choose any other machine. PAF leadership is not just a Viper pilot but he has a long yet busy & roughed up past to get to the point with an ambition & aim to take the same force to the next level. There is no philosophy or ideology that a PAF pilot being riding the F-16 will not advance or transit or wouldn't let it happen if became leader. It is just a myth created by people that wants every flying machine to be inducted after an year. Just the fanboys of Air Crafts. However, F-16 is being appreciated & still regarded as top notch which doesn't mean any PAF professional is unable to see beyond the same. It's just disrespectful in my opinion & like downplaying the capability & quality of Pakistan Air Force.
Regards,