Pakistan Reorientates its Air Power
By John Fricker
Since partition in 1947, Pakistan had traditionally looked towards India as its principle military threat, and has fought two wars in 1965 and 1971 with its considerably larger neighbor over territorial disputes which resulted in the loss of its eastern wind, now Bangladesh. For the past six years, however, Pakistan has had to face military and political pressure on an entirely different direction, since the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan on Christmas Eve in December 1979, and subsequent anti-guerilla operations by some 115,000 Russian troops, in conjunction with the Afghan army. In the course of these, Pakistan has experienced innumerable violations and air attacks across its mountainous northern and western borders by Soviet and Afghan aircraft. Attempting to interdict the supply routes of the rebel mujahideen based in the tribal territories of the North-West Frontier Province, these aircraft have in the process from time to time bombed and destroyed villages within Pakistani territory.
Repeated protests over these attacks by the Islamabad government have been ignored in Kabul, but a more effective response has since been achieved by Pakistan through the strengthening and reorientation of its north-western defences. On 17th May last year, their effectiveness, together with that of the PAF’s recently-received General dynamics F-16, was decisively proved when two Pakistani Fighting Falcons intercepted four Afghan jet fighters (believed to be Sukhoi Su-22s although some reports claim that they were Soviet-flown Su-24s) when they crossed the border into Kurram Province, and shot down at least one of the intruders near Parachinar, about nine mile (14 km) inside Pakistani territory. A second Afghan aircraft was also claimed to have been hit during this encounter, in which the F-16s used their “all-aspect” AIM-9L Advanced Sidewinder AAMs, but this was the first time that PAF fighters had been successful in destroying an intruding aircraft from Afghanistan, despite countless border violations in the past six years. As a Pakistan government spokesman said at the time, air violations from Afghanistan “were running at about two and a half times what they were in 1985, exceeding 500 in the first six months of 1986, but we only protest when there are casualties”.
Since then, reports of similar violation have been somewhat fewer, but the threat from Afghanistan remains, and would be intensified by an eventual Soviet victory in that country. American fears of further Soviet expansion in that region, however, resulted in the resumption in 1981 of large-scale US military aid to Pakistan-previously limited by the Symington Amendment to the Foreign Assistance Act which vetoed help to countries believed to be developing nuclear weapons. Pakistan has long been accused by India-itself rated as a nuclear power since its test explosion in 1974-of “being in the process of producing atomic weapons”, and to be “very close to the completion of at least five such weapons” from its “excessive” facilities for uranium enrichment.
This has been consistently denied in Islamabad, and these reports did not prevent the US from approving in late-1980, a six-year $3.2bn aid package, of which almost exactly half comprised military equipment credits. These were intended to help with the modernization of Pakistan’s armed forces to counter Soviet military aid to both Afghanistan and India, and included the provision of 40 GD F-16s and associated weapons for the PAF, naval MDC Harpoon anti-ship missiles, as well as 100 M-60A3 tanks, GD Stinger infantry SAMs, 20 Bell AH-1S anti-tank helicopter and supporting TOW ATMs for the Pakistan army.
Most of this equipment has now been delivered and is operational in Pakistan, but agreement was reached with Washington in early-1986 for a new six-year $4.02bn aid program to run between October 1987 and September 1993, subject to Congressional approval. Included in this total was $1.74bn in military sales credits, at 5% annual interest, for further purchases of American arms and equipment, which are expected to include additional F-16s, AH-1s and various defensive missiles. Following receipt of its first 40 F-16s, the PAF had expressed a requirement for a similar second batch, to equip a further two tactical fighter squadrons, but Pentagon sources are dubious that sufficient funding could be allocated for more than 12-24 of these aircraft.
The PAF also has a long-standing requirement for four Grumman E-2C Hawkeye airborne early-warning aircraft to improve radar coverage of its mountainous northern borders, but this request was originally rejected by the US on the grounds that they could be used to detect and designate Indian naval targets. Various alternatives, including the Lockheed P-3 AEW & C version of Orion, the installation of suitable mission avionics in its Lockheed C-130s, Westinghouse balloon-mounted radar systems, and the provision of a USAF- crewed Boeing E-3A AWACS have since been studied by the PAF. By late last year, the AWACS has emerged as the PAF favorite and in October, Pentagon sources indicated that the Reagan Administration was now disposed to allow the sale of one or more E-3s to Pakistan, with a USAF-crewed aircraft possibly but this situation has been eased by the grant since 1981, prompted by the US government, of a $500m loan, at low interest rates and repayable over 50 years, from Saudi Arabia to Pakistan for military equipment procurement.
Chinese military aid
Further military assistance has been received for many years from the People’s Republic of China, starting with the supply from 1966 of Shenyang-built MiG-19SFs, as the F-6, of which the first 60 or more were reportedly donated to the PAF, with a further 120 or so following from 1978 at (very low) cost. China also donated an F-6 Rebuild Factory, plus all its equipment, for the complete overhaul of the PAF’s aircraft at Kamra, where Pakistan has established an embryo aircraft industry centre. In PAF service, the F-6 has been developed into an effective Mach=1.4 superiority and ground attack aircraft, with the provision of some Western avionics, equipment and systems, plus the ingenious integration of AIM-9B Sidewinder AAM (of which at least 450 have been converted to AIM-9J standard by the Radar and Missile Rebuild Factory, Kamra). As a result, the F-6 has been effectively the mainstay of Pakistan’s air power in equipping four or five first-line squadrons.
Further reinforcement of the PAF, from early 1983, resulted from the initial deliveries from China of a first batch of 42 Nanchang A-5 III (A-SC) dedicated ground-attack aircraft-a development of the F-6-to re-equip three tactical squadrons (Nos 7, 16 and 26) of the PAF. Although restricted to strictly visual roles, the A-5s equipped mostly with Western avionics, Martin-Bakers ejection-seats and new systems, provided Pakistan with the numerical tactical jet strength it needed at minimum cost, since, with a reported fly-away unit price of mere $1m, the A-F was sufficiently affordable for the PAF to order a further 100 or so examples to equip a further three squadrons by early 1987.
Continuing its close defense liaison with Pakistan, China is now widely, although unofficially, reported to be in the process of supplying a further batch of low-cost fighters in the form of 60 Xian F-7M Airguard versions of the Chinese-built MiG-21, following evaluation of the basic F-7 by the PAF in mid-1984. Compared with the original F-7, the F-7M is powered by the 13,448 lb st (6100 kgp) Wopen WP-7BM twin-spool six-stage turbojet, has a second 23-mm cannon on the port side and additional outer wind weapons pylons, but its main differences concern the installation of Western systems in a program managed by GEC Avionics from the UK. These include a type 956 HUDWAC, Type 7M (Skyranger) ranging radar, AD3400 UHF/VHF multi-function communications radio, XS-6A beacon receiver, WL-7 radio compass, Type 602 IFF, a new air data computer and solid-state inverters. Most of this is of GEC Avionics manufacture, although the Chinese have included the 0101 HR A/2 radar altimeter from Smiths Industries, also in the UK.
Once again, the export price of the F-7M is being quoted at the extraordinarily low figure for a Mach=2 fighter, of “less than $4m”, and with its PL-5B AAMs (derived from the AIM-9L Sidewinder) also supplied from China, the Airguard would prove a potent addition to the PAF’s combat inventory. Further unofficial reports indicate that the Chinese government has agreed help with the establishment of full-scale manufacturing facilities for the F-7M at the F-6 Rebuild Factory at Kamra, licensed production being the scheduled from 1989 onwards to follow initial deliveries of Chinese-built Airguards to the PAF from early 1987. Contracts are also reported to be pending from Pakistan to Boeing and Grumman to study the feasibility of replacing the WP-7BM turbojet the FE F404 or PW1120, for additional performance improvements. Consideration is further reportedly being given to avionics, to Northrop F-20 standards, for the PAF’s F-7S.
In the meantime, the F-6 Rebuild Factory at Kamra is being expanded to undertake the airframe and systems overhaul of all the PAF’s Chinese-built aircraft, including the FT-5 and FT-6 jet trainers, as well as the more recently-purchased Nanchang A-5S, although zero-timing of their WP-5 and WP-6 series power plants will continue to be done at the PAF’s Faisal Shaheed maintenance base near Karachi. F-6 overhauls at Kamra did not start until 1980, because of delays resulting from an earthquake near the parent Shenyang factory in the PRC, but current output is meeting the PAF’s requirement for 24 rebuilt aircraft per year.
This represents a major advance, since the F-6 airframe has a TBO only 600 hours, and the lead time for each aircraft returning to PRC for this operation averaged 18 months. The Kamra factory also manufactures about 4,000 F-6 line item spares, including cockpit canopies and 250-Imp gal (1 140-1) alloy drop tanks, and has supervised the design by the PAF of a 165-Imp gal (750-1) aerodynamic belly tank for the F-6.
Enter the F-16
As the PAF’s principal operational element, Air Defense Command was formed in 1975 with HQ at Chaklala, Rawalpindi, to maintain 24-hour surveillance of national airspace, and to control and co-ordinate, through regional sector HQs, all early-warning, interceptor, SAM and AAA components. Mobile observer units supplement the radar warning and control system, which is now linked with four PAF missile squadrons, each pf two flights, equipped with Thomson-SCF/MATRA Crotale low-level all-weather SAMs ordered in 1975 for air base defense. Apart from the defense of PakArmy armored units, the PAF is responsible for the operation of all defensive missile systems in Pakistan, reportedly including Chinese CSA-1 (SA-2 Guideline) SAMs and 40-mm anti-aircraft artillery.
Re-equipment of the F-6 squadrons that have comprised the spearhead of ADC started in January 1983, with delivery of the first two GD-16As and four F-16B two-seat trainers, diverted from USAF production allocations in Europe, to No. 11 Squadron at Sargodha, which now compromises the Operational Conversion Unit for six PAF pilots and 87 technicians, the PAF now handles its own F-16 conversions, for which it has received a total of 12 F-16B trainers (instead of the six originally planned) and only 28 single-seat F-16As.
These were all delivered by mid-1986, and also equip No.9 Squadron, which converted from the Mirage 5PA and 5DP in July 1984, and also operates from Sargodha. PAF F-16 equipment includes ALQ-131 ECM pods and the ALR-69 radar-warning receiver, and in addition to ALM-9L Sidewinder AAMs (of which 1,500 were included in the PAF package), armament provisions includes Thomson-CSF ATLIS laser designator pods containing a TV-type tracking system linked with a laser illuminator. Two ATLIS pods were supplied by Thomson-CSF to General Dynamics for six month qualification trials on the F-16, one being mounted on the lateral fuselage stores pylon of two-seat F-16B for use with laser-guided bomb and missiles. The PAF’s F-16s were the first non-French aircraft to be equipped with ATLIS, which entered service with French air force Jaguars, in conjunctions with Aerospatiale AS-30L air-to-surface missiles and MATRA laser-guided bombs, and has also been ordered by Egypt for its Mirage 2000s.
PAF Mirage strength
Before the resumption of US military aid, Pakistan turned to France for the procurement of new high-performance fighters, in the form of Mach=2 Dassault Mirage IIIs and 5s for multi-role strike, interception and reconnaissance. These now equip five or six PAF squadrons, using aircraft from a total of 96 delivered in four batches, starting with a 1967 order for 18 Mirage IIIEP strike-interceptors, three IIIRP tactical-recce aircraft and tree IIIDP two-seat trainers. These initially equipped No. 5 Squadron at Sargodha, armed with MATRA R 530 and 550 Magic AAMs and were followed in 1970 by 28 non-radar-equipped Mirage 5PA ground-attack aircraft and two more IIIDP two-seat trainers. In 1975, orders were placed by the PAF for a further 10 Doppler-equipped Mirage IIIRDP reconnaissance fighters, increasing overall procurement of this variant to 13, while 1979 saw the final and largest single Pakistani Mirage order in the form of 30 SPA2/3s and two two-seat 5DPA2 trainers.
As indicated by their designations, these last Mirages were more advanced versions of the M5 series, the 5PA2s incorporating Thomson-CSF Cyrano IV fire-control radar, with a range of 26 nautical miles (48km), for air-to-air and air-to-ground roles, and the FPA3s having the Thomson-CSF Agave attack radar for use in conjunction with the Aerospatiale AM-39 Exocet anti-ship missile for maritime strike missions. Mirage deliveries were completed to Pakistan at the end of 1982, and PAF units currently operating this type include Nos 5, 8, 20, 22 (OCU) and 33 Squadrons, plus the Combat Commander’s School at Sargodha, alongside the F-6.
In the early 1980s, the first batch of Mirage IIIs underwent an update program with the installation of new systems, including the Litton LW-33 INS. Since May 1978, the PAF has also undertaken its own major overhauls of the Mirage, its Atar 09C-3 turbojet and over 400 other mechanical and electronic system components, at the Mirage Rebuild Factory in the Kamra Aeronautical Centre. Overhaul life of the Mirage airframe is currently quoted as 11 years or 1,000 flying hours, while the Atar has a 600-hour TBO (compared with only 100 for the F-6s Wopen WP-6), and the Kamra Rebuild Factory is currently zero-timing about eight PAF Mirage per year.
A small batch of airframe forgings has recently been supplied to Dassault-Breguet for evaluation with a view to Kamra’s qualification as a sub-contractor, and the Mirage Factory’s Atar engine rebuild plant is earmarked for future expansion following a decision to overhaul the Pratt & Whitney F100 power plants of the PAF’s F-16s there. F-16 airframe and systems support and overhaul will, however. Be undertaken at the PAF’s main operational base of Sargodha, near Lahore.
Other PAF combat types
Unique in the PAF is No 2 (Composite) Squadron, based at Masroor-formerly knows as Mauripur, near Karachi-which operates a miscellany of now-ageing US aircraft on mostly second-line, target-facilities and support duties, although it is part of No 32 Fighter Ground-Attack Wing. These types include the last half-dozen of the 26 Martin B-57B/RB-57B and B-57C Canberras supplied to Nos 7 and 8 squadrons of the PAF from 1955 onwards, which played an active part in the 1965 and 1971 wars with India; and a few Lockheed T-33 jet trainers, plus the sole surviving Lockheed RT-33 equipped for non-combat tactical reconnaissance.
Nos 7 and 8 Squadrons remain, as they have done for many years, at Masroor, although now equipped as tactical attack units with Nanchang A-5s (plus two FT-6s) and Mirage 5PA3s, respectively, and operate alongside No 19 Air Superiority Squadron with F-6s and No 22 Squadron, which is the Mirage OCU, with 5Pas, 5DPs and IIIDP trainers. Like most PAF bases, Masroor also has its own SAR unit, which is No 84 Squadron, with locally-assembled Alouette III helicopters, and this composition is typical of Pakistan’s half-dozen or so combat wings, with a total of about 16 first-line squadrons, under the overall command of Air Chief Marshal Jamal Ahmed Khan as Commander-in-Chief.
These units include No 29 Squadron, operating since the mid-1970s from Sharah-e-Faisal (formerly Drigh Road) along-side naval Sea King units. Although wearing “Pakistan Navy” markings and including naval personnel among its aircrews, this squadrons flies its ex-Aeronavale Breguet Atlantics on maritime surveillance as part of the PAF, with which it is the sole flying component of No 31 Wing. With No 8 Squadron’s Mirage 5PA3s from Masroor, it also shares anti-shipping strike roles, being similarly armed with Aerospatiale AM-39 Exocet air-launched sea-skimming missiles. In recent years, replacement maritime patrol aircraft have been considered by the PAF, including surplus USN P-3A/B Orions and Fokker F.27MPAs, but this requirement appears to have been deferred by the recent refurbishment and overhaul of the Atlantics in France.
Transport and trainers
Transport support for the PAF is provided by a force of Lockheed C-130s, of which Pakistan has received 20 since the early 1960s, comprising seven C-130Bs through MAP funding, interspersed with four C-130Bs and five C-130Es from Iran, two former PIA-operated civil L-100-20s and two ex-USAF C-130Bs, although at least seven of these have since been lost in accidents. The surviving C-130Bs and C-130Es have been modified by Lockheed-Georgia Co at Marietta to extend their fatigue lives and to have Allison T56-A-15 turboprops, bringing them approximately up to C-130H standard. They are mostly operated with in No 35 Air Wing at Chaklala, near Rawalpindi, by No 6 Tactical Transport Squadron on re-supply flights to the mountainous northern regions, and on tactical support roles.
A few C-130s are also operated on training duties from Chaklala by the Transport Conversion School, formerly designated No 3 Squadron, while the base is further shared with No12 Squadron, equipped with Fokker F.27 and a Dassault Falcon 20 for government and VIP personnel transport. Although not yet formally designated, No 12 Squadron will probably supplement its strength with the three Boeing 707-320 jet transports in the process of being transferred from Pakistan International Airlines to the PAF, of which the first example was handed over last July, and the second was due to follow in September. Both these aircraft were in the cargo configuration and may eventually be adapted as aerial tankers for flight-refueling roles, but the third 707, due for transfer in mid-1987, will be delivered for VIP transport.
While these ex-civil aircraft will provide a small boost to Pakistan’s long-range military airlift capabilities, replacements for the PAF’s ageing Hercules are required over the longer term, Licensed production of a medium tactical transport is one of the projects under consideration for the Aeronautical Centre at Kamra, but funding allocations are again likely to be problematical. Decisions on any new manufacturing program for Kamra will be mainly dependent on Pakistan’s troubled economy, and since the number of aircraft needed by the PAF will inevitably be small, joint ventures, coupled with industrial offsets and technology transfers, will almost certainly be the most ambitious targets sought by the Aeronautical Complex.
For its personnel training, the PAF has its own School, College Academy and now University and its primary and basic flying courses for many years have been undertaken at Risalpur. This now houses the PAF University, as well *** the Primary and Basic Flying Training Wings, each with two squadrons. In the primary stage, 44 hours are flown on the Kamra-built MFI-17B Mushak, with an average dual-to-solo time of 15-17 hours, while a further 120 hours are flown in the basic syllabus on Cessna T-37B/C jet trainers to wings standard.
All Pakistani pilots are then required to undertake fighter training at No.1 Fighter Conversation Unit, where 102 sorties are flown in 75 hours on the Shenyang FT-5 two-seat development of the MiG-17, which replaced the Lockheed T-33 as the PAF’s advanced trainer from early 1975. Lower-graded trainers are then transferred to transport or helicopter courses, while the remainder proceed to an operational conversion unit for a 60-hour course on the two-seat FT-6 version of the MiG-19, and the single-seat F-6 itself, with either No.14 Squadron at Mianwali or No25 Squadron at Sargodha. First-tour jet pilots are then posted to F-6 or A-5 squadrons, the latter also having a couple of FT-6s on strength for instrument and continuation training.
Training facilities are offered by the PAF for Arab students from many Middle Eastern countries, and Pakistan also maintains training missions with the air forces of Abu Dhabi, Saudi Arabia and elsewhere. Training procedures are currently being reviewed, mainly because of the growing requirement for replacement of the Cessna T-37s in the early 1990s, and most of the leading international basic trainers, including the Aerospatiale Epsilon, EBRAER Tucano, Fairchild T-46, Pilatus PC-7 and PC-9, RFB Fantrainer and SIAI-Marchetti S.211 have been evaluated by the PAF, although no decision is expected for a couple of years.
Apart from performance and cost considerations, the PAF is particularly interested in ensuring that the selected type should be built under license at the Kamra Aeronautical Centre, where the Aircraft Manufacturing Factory has now completed more than 140 MFI-17 Mushak piston-engine trainers and liaison aircraft for the PAF and the Pakistan Army. Construction of Kamra’s aircraft production facility began in 1979, and, by September 1983, it had flight-tested the first of an initial batch of 92 MFI-17s assembled from kits supplied by SAAB-MFI in Sweden.
Since then, the Manufacturing Factory has progressively taken over component production, as well as the MFI-17 project itself, and the entire airframe is now locally-built, Kamra is currently producing about 15 Mushaks per year, and although no export sales have yet been secured, Pakistan’s national requirements are estimated to sustain this output for at least another year, with a minimum of a further 40 expected off the line. Plans are also in hand to develop the MFI-17 and improve its short-field performance, for which trials are being conducted with detachable mainplane extensions and the installation of turbo-supercharged 210 hp Continental TSIO-360 engine. Evaluations of this version are being undertaken by the Pakistan Army to assess the improvement in hot-and-high field performance.
Further work is being generated at Kamra by Mushak major airframe repairs, and export customers in the Middle and Far East are being sought at a fly-away unit cost of about $150,000. Other production at the plant includes GRP and transparent panels for PAF and Pakistan Army Alouette IIIs, and the Army’s UH-1H helicopters, and the machine-tools and presses selected to equip the factory are capable of forming much larger and more complex airframe parts than those for Mushak.
