In the era of smart weapons the concept of saturation bombings or carpet bombings is rapidly becoming obsolete. It has also become a war crime as of Article 51 of the 1977 Protocol 1 of the Geneva Conventions to bomb indiscriminately on areas containing a concentration of civilians.
Nevertheless we have seen in the recent decades how the Americans used the concept of saturation bombings very effectively on military formations in the Afghan and Gulf wars. There is not even a shadow of doubt, if given a chance they will exercise the same in the future theaters of war. Americans are still managing to keep a bulk of their 70 years old Stratofortresses air worthy equipped with JDAMs and MOABs(maybe).
PAF in recent decades focused more on air defence roles and platforms. The deep strike and interdiction roles were handed over to the strategic command. Although i do feel we need dedicated heavier platforms for close support and concentration bombings to supplement our NASRs and field artillery. The psychological impact of metal raining from the sky and hitting the ground is unimaginable. I have seen battle hardened Iraqis and Taliban fleeing from their bunkers in droves ,miles away from the impact area.
PAF in the past have used Hercules and B57s for similar roles.
Our Mirages are potent aircraft but their air frames are getting older and their load capacity is depreciating.
Our Multi role F16s are primarily dedicated for air defence roles to cater for a much larger enemy.
Though we dont have the same luxury as the Americans,there maybe some cheaper alternatives. I always loved the versatility and adaptability of the rugged and reliable C 130.
Since we have been operating C 130s for more than five decades,we dont have any operational and maintenance issues with them.Currently Uncle Sam is nice to us ,i wonder if we can get a hand on few of them under EDA. There are hundreds of C130s parked in the Arizona Boneyard waiting for some one to pick them(Maybe PAF?).
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