PAF Fighter Jets land at multiple Motorways to demonstrate war air operational capability

[Champion_Usmani]

PAF birds can fly from anywhere!

Air Force carries out extensive readiness drill from highways

ISLAMABAD - The Pakistan Air Force (PAF) on Monday carried out off-runway operations from multiple locations along the motorways and highways of the country.

A PAF spokesperson said that PAF fighter aircraft successfully made landings at different locations on the roads and took off after refueling and re-arming.

Federal Minister for Communications Murad Saeed, along with senior civil and military officials, was present to witness this air exercise.

The exercise was conducted to demonstrate the capability of PAF in being able to sustain high tempo air operations, the statement said. Country’s air force had also exercised landing and takeoffs at the Lahore-Islamabad Motorway last month when Pakistan was at the brink of war with India. But the exercises conducted yesterday were even more extensive in terms of location of landings and takeoffs. The allied battle-relevant operations like refueling and rearming were also more wide-ranging this time. The ability to operate from non-conventional points provides a crucial leverage to the PAF as in case of destruction of airports and runways in a war, the air force can operate even from the ground traffic arteries of the country.

The capabilities of PAF can be gauged from the fact that last month the Indian Air Force also tried to land its planes on highways but failed in the attempt.

The PAF also proved its mettle last month when it shot down two IAF aircraft in a dogfight at the Line of Control in Kashmir, as part of Pakistan’s response to the unprovoked Indian aggression.

https://nation.com.pk/19-Mar-2019/paf-birds-can-fly-from-anywhere

Pakistan Air Force Gearing-Up For Another Potential Conflict with India

The Pakistan Air Force (PAF) said it carried out readiness exercises using sections of the country’s motorway system to perform take-off and landing sorties. The Pakistan Air Force is gearing up for a potential face-off with the Indian Air Force especially after the Kashmir attacks where 40 Indian CRPF soldiers were ambushed.

View attachment 547654

The exercise was conducted to demonstrate the capability of PAF in being able to sustain high tempo air operations, said a statement released by the PAF.

After landing, PAF fighter aircraft were refuelled and re-armed. Murad Saeed, Federal Minister for Communications, was also present on the occasion, along with senior civil and military officials.

Last month, one Indian Air Force (IAF) aircraft was shot down by the PAF and Indian targets across the Line of Control (LoC) were struck by Pakistani fighter jets from within friendly airspace as the country’s armed forces struck back.

https://eurasiantimes.com/pakistan-air-force-gearing-up-for-another-potential-conflict-with-india/

Interesting report by Republic tv about some upcoming IAF war readiness drills, just check the phrases used and the choice of words.

 

[Mentee]

Nothing surprising in it. Paf been doing these test runs for almost a decade

 

[Khafee]

Don’t know when swedes did it.. but its been over a decade since PAF started.

Nothing surprising in it. Paf been doing these test runs for almost a decade

Two decades +/- to be exact

 

[Haroon Baloch]

We should now start building Underground Subways/Metro's that can be used as a Nuclear Shelter. In this way everyone can get the best out of the infrastructure.

 

[Pied Piper]

Why Pakistan’s jets took off from an Islamabad highway
Exercise was to ‘demonstrate the strategic, operational and tactical achievement’

18:28 March 19, 2019

The images and videos of the aircraft landing and take-off generated a lot of public interest.
Image Credit: APP

https://gulfnews.com/world/asia/pak...took-off-from-an-islamabad-highway-1.62770667
Sana Jamal, Correspondent
Islamabad: Pakistan’s main highway was closed for traffic for a few hours on Monday as the surrounding air filled with loud whooshing sounds.

The reason was the demonstration capability of off-runway operations by Pakistan Air Force (PAF) aircraft, which was carried out at multiple locations along motorways and highways, according to PAF.

After landing, the F-7PG and Mirage-5 aircraft were also refuelled and rearmed “to demonstrate the capability of PAF in being able to sustain high tempo air operations” the statement said. Federal Minister for Communications Murad Saeed along with senior civil and military officials witnessed the operations.

The images and videos of the aircraft landing and take-off generated a lot of public interest as passions are still running high in Pakistan after the recent conflict and dogfight with India. But the exercise has taken place almost every year for more than a decade.

Talking to Gulf News, Air Marshal (retd) Mirza Zafar Hussain offered insight on why PAF occasionally holds such exercises.

“The successful landing and take-off on motorways demonstrate the strategic, operational and tactical achievement,” he said. “For instance, if the jet cannot go back to the airbase for any reason, PAF has alternate non-traditional landing strips.”

The aircraft normally requires a straight patch, which is about 3 kilometres long and 45 metres wide.

According to Hussain, the alternate landing exercise is common in other countries.

“The concept first originated in the West and is currently practiced in many countries including Singapore, Sweden, Japan,” he said.


Even in neighbouring India, these practices are becoming common.

The exercise is to ensure not only landing and take-off but also rearming and fuelling in case of any emergency, especially wartime, during which highways could be used. Describing the reason behind the drills, Shahid Raza, defence and strategic affairs expert who heads the think tank Caspian Institute, told Gulf News that such practices are tactical requirement of countries with a small air force as the countries with strategic depth such as US don’t have to prove such capabilities.

“It is countries like Pakistan that use such tactics to demonstrate that they can replenish, recover and launch fighter aircraft from highways as well,” he said.

Delving into the history of the strategy, he added: “This strategy first originated in Sweden, a small country with limited aircraft, after World War Two. Similarly, small countries now adopt this tactic in case their airbases are destroyed or under attack so that they can retain their air power.”

The two aircraft used in the exercise included F-7PG and the Mirage-5, which is among the country’s ageing fleet as Pakistan first bought its Mirages 50 years ago and were first deployed in the 1971 India-Pakistan war.


“The reason is to show the adversary that even our oldest and near-retirement aircraft have the capability to perform” as the air force “doesn’t need to prove the capacity of latest aircraft such as JF-17,” Raza explained.

The other aircraft used in the drills, F-7PG, is an improved Chinese derivative of Russian/Indian MiG-21, which is “the same Indian aircraft that PAF recently shot down”, Raza said, referring to the downing of two Indian Air Force aircraft by PAF during recent tensions.

Reflecting on the recent conflict with India, Hussain: “PAF is a small but very potent air force as demonstrated from our capability in 1965 and 1971 war as well as the recent conflict with India.”

 

[ps3linux]

Interesting report by Republic tv about some upcoming IAF war readiness drills, just check the phrases used and the choice of words.

It seems like acts of desperation to assure that IAF and indian media are still relevant after their Sir-jee-kall strike hai(dear sir tomorrow its strike day) and it's debunking.

 

[Talha Asif]

@waz @The Eagle why my comments deleted?

 

[The Eagle]

@waz @The Eagle why my comments deleted?

For providing unwanted details. Let that to enemy to explore.

 

[zulu]

Waqi cheel ki nazar hai bhai kabhi to soo jayaa karoo i still rem when u deleted that guy post early morning about 27th 2 min ky baad delete kar daityy hamary MAHAN EAGLE BABA @The Eagle

For providing unwanted details. Let that to enemy to explore.

 

[Talha Asif]

For providing unwanted details. Let that to enemy to explore.

That applies on NHMP also? On NHMP fb page all details given with locations and section's and even after or before deleting comments no message received from moderators. Its not ethical

 

[Peaceful Civilian]

We should now start building Underground Subways/Metro's that can be used as a Nuclear Shelter. In this way everyone can get the best out of the infrastructure.

I agree, we did safeguard our nuclear weapons tunnels per tunnels, but this is very necessary to make tunnels & bunkers for civilians in every city to minimize effect of nuclear explosion.

 

[The Eagle]

That applies on NHMP also? On NHMP fb page all details given with locations and section's and even after or before deleting comments no message received from moderators. Its not ethical

NHA is responsible for traffic updates. We are here talking about strategic matters .You are not warned therefore, you didn't receive message. Now you asked so you are informed ethically which you conveniently ignored.

Regards,

 

[gambit]

Also any idiot with half a brain and Google maps can discern probable runway locations. Only very specific areas can be used, length of available straight road, surrounding terrain configuration, additional slip roads, service buildings etc. I bet you in times of War indian spys would be keeping very close watch on such locations.

Everything you said is true. However, the operative words here are 'distributed' and 'diluted'. By distributing your assets the enemy is forced to dilute his, meaning he either has to concentrate his forces to one or two of your locations or attack all known locations with lesser ordnance. Put it this way, it would take an adversary like US to attack all or most of your known alternate launch and weapons depots.

It would take many hours to close and prepare such landing strips before a single aircraft could touch down and use them. You would need to sweep the entire roadway for FOD, remove barriers etc, also stopping of traffic would have to be communicated to public. OPSec is paramount, but you can't really hide these locations they are very well known.

If the political situation has deteriorated to the point where you need to diffuse your forces, roadway prep should already be done. This is assuming that your forces have been rehearsing the procedures which includes coordination with civil authorities.

Using runway repair as example...

Remove the US as an adversary simply because we can deliver a lot of bombs via a dedicated bomber fleet.

It is actually very difficult to disable an air force once its assets are diffused in locations. Most inter-city roads have more than adequate length -- yellow strip -- to accommodate a fully laden fighter-bomber in any configuration. An attacking force would have to 'pothole' the road at very precise locations on that road to deny the enemy that yellow strip distance.

Hope this helps in understanding this unique tactic...

 

[Legio XI The Ironclads]

Everything you said is true. However, the operative words here are 'distributed' and 'diluted'. By distributing your assets the enemy is forced to dilute his, meaning he either has to concentrate his forces to one or two of your locations or attack all known locations with lesser ordnance. Put it this way, it would take an adversary like US to attack all or most of your known alternate launch and weapons depots.


If the political situation has deteriorated to the point where you need to diffuse your forces, roadway prep should already be done. This is assuming that your forces have been rehearsing the procedures which includes coordination with civil authorities.

Using runway repair as example...

Remove the US as an adversary simply because we can deliver a lot of bombs via a dedicated bomber fleet.

It is actually very difficult to disable an air force once its assets are diffused in locations. Most inter-city roads have more than adequate length -- yellow strip -- to accommodate a fully laden fighter-bomber in any configuration. An attacking force would have to 'pothole' the road at very precise locations on that road to deny the enemy that yellow strip distance.

Hope this helps in understanding this unique tactic...

I think you misread my post, I don't think any where in my post I said it was a bad tactic to use diffused locations, or indeed that asset dispersal is an incorrect tactic. I was replying to the poster who said "please don't disclose these locations for Opsec purposes". These locations are well known to Indian's for the reasons I have already stated, that does in no way lessen their utillity.

 

[mshan44]