FOREWARD: It is ALWAYS recommended for members who are truly interested in the defence matters of our country to carry out some research. Not just read the first two threads and consider them gospel. The same way, don't go by the first or second pages of google but read through more accounts, more narratives; both for and against. Whilst an old practice, books always help and there are many available now in both original and(sadly) pirated form on the internet.
Books(unlike forum posts) carry with them the reputation of the publisher and are generally better sorted out factually or at the very least carry a name which has(or has not) a reputation. Getting even some information out of various sources will not have you going around clapping your hands like monkeys at every other supposed "revolutionary" idea or dismissing anything that does not conform to what you have read in the 8th grade. It is what distinguishes knowledge from university degrees and work experience.
Forming opinions or assuming forum rants as a basis for knowledge especially in subjects such as defence matters is a folly no different than being brainwashed into believing that our religion wants you to kill all non-muslims wherever you find them. There are well versed writers on the subject, and many from our country whose works are available at the click of the mouse if you know how to use google(I cant help you with that) to sort out the rhetoric from the factual, the fictional from the well grounded.
That goes not just for the following post, but also for anything you find written on Defence.pk be it from Me, the Admin or a new member. Always read much much more than you think the other member has before posting something. Because regardless of whether you know more or not, at least you wont look like a fool answering them.
As a final note, KNOW TO AGREE TO DISAGREE.
NOW::. AHEM..
The fact that there is not one bit of historical accuracy in any part of your posts is surprising to say the least, sounds like a rant akin to John Mc Cain at the 2008 election. Guess I need to come up with a better rant then.
Lets start with your claim that the PAF is defensive and never has gone beyond the border unlike our puny Navy and Army. Sure, I guess than the various airfield strikes taken in 65 were all just myths then. Pity the tail choppers never heard MastanKhan's version of history. The TRUTH IS OUT THERE.. ...or the new "Mere paas ao mere doston , aik Qissa suno".
The fact that PAF was the first to attack the IAF in 71 and repeated its nightly raids, but then again.. somehow MK only saw the Navy go and hence his rather dementia influenced ideal is probably correct. Not to mention the idiots in the Army who led their men to sure slaughter at Longewalla are the sort of heroes MK wants; martyrs, not effective warfighters.
Lets come to the new rant. Clearly since the JF-17 rant did not work out as it was rooted in logically baseless ideas, lets go after the F-16 because clearly we have a better idea of what to do with the PAF than those nincompoop Staff College graduates like with our years of experience in running air forces unlike ACM Shamim and his staff with people like ACM Hakimullah and Abbas Khattak.. who probably never fought a war and have no idea what air combat planning is about.
So here goes.
The afghan war brought an opportune moment for the Pakistan air force---sanctions were off---and PAF had the option to buy different aircraft----. Being a French aircraft dominant air force---it should have by default stayed with the French---goinf rom Mirage 3/5 to Mirage F1 and then Mirage 2000.
That sounds wonderful doesn't it? I mean the Afghan war starts out in 1979 and the whole Zia "peanut" speech to Carter. The Mirage F-1 was offered to the PAF back in the late 70's but perhaps the idea that the PAF has always had billions in its coffers seems to be only known to our resident oracle here who during his cheech and chong years had his pulse on the exact balance of the national exchequer. Because clearly the PAF was not aware of it and was instead scraping stuff out of its pockets to somehow get the blue flash purchases complete and provide a semblance of defensive capability.
Then comes all the aid, and mind you this is 1979-80, the Mirage 2000 is not even in the production stage whilst the F-16 is literally making every scene in Europe and had beaten the Mirage F-1 which was the latest the French offered even to their close neighbour Belgium(
Not to mention Israel which by this time was pretty ok with the French but knew what is a better fighter, but the hell with the Israelis, what do they know of the great strategist MK).
But during the war---it got the carrot dangled in front of it--the fabled F16----. On the other side was the Mirage 2000---on a given day each aircraft could outdo the other. The PAF BLUNDERED into buying the F16---and it left the gate open for its arch enemy to buy the supposedly number 2 aircraft.
Indian air force was woefully equipped at that time---it only had Russian aircraft as its primary fighter aircraft.
Fiction works when preaching to those without knowledge, but when it comes to people who actually bothered to read and learn from multiple sources, your arguments are like tissue paper MK; what the heck as become of you?
The F-16 was NEVER dangled for the PAF, rather the PAF was being given the cheap hook with the F-5G(
later F-20 tigershark). The PAF DEMANDED the F-16 which at that time was thought to be too sophisticated to be released to Pakistan. But the fact remained that the aircraft then(and TODAY) is still the epitome of Pakistan Air Force's fighting concept. It is the perfect balance of Manoeuvrability, Armament and speed that the PAF wanted in its fighting concepts.
The Mirage 2000 was still in its development phase and unlike the F-16, did not demonstrate the ability to go and outright bomb a heavily defended nuclear reactor. Something the PAF wanted outright of its new aircraft.
The IAF may have been woefully ill-equipped, but it was still better equipped than the PAF with the Mig-23 coming online, which makes this next one really nice.
PAF thru its blunder---allowed the indian air force to purchase the Mirage 2000---and gave the enemy parity in the battlefield in the skies----.
The PAF bought the F-16 with funds partially procured from Aid and the rest from its own coffers. Unlike the Americans, the French were looking to fleece the PAF throughout their dealings with us. So let me see, somehow getting an aircraft that is at the time the most sophisticated machine that can be procured the fastest(
the M2K did not even have a production prototype until 82 while the F-16 was operational and battle tested) to defend against the Soviets was in our inventory by 1983.
And its gets funnier
PAF lies that it needed the F16's to fight afghan air force----now we know that was right---. The mirage 3 were well equipped to take on the afghan air force---as was the case in the first couple of afghan planes shot down by the mirages---.
I believe this is what inspires that,
Not much about operations undertaken by these units is known, but, according to press reports from that time, they scored their first kill - one MiG-21 of the DRAAF - on 16 April 1986, followed by another MiG-21 on 10 May. The PAF never confirmed any of these claims. Considering the circumstances at the time, it is possible that these engagements have happened, but, that - due to RoEs, influenced by the politics - the PAF was not ready to confirm kills of aircraft whose wreckage fell inside Afghanistan. The - probably - third engagement of Pakistani Mirages happened on 14 May 1986, around 11:00AM, when At 11:00AM of 14 May 1986, Sqn.Ldr. Rao Qamar Suleman and Flt.Lt. Nawaz of the 18th Sqn were on a CAP SE of Parachinar, when the GCI vectored them towards several slow flying targets closing at the border. Closing at high speed, both Mirage pilots experienced a dilemma of many fast-jet fliers when confronting heavily armed but slow attack helicopters.
I would take the kill account from Pakistani press as caution as NO other source corroborated the events nor has the PAF along with its later historical accounts ever acknowledged it.
AC Abdul Hameed Qadri (After whom PAF Minhas was later named)
No 5 TA&R and No 18 AS Squadrons. These squadrons operated from PAF Base Minhas in the relatively active period of 1986. Their participation was restricted to patrolling the border areas and manning the CAP stations with other squadrons. The enemy always respected their presence and did not dare to pursue attacks beyond the border. No 5 Squadron flew 108 sorties, including 54 CAPs whereas No 18 Squadron scrambled twelve times.
http://www.defencejournal.com/aug98/pakafghanwar1.
But if MK's logic on the Mirages being a massive deterrant is to be taken correct, then ipso facto there was NO need for the Mirage-2000 either because if the PAF bought that it would ALSO be lying about getting the Mirage-2000.
However, I would refer to the book of a man who might just know more about why the PAF wanted the F-16. His name is ACM Anwar Shamim and he also wrote a book called "The cutting edge". You folks should have a read instead of just sitting on defence.pk and believing every other thing put out here.
In the book ACM Shamim outlines the need for buying the F-16 was the growing Indian threat to attack Pakistan's nuclear facilities which were starting to develop. In return the PAF possessed NOTHING that could reply back to India. The Mirages were clearly unable to ensure that they would make it to Trombay in case Kahuta was hit, and hence the F-16 came about and not what the Americans were told about it or what is being repeated here. It was also the aircraft that the PAF could get the fastest and was at the time still a better buy than the Mirage-2000 as the PAF was aware of the limitations of the delta in sustained air combat.
Then came the sanctions and another opportunity to buy mirage 2000----and the supposedly honest sec def of Pakistan rejected the deal because there was too much graft in that deal.
So---what was the big deal about the graft---100 million---200 million---in the fortunes of nations---this amount is not even peanuts. This purchase would have given us back our parity over our arch enemy India.
This blunder was a nail in the coffin of a prestigious air force which got destroyed by the actions of an HONEST OFFICER.
Which brings us to the question of the Mirage 2000 ram kahani and MK's obsession with it for reasons he is yet unable to coherently present. I think I'll do those honors as to why the Mirage-2000 remains a Saga to the PAF.
The first rumblings for the Mirage-2000 in the PAF started back in 1985 as the PAF's high command was still looking for a long range deep strike aircraft to augment the F-16(in case the Americans dumped them again) as the secondary/substitute strike force. The F-16s provided to the PAF were configured with some top notch electronics but a lot of these were focused on the air to air threat and with the requirements of attacking some of the more heavility defended targets in India, the PAF was looking for something to provide precision guided capability as its F-16s then were still configured for dumb bombs and AGM-65s. Let this be cleae that it was the French that invited the PAF to look at the aircraft after some airshow talk regarding the ground attack capabilities of the Mirage 2000 and the ATLIS pod(The french love playing both sides for money). in 1986 a PAF team went to France to evaluate the fighter and found it very impressive but compared to the cost of inducting the aircraft via a vis further F-16s and a well established training base opted for the latter(Ironically the French did sell us the ATLIS in anticipation of a Mirage-2000 deal later on providing the PGM capability the PAF wanted in the first place)
By the time it got to the 90's the PAF realized that the F-16 would be difficult to keep in the air after the nuclear issue and good old Pressler. The Mirage 2000 was already purchased by India and Greece was at then taken as the best alternative to the F-16 in terms of offering the best package for strike operations along with an added air to air bonus. In addition, the PAF wanted the newer Mirage-2000-5 which was at that time the hottest thing in the market and unlike the F-16 block-50 it was something the PAF could purchase. It would have been a very good deal had the French and the corrupt in Pakistan played fair.
However, MK contends that the PAF should have given in to corruption and rot(the same thing MK decries is the problem in the first place with the PAF) they would have possessed the edge again which would have made it worth it.
Sounds like a good point, the PAF could have gotten its edge back with that move.. but when HONEST men opposed it, to the extent that people who are deserving of much more respect such as ACdre Sajjad Haider also support this decision along with many others; I am inclined to think the latter was better.
Lets come to post 9-11. The PAF needed a quick boost as right after 9-11 came Operation Parakaram and the looming Indian purchases of Su-30s. The first thing that any astute planner would do was to look at cost-effectiveness; the measure of which was to look at our existing F-16 fleet and how they could be brought up to full speed and hence provide the PAF with a powerful force with 1/5th of the cost of getting a new fighters. In Addition, additional F-16s and the Block-52s would then form the core of this new quick capability buildup whilst reducing the cost in logistics and training for the PAF. In addition, the opportunity allowed the PAF to get all that it required from the United States in terms of the hardware that goes into these aircraft was easily and readily available for purchase. It was the best choice to make for the PAF in terms of an already existing capability. Contrary to the spurious reasons given above, the F-16 upgrade and Block-52 was coming to bolster that equipment base of the PAF no matter what
Where the Mirage-2000 came in is where we get another of MK's rants regarding the JF-17 and why the Gripen was better. The JF-17 was a no brainier after pressler and I have already written on why it was always the straight forward option on ANOTHER of MK's rant threads(
not the first one he has put on the topic, they repeat after every few months to get the uninformed youngsters going like those in Zaid Hamid's speeches)
Please see here.
JF 17 is The Wrong Omnirole Aircraft For PAKISTAN | Page 9
The PAF still wanted a deep strike aircraft to augment the F-16 for the same reasons they did in the 80's. IDEAS 2000 had just happened and Pakistan's coffers were booming(supposedly) with everyone trying to sell stuff to Pakistan. The Swedes were trying to sell the Gripen as part of the Erieye package but the PAF was not interested in another Air Defence fighter with secondary air to ground capability because that is what the JF-17 was for. It wanted a strike fighter to work alongside the F-16 as the main offensive(
KUFR!, SHIRK!.. PAF is defensive!) force in its war plans against India. The mirage-2000 fit the bill well as the PAF was familiar with it and already had an induction plan worked out; however, the French were trying to push the Rafale instead which the PAF(regardless of its budget) could not afford at the prices the French were offering it at and more importantly the numbers the PAF wanted the aircraft in(
As a clear indication, the PAF could only afford 18 Rafale's when it wanted at least two squadrons of this secondary fighter).At the end, the French would not budge and the PAF was not going to dish out that much for the Rafale. The final nail in this particular induction came with the 2005 Earthquake and the PAF budget shrank.
Now I will add a more recent piece of history that is relevant to this and is based off real world news you all are much more familiar with unlike the Fox news report in the opening post. As the Earthquake kicked in and the budget shrank, the PAF fell back to its alternative option which was the Chengdu J-10. They were convinced that given the Frankenstein of electronics that the PAF has gotten good at, along with the addition of bigger drop tanks that CAC had promised; the PAF might be able to get a pretty decent strike fighter out of the J-10 that would give it somewhat the capability that it wanted to fulfill with the Mirage-2000. This kept in earnest and many of you are familiar with this story but not the origins of it, but all of you are familiar with Mr 90% and his utter destruction of our economy, and with it the PAF's plans.
At the end, like the previous three threads MK; I have no idea what it is with you as of lately with the incoherent rants. But I can only think of one thing, and here you are exactly how Robin Williams(god rest is soul) described John McCain.at 4:45.
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