Pakistan Army Aviation Corps - Updated

[Last Hope]

I repeat
as of right now "we have no fennecs in service".
and this info is not from some magazine, it is the ground reality that i have stated above.

We MAY have NO AS-550 in SERVICE but we DO have them in Pakistan under training and integration process.

 

[alimobin memon]

I repeat
as of right now "we have no fennecs in service".
and this info is not from some magazine, it is the ground reality that i have stated above.

We have 15 atleast bhai kahan se aya hain jo itna confirm bol raha hai!!

 

[3xample001]

is the HQ in Rawalpindi still there?

I've been to the one in Islamabad many times

 

[Jango]

is the HQ in Rawalpindi still there?

I've been to the one in Islamabad many times

GHQ?

Yup, it's still there as before!

The plans for Islamabad GHQ have been shelved for sometime now.

 

[Imran Khan]

 

[Jango]

When was this picture taken?

There were some Mi-17's of PAA that went to UN mission, and when they came back, they were not painted back into Army camo for sometime because of various reasons. And that was some years ago. Seeing the devastation at the background, i reckon this is flood time. So quite some time they have not been painted back.

 

[razgriz19]

I repeat
as of right now "we have no fennecs in service".
and this info is not from some magazine, it is the ground reality that i have stated above.

self deleted

 

[Nishan_101]

I think in between 2003-2008 when we had a good deal of money the three forces should have bought a deal of equipment from other countries like:
for Army
50-70 Mi-17 V5s(which we bought in very small numbers) to replace old ones that can be sold to other countries.
30-50 EH-101
70 Bell-412/Lynx
70 Bell-407/AS550

for PAF
21 Mi-17V5s
11 Bell-412/Lynx
11 Bell-407/AS550

for PN
21 EH-101
21 Z-9PN
11 Bell-407/AS550

These could be license produced if they are interested at PAC.

 

[Nishan_101]

So what do you think?

 

[Last Hope]

So what do you think?

What I think is, without any offence, you always exaggerate the amount. We must be practical due to financial restrictions. The last such post said PAF must have atleast 330 JF-17s.

 

[Nishan_101]

I wished and everyone else too. As we have planned but the GoP is not providing the Financial assistance as PAF is the force of any other country. May ALLAH bless them with minds that have ALLAH's fear, to all of us. Ameen

 

[fatman17]

Pakistan's Army Aviation

By John Fricker

The third and final part of AIR INTERNATIONAL’S review of Pakistan’s aviation forces looks at the Army’s air element.

PAKISTAN Army Aviation (PAA) dates back to August 1947, when the division of the former British India resources between the emergent states on the sub-Continent at the time of Partition resulted in the transfer of four recently- received ex-RAF Auster Mk 5 and seven Mk 6 lightplanes and spares. These were accompanied by only a small amount of support equipment from one of the two former Indian Air Force Air Observation Flights, and were used to form No 1 AOP Flight in the newly born RPAF, which also set up a training programme for army aviators, alongside its own students, and retained this responsibility until 1956.

For the first few years of Pakistan’s existence, the Army’s air Observation Flights remained under RPAF supervision, including training and maintenance responsibilities, with further deliveries of Auster Mk 5s and 6s eventually totalling some 46 aircraft, as well as 17 Auster J/ 5F Aiglet Trainers for joint service instruction. It was not until the signing of an aid agreement with the US in May 1954, however, as a prelude to Pakistani participation in the CENTO and SEATO pacts, and the arrival of American defence equipment and training aid from a US Military Advisory Group, that the PAA began to emerge as a significant force.

Complete autonomy, however, was not achieved until 1958, about a year after delivery of some 60 Cessna O-1 Bird Dog liaison aircraft to equip two squadrons and begin replacing the Auster AOP. 6s and T.7s then operated, which allowed PakArmy Aviation to emerge as a new and discrete organization within Pakistan’s armed forces. Its reorganization included the transfer of maintenance responsibility for its own aircraft for the PAF and, after a number of Pak Army pilots had been trained in the US, the formation of and Army Aviation School for further student instruction in January 1959.

In 1963, the first PAA helicopter began training in the US, returning the following year with some 18 Bell 47G/OH-13s supplied under Mutual Aid, allowing the formation of several composite squadrons, equipped with both fixed and rotary-winged aircraft. The PAA then experienced its operational debut during the 1965 war with India, in which apart from routine artillery spotting and liaison duties, some of its Cessna0-1s were fitted with special UHF radios to act as airborne Air Contact Teams, and direct air strikes on targets beyond the visual range of ground-based ACTs. Some useful results were achieved despite the fact that PAF had previously assumed that it would have little or no effort to spare for close-support missions.

For a more versatile helicopter, PAA turned in 1968 to Aerospatiale with an initial order for a batch of some 24 Alouette IIIs, both as completed aircraft direct from the manufacturers, and later for kits of knocked-down parts for assembly by the army itself. Development of a repair and production facility was part of a plan to build up an Army Aviation Centre at the former Second World War airfield of Dhamial, near Rawalpindi, where licensed production of Alouette III for the Pakistan Air Force and Navy, as well as for Army requirements, was then undertaken by 503 Workshop, together with the assembly of Cessna O-1s at the rate of one per month from 60 percent indigenous parts. Dhamial was also to become the site of Pakistan Army’s Aviation School, to provide ab initio and transition training for all fixed-wing and helicopter pilots, together with a later establishment of five operational and support squadrons.

For heavier helicopter transport and supply, the Pakistan Army turned to the USSR in the late 1960s, despite an unfavourable evaluation by the PAF of a Mil Mi-6 Hook heavy-lift helicopter which it scrapped without ever putting into service. In 1969, the PAA took delivery, together with other military material, of the first of about a dozen Mil Mi-8 Hip medium-lift twin turbine helicopter from the USSR, to equip No 4 Squadron at Dhamial, which also has a detachment at Rahwali. Powered by two 1,950 shp Isotov TV-2 117A turboshafts, the Mi-8 proved capable of lifting 8,820 lb (4,000 kg) internally or 6,614 lb (3,000kg) from its external cargo hook, and its near clamshell door allows rapid cargo loading and vehicular or artillery access.

In PAA service, the big Soviet utility helicopter has proven ‘fairly reliable’, in its all- weather supply role, with the assistance of a good autopilot for IFR operations, in Pakistan’s northern mountainous areas. While its sturdy construction has minimised maintenance requirements, however, the relatively short component lives of the Mi-8 - typical of most Soviet aircraft - placed great reliance on good spares supplies, which unfortunately proved unequal to the task of attaining acceptable serviceability rates. Progressive cannibalisation failed to prevent Pakistan’s Mi-8s from eventually becoming grounded for some years, and it was not until the necessary spares were obtained from China in the late 1980s that their operations could be fully resumed. PAA has undertaken for many years most of its own airframe, engine and transmission overhauls for all its weather types, however, as well as for the Allouettes of the PAF and the Pakistan Navy.

Several PAA Mi-8s and Alouette IIIs played a major part in the rescue operations in what was then East Pakistan following the flood disasters there in early 1971. These aircraft then went on in December of that year to undertake limited operations in the unsuccessful war with India, resulting in the emergence from East Pakistan of the independent Bengali state of Bangladesh, before being evacuated via Burma after the cease-fire on 17 December.

In Western Pakistan, many of the PAA’s inventory of about 90 aircraft of all types were active along almost the entire battlefront in their normal role of artillery spotting, battlefield surveillance, forward air control and reconnaissance. Squadrons were deployed with each Corps and allocated to sub-formations, being augmented for support duties by a number of impressed flying club and charter aircraft. These were hurriedly given a coat of desert camouflage and military markings for the duration, although several remained in army service for some time afterwards, and included the Cessna 172s, and Skymasters, as well as the DHC Beavers of Plant Protection Ltd, and several other light planes. Two PAA artillery-spotting and reconnaissance Cessna O-1s were blasted out of the sky during the 1971 war by the 30mm ADEN cannon of marauding Indian Hawker Hunters over the battlefield.

Although further PAA expansion was limited by funding problems and restrictions on additional US aid, evaluation of several foreign light aircraft and included the (then) Scottish Aviation Bulldog and SOCATA Rallye-Minerva. This resulted in selection of the SAAB/ MFI-17s from Sweden, of which 115 were for military use, comprising 23 in completed form and 92 assembled at Risalpur from knocked-down kits under the local name of Mushshak between 1975-81, for both the PAF and Army Aviation. This was followed by the subsequent transfer of the entire MFI-17 production line from Sweden to Pakistan, where licenced production began at the new Kamra Aeronautical Complex in 1983. February 1991, saw the 100th Mushshak being delivered from Kamra of 190 now on order, including 25 for Iran, and some 115 for PAA. One Mushshak has been converted to Shahbaaz standard with turbo-supercharged Continental TSIO-360 engine with up to 100 new-build or conversions anticipated to follow, mostly for PAA use, although none have appeared to date.

During the 1973 floods in Sind and Punjab, PAA received six Bell UH-1H Iroquois helicopters from the US, with specific restrictions on use to humanitarian operations, and these have since been operated by No 6 Squadron from Dhamial. In 1974-75, the Iroquois were supplemented by a further ten similar Agusta-Bell 205A-1s presented by Iran, to complete the equipment of the Pakistan government’s Emergency Relief Cell (ERC), which is PAA-flown and maintained, as a national disaster force. Not all these helicopters are operated at any one time, however, seven being in storage during the early 1980s. Other PAA-operated Bell helicopters include a dozen 206B JetRanger IIIs in 1981, and used for training and scout roles, as well as by Pakistan’s Coast Guard service and the Frontier Corps for border patrols.

Additional expansion of PAA’s helicopter force allowed a 1976 order for 32 Aerospatiale SA330J Pumas, used mainly for transport and assault roles by two squadrons (Nos 21 and 24 from Multan, the former unit also having one or two Bell UH-Hs), plus No 25 Sqn based at Dhamial. This last unit also has a detachment at Gilgit, in Pakistan’s Karakoram range of the Western Himalayas, which reaches heights of up to the 28,660 ft in Nanga Parbat- the world’s third-highest mountain peak. Nearby Skardu, another mountain village, is the base for a detachment of two or three Aerospatiale SA315B Lama high-altitude utility helicopters from at least six delivered from CNAIR in Romania to equip No 8 Sqn, together with several Alouette IIIs, at Dhamial in 1987. The Lamas followed the 1883 delivery of four more Alouettes from Romanian construction, but a 1986 requirement for IAR-built SA330J Pumas appeared to result only in receipts of Puma and Alouette III spares from Romania in 1987.

Long standing PAA interest in attack helicopters in the early-1980s to improve its close-support capability resulted in orders for 20 Bell AH-1S Cobra gunships in two batches through US Foreign Military Sales funding. The first ten were delivered in late 1984 and officially entered service in during March 1985, followed by the second ten in early-1986. The BGM-71 TOW missile-armed Cobras now equip No 31 and 32 anti-tank Squadrons at Multan, each unit also having one or two Bell 206Bs for scout and liaison roles. A PAA requirement for another 20 Cobras was due to be partly-met by an FMS offer for ten AH-I Fs costing $89 million (including more TOWs) in early 1990, but all US military aid to Pakistan was suspended later that year by Congress because of that country’s suspected nuclear weapons development programme.

This suspension also appears to have ended earlier PAA plans for licenced production of 75-100 armed scout/liaison and training helicopters at Kamra Aeronautical Complex, for which the Aerospatiale SA342 Gazelle and MBB BO105LS were evaluated in 1986. Initial procurement in this category was then expected to be ten Bell M206Bs costing $12 million in 1990, followed by about 42 more at a later date, but this requirement seems currently destined to remain unfulfilled.

For fixed wing communications, PAA has operated small numbers of Beech U-8F Seminole, Cessna 421 and Turbo Commander 690 light twins. The last-mentioned was delivered in March 1981, and was joined in January 1985 by a Single Commander SMA Jetprop 840 equipped for photo-mapping and operated on behalf of the Surveyor-General, and these types, together with a single Puma helicopter, are now operated at Dhamial-based VIP Flight of the PAA. Medical evacuation requirements were at one time intended to be met by 24 Reims-Cessna FTB337 twin-boom light-twins for which an order was reportedly negotiated with France in mid-1980, but these aircraft never materialised.

As currently organised, PAA operates some 15 squadrons, including those already listed, five of the remainder being nominated as Composite Squadrons, comprising No 2 at Lahore; No 3, Multan; No 7, Share Faisal (Karachi); No 9, Peshawar; and No 13, Dhamial, each with small numbers of Cessna O-1s and Mushshak fixed-wing liaison aircraft. Two of these units also operate few helicopters, comprising No 2 Sqn with UH-1Hs and No 9 with Alouette IIIs. There is also a single PAA squadron (No 5), which operates only Alouette IIIs from Dhamial.

Apart from PAA fixed-wing primary training, the Army Aviation School, which moved from Dhamial to Rahwali in 1988, provides helicopter crews for all three services. The ab initio flying course of 44 weeks comprises some 200 hours on the Mushshak, followed by about 90 hours of basic flying instruction on the Cessna O-1, the latter including emphasis of flying at minimum altitudes for tactical evasion, and on short-strip take-offs and landings. Helicopter conversion comprises 50-60 hours in 14 weeks on Bell 47Gs and newer JetRangers, and a similar advanced course on Alouette IIIs. Retirement is planned in the near future for PAA’s veteran Bell 47G/OH-13s, and evaluations have been made of such types as the Schweitzer HC-300, but no funding has yet been made available. Transition training as co-pilot on Mi-8s or Pumas starts on squadron aircraft detached in pairs to the PAA School at Rahwali, continuing with operational helicopter units, and includes extensive flying in and around the Karakoram mountain chain. A minimum 40-50 hours as co-pilot precedes qualification as an aircraft commander, and all PAA aircrews are trained to be completely type interchangeable. Helicopter instructions are trained at Rahwali in a 14-week/6-hour course, but fixed wing instructors attend the PAF’s Flight Instructor School at Risalpur, from where some PAA Mushshaks operate, to receive categorisation. A Hughes 500E flown in PAA markings is actually assigned to Pakistan’s renowned Inter-Services Intelligence department (IST), which played a major part in co-ordinating and channeling the supply of US and Saudi-funded weapons and military equipment to rebel mujahideen guerillas in their decade-long campaign against the government in Afghanistan.

Aircraft technicians have been trained by the Army Aviation Engineering School, at Dhamial, since its formation in 1974, while at the same base, the 199th Aviation Engineering battalion augments overhaul and repair functions of the mainly O-1 and Alouette-oriented 503 Workshop. The PAF still keeps a fatherly eye on army maintenance through a quality control group, but the PAA has now achieved a substantial degree of autonomy of its ever increasing air operations.



interesting information from an old article!

 

[Imran Khan]

 

[Imran Khan]

 

[Jango]

When did the Frontier Scouts get Ecueril?