Quite clearly, the inadequacy of IAF’s Su-30MKI and MiG-29 twin-engine fighters in the air superiority role led to the decision to acquire the Rafale, ostensibly a more modern and capable multi-role fighter. While both Russian fighters are highly maneuverable in a visual dogfight, as evidenced in several IAF exercises with RAF Typhoons and USAF F-15s,…
Pakistan Air Force Today PAF is well on the way to modernization of its fleet to the so-called 4+ generation of fighters, though half of it still includes F-7P/PG (Chinese derivatives of the early model MiG-21F) and Mirage III/5 that first flew in the mid-fifties. The Mirages have had a long service in PAF, which…
The Pakistan Aeronautical Complex (PAC) started off as an overhaul factory for the Chinese F-6 fighter, with the first aircraft rolling out in 1979. Several more factories were added over the years, resulting in today’s vast complex at Kamra in northern Pakistan. PAC is a state-owned enterprise with the goal of self-reliance and indigenization in the…
Afghans are not known for abiding by treaties and agreements, they are also poor performers in handling intra-Afghan negotiations. Both the Taliban and the US troops are accusing each other of violating the peace agreement and the dysfunctional Afghan government is playing spoilers. May be implementation of the agreement is more messy than the process…
It would be instructive to learn in this summary assessment that at GHQ, most of the Principal Staff Officers were in complete discord with the General Staff. The Quarter Master General: Maj Gen A.O Mitha, Adjutant General: Maj Gen Khuda Dad and Master General of Ordnance: Maj Gen Eftikhar Janjua, were either not on speaking terms…
The Balakot strike by IAF on 26 February 2019, and PAF’s ‘Swift Retort’ a day later, can be considered watershed events in modern aerial warfare. Though the IAF strike was beset with technical snags, including failure of stand-off bombs to guide themselves to the target due to faulty terrain elevation data, it was able to…
Given the superior performance of the PAF in the 1965 war, it was only natural for Pakistanis to expect a similar repeat in any future conflict. However, to a keen student of military history, it would have been clear that PAF’s sterling performance emanating from decisive leadership and better aircrew training were only partial reasons…
Immediately after the Pulwama suicide attack on 14 February 2019, in which a young Kashmiri lad blew himself up killing 40 Indian para-military troops, a cacophony of accusations were hurled against Pakistan. In a purported phone call, the caller claiming to be a representative of the Jaish-e-Muhammad (JeM) an internationally proscribed terrorist organisation was said…
The earlier decision to postpone the National Assembly session scheduled for 3 March had been met with extreme derision and wide-spread anger in East Pakistan. Hartals (general strikes) all over the province were ordered by the Awami League, and Mujib made it clear that the postponement decision would not go unchallenged. Behind the scenes, though,…
While charting out a constitutional plan for the Muslims of India, the All-India Muslim League. proposed in the Lahore Resolution of 23rd/ 24th March 1940 that geographically contiguous units, as in north-western and north-eastern India (which were confusingly also called regions, areas and zones in the same breath), should form independent states in which the…
