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First in a three part Briefing Series comparing Pakistan versus India from the military viewpoint, with research conducted in open sources online which include archives of printed sources such as periodicals, newsletters, official (public) reports, and newspapers.  This first part in the series documents the basics of the Pakistani military.  The second part will discuss similar details of the military in India.  The third part of the series will go into an in-depth analysis of the two militaries, comparing and commenting on the strengths and weaknesses of each.
 
 

MILNET Briefing:  Pakistan and India

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Part I

Pakistan

The country of Pakistan was established on August 14, 1947.  The Pakistan military consists of the Army and Air Force. One year after winning its independence, India attacked and seized the province of Kashmir, an area still in dispute between Pakistan, India, and China.

A Pakistani Constitution was not created until 1956 however, with unrest between East Pakistan and West Pakistan contributing to political strive.  Eastern separatists aided by India began a campaign which by December 1971 erupted into open warfare between Pakistan and India, creating a new nation Bangladesh.

In 1973 a new constitution was established, however martial law continued after Army Chief Zia-ul-Haq seized power from Prime Minister Bhutto.  During this period, many Pakistani aided the Afghan Mujhadeen fight a guerilla war against Russian intrusion.  After Haq was killed in a plane crash, the country suffered without leadership until 1989 won elections were once again held and the daughter of the deposed Prime Minister, Benazir Bhutto took office.  Bhutto went on to win office again in 1995.

In 1997, Nawaz Sharif was elected President and a period followed with Sharif disputing the authority of various government officials until finally he appointed Rafeeq Tarar as president and General Pervaiz Musharraf the Army Chief who later staged a coup and is today in control of the government.

The period between 1995 and 1998 also saw the development of a long range missile program and the successful completion of the nuclear weapons program culminating in the test of six nuclear weapons underground by Pakistan.

During this period the Kargil War with India also broke out, however, Pakistan withdrew ending the war.  Several negotiations over Kashmir have proven unsuccessful and this area continues to be an area of unrest and the chief bone of contention between the two countries.

In October, the U.S. led a small coalition of forces into Afghanistan, staging primarily from Pakistan.  The target being Al-Qaida terrorist network and the Taliban members who the U.S. claimed to have taken over the Afghani government.

In December of 2001, a group of radical Islamic extremists attacked, during session, the Indian Parliament, killing a number of Indian leaders.  The result was a ratcheting up of tensions and both countries building up forces on the border between the two countries.
 

Pakistani Army

The Pakistani Army reports to the Chief of the Army Staff headquartered in Rawalpindi with four staff officers (typically Major Generals) reporting:

The Army itself is composed of Arms and Services.  The Arms components are: The Services components (specialty services) such as: Notice the Remount, Veterinary and Farm Corps -- Pakistan, like many middle eastern armies has an abundance of Equestrian forces which require special components to support them.

 The typical Army Corps consists of two or more divisions and is commanded by a Lieutenant General.  An infantry division, the major ground force combat formation, usually consisted of infantry, artillery, engineers, and communications units in addition to the supply and service support required for sustained independent action.  Three infantry brigades usually comprise the primary organic combat units of an infantry division; armored units would be attached depending on the mission of the division and the terrain in which it is to operate.

Auxiliary or paramilitary forces include the Pakistan Rangers, the Frontier Corps, and the Frontier Constabulary.

Pakistani Army (Soldiers Strength:   6,00,000 + 5,00,000 reserves)

The 20 Infantry and 2 Armoured Divisions are organized as: EQUIPMENT:


Source World Defense Almanac as reported on the Pakpal site on Geocities

Pakistani Air Force (65,000 active, 8,000 reserves)

The Pakistani Air Force is a small, mostly outdated Air Force comprised of weapons systems purchased from typical sources for third world, non-western allied sources.  This includes aircraft primarily from China and a few from France.  The U.S. added some Airborne Early Warning and air defense aircraft in recent years as rewards/bribes to help stabilize relations between Pakistan and India as well as an incentive to Pakistan to join test ban and non-proliferation treaties following the underground tests of nuclear weapons.

The Pakistani Air Force is commanded by the Chief of Air Staff, the Vice Chief of Air Staff and four Deputy Chiefs of Air Staff:

There are also the Directorates of Air Intelligence and Public Relations.  The Defense of Pakistan is controlled by the three geographical commands:
  The Air Force is organized into 20 squadrons containing some 504 aircraft.
 
 
Cnt Designation
Description
Nuclear
Capable
 Speed Range
4 E-2C Airborne Early Warning (AEW)      
4 E-3A Airborne Early Warning (AEW)      
3 P-3C Orien Anti-Submarine Warfare Patrol 5-20KT  550kts 18 hours flight time
29 F-16A Falcon Air Defense(FTR) 5-40KT M2.0 850km
11 F-16B Trainer 5-40KT M2.0 850km
58 Mirage V Ground Attack Fighter (FTR-BMR) 5-40KT M2.2 500km
110 Mirage III Ground Attack Fighter (FTR-BMR)      
12 Mirage III RP Reconnaissance and Patrol      
49 Chinese A5c Ground Attack Fighter (FTR-BMR) 5-20KT M1.12 600km
135 Chinese Q5 Ground Attack Fighter (FTR-BMR)      
50 Chinese J6 Fighter Interceptor (FTR)      
160 Chinese F-7P Fighter Interceptor (FTR) (mod MIG-21)      
53 T-37 Flight Trainer      
16 C-130 Hercules Transport/Cargo      
3 Boeing 707 VIP Transport 1MT 560 kts 3000 miles
From the Federation of American Scientists online and the Pakistani Air Defense Institute online

A later article on nuclear delivery systems from FAS indicates the total inventory in 2001 of Mirage fighters is now near 150.  The FAS also reports that Pakistan has purchased and received some 28 Harpoon (AGM-84) anti-shipping missiles, 360 AIM-9L sidewinder and three P-3C aircraft.

The F-16A count is not verified -- may be confused with undelivered aircraft purchased but not delivered during Clinton administration.  However, the Pakistani No. 9 and No. 11 are supposed to be flying F-16 As with the No. l1 squadron also flying the B model for training.

Major Operational Bases (MOBs)

These are fully functional bases from which PAF aircraft operate during peacetime and wartime. There are 10 such bases:

· PAF Sargodha
· PAF Mianwali
· PAF Kamra
· PAF Rafiqui (Shorkot)
· PAF Masroor (Karachi)
· PAF Faisal (Karachi)
· PAF Chaklala (Rawalpindi)
· PAF Risalpur
· PAF Peshawar
· PAF Samungli (Quetta)
 

Forward Operational Bases (FOBs)

These are bases which become fully operational during wartime, although they are active during peacetime as well. They
have fully developed infrastructure similar to the MOBs. They are capable of supporting all types of missions and once fully functional can give the same type of services as the MOBs. There are 11 such bases:

· PAF Sukkur
· PAF Shahbaz (Jacobabad)
· PAF Multan
· PAF Vihari
· PAF Risalewala (Faisalabad)
· PAF Lahore
· PAF Nawabshah
· PAF Mirpur Khas
· PAF Murid
· PAF Pasni
· PAF Talhar
 

Satellites (SATs)

These bases are for emergency landing and recovery of aircraft during both peacetime and wartime. They have a very small infrastructure and are either lightly manned or, as in some cases, not manned at all. There are 9 such bases:

· PAF Rahim Yar Khan
· PAF Chander
· PAF Bhagtanwala
· PAF Chuk Jhumra
· PAF Ormara
· PAF Rajanpur
· PAF Sindhri
· PAF Gwadar
· PAF Kohat
 

Airfields

These are not classified as PAF bases but are mainly civilian airfields available to the PAF for emergency landing and
recovery of aircraft during both peacetime and wartime. Infrastructure and facilities at these airfields vary considerably.
Some are small to medium-sized fully-fledged civilian airports, others barely containing a single runway and sparse
infrastructure and support facilities. Most of them are capable of being used by jet-fighter aircraft whereas all are capable of handling medium-sized tactical transports. There are 23 such airfields (name of Province in brackets):

- Jiwani (Baluchistan)
- Turbat (Baluchistan)
- Panjgur (Baluchistan)
- Miranshah (Baluchistan)
- Zhob (Baluchistan)
- Dalbandin (Baluchistan)
- Khuzdar (Baluchistan)
- Sui (Baluchistan)
- Hyderabad (Sindh)
- Moenjodaro (Sindh)
- Faisalabad (Punjab)
- Bhawalpur (Punjab)
- Pasrur (Punjab)
- Dera Ghazi Khan (Punjab)
- Dera Ismail Khan (Sarhad)
- Parachinar (Sarhad)
- Bannu (Sarhad)
- Saidu (Sarhad)
- Chitral (Sarhad)
- Gilgit (Gilgit Agency)
- Skardu (Northern Areas)
- Muzaffarabad (Azad Jammu & Kashmir)
- Rawalakot
 

Missiles

The following table indicates the Pakistani Missile Inventory including missiles under test or are suspected:
 
Cnt Designation Range (km) Warhead
Capable		 Notes
few Hatf-1 60-100    
few Hatf-2 280    
30-80 Shaheen (Hatf-3) 300 5-20KT  
Tested Shaheen-I 800    
Design Shaheen-II 2000    
few Ghauri (Hatf-5) 1500 5-100KT NoDong (N.Korea), Shebab-3 (Iran)
Tested Ghauri-III 2500    
Dev Tipu 4000    
Dev Ghaznavi x000s    
From the Federation of American Scientists online, verified by various public non-proliferation studies including the "The Rumsfeld Report" - The Commission to Assess the Ballistic Missile Threat to the United States and U.S.'s annual report for 2001, Non-Proliferation:  Threat and Response.
 
 

NBC Weapons Status

Nuclear

The Pakistani NBC situation  is first and foremost, a known nuclear nation with six underground blasts concluded in 1998.  According to the U.S.'s annual report for 2001, Non-Proliferation:  Threat and Response,

"Capable of manufacturing complete sets of components for highly enriched uranium-based nuclear weapons; capability to produce plutonium weapons.  Has small stockpiles of nuclear weapons components and can probably assemble some weapons fairly quickly.  It can deliver them with fighter aircraft and possibly missiles.  Has signed neither the NTP nor the CTBT."
Chemical

Pakistan is believed not to have a chemical weapons program (unclassified viewpoint).  According to the U.S.'s annual report for 2001, Non-Proliferation:  Threat and Response,

"Improving commercial chemical industry which would be able to support precursor chemical  production.  Ratified the CWC but did not declare any chemical agent production.  Opened facilities to inspection."
Biological

Pakistan is believed to be capable of but not suspected of having a biological warfare program.  According to the U.S.'s annual report for 2001, Non-Proliferation:  Threat and Response,

"Believed to have capabilities to support a limited biological warfare research effort.  Ratified the BWC."
Delivery

Pakistan can deliver weapons via fighter aircraft and ground systems, including artillery.  Missile programs are capable, however it is not clear warheads have been fitted and there is no verifiable public evidence that Pakistan has tested a dummy warhead proving delivery systems for nuclear, chemical or biological weapons.
 

Proliferation

Pakistan is believed to be an exporter to both Iran and Iraq and importer from France and China, and early on from Russia.  Having refused to sign the NPT, the Pakistani proliferation of anything they have has been demonstrated in a number of countries -- with interception of shipments implying a prolific traffic in nuclear weapons research and components.  Pakistan may be the number exporter of nuclear material both waste, reactor grade, and weapons grade materials.

Other Material on Pakistan on MILNET:

Sources:

Source World Defense Almanac as reported on the Pakpal site on Geocities
Federation of American Scientists
"The Rumsfeld Report" - The Commission to Assess the Ballistic Missile Threat to the United States
The Pakistani Army Web Page online
Pakistani Air Defense Institute online
U.S.'s annual report for 2001,  Non-Proliferation:  Threat and Response
U.S. Air Force University Overview: Country Study - Pakistan
MILNET: Pakistan


 © Copyright, 2001, Michael Crawford, MILNET

Part II:  India, Part III:  Comparison
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