The Pakistan Air Force Strategic Command (

Reporting name Reporting may refer to * any activity that leads to reports * in particular business reporting * Data reporting * Sustainability reporting * Financial reporting * international reporting of financial information for tax purposes under the OECD's ...

:AFSC) is one of the major regional formations of the

Pakistan Air Force The Pakistan Air Force (PAF) (; ) is the aerial warfare branch of the Pakistan Armed Forces, tasked primarily with the aerial defence of Pakistan, with a secondary role of providing air support to the Pakistan Army and Pakistan Navy when re ...

headquartered at the Air HQ in

Islamabad Islamabad (; , ; ) is the capital city of Pakistan. It is the country's tenth-most populous city with a population of over 1.1 million and is federally administered by the Pakistani government as part of the Islamabad Capital Territory. Bu ...

. The Air Force Strategic Command provides the combat readiness to conduct aerial-based

strategic deterrence Strategy (from Greek στρατηγία ''stratēgia'', "troop leadership; office of general, command, generalship") is a general plan to achieve one or more long-term or overall goals under conditions of uncertainty. In the sense of the " ar ...

through maintaining the operational command and control over the nuclear weapons together with the Navy's counterpart.

History

Since 1970s, the Pakistan Air Force had been training an elite class of fighter pilots at their Combat Commanders School (CCS), which is roughly based on the

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, for carrying out the strike operations and strategic bombing missions. The Pakistan Air Force's military leadership established the formation for strategic mission to subvert and mitigate the threats from India to target Pakistan's national laboratories, which it was being planned with

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based on their previous mission in Iraq. On routine basis, the Pakistan Air Force fighter pilots began their combat air patrol missions while learning and training on targeting India's nuclear sites. After the F-16 Fighting Falcons were inducted in the Pakistan Air Force in 1983,

Air Chief Marshal Air chief marshal (Air Chf Mshl or ACM) is a high-ranking air officer rank used by some air forces, with origins from the Royal Air Force. The rank is used by air forces of many Commonwealth of Nations, countries that have historical British i ...

Anwar Shamim, then- Chief of Air Staff, decided to establish the strategic command dedicated for protecting and providing combat readiness to conduct strategic deterrence from foreign adversaries. The Air Force's strategic command also provided the platform to the PAF's fighter pilots to practiced and later mastered the " toss-bombing"— a method developed by the United States Air Force to deliver nuclear weapons from fighter jets in 1990s. In 1998, the strategic command rotated its nuclear weapons-related mission by flying F-16 on an air patrol to provide cover to the C-130s planes transporting the nuclear devices in knock-down assembly to the nuclear test site in Balochistan.

Employment

The Pakistan Air Forces controls and maintains the operation control of the nuclear weapons including their launch codes, target selections,

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, radars, and military computers. In a sharp contrast to the Pakistan Army's and Navy's strategic command, the Pakistan Air Force's strategic command is far more secretive and more mission oriented with very few details of its mission available from outside sources. Even the

Inter-Services Public Relations The Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) () is the media and public relations wing of the Pakistan Armed Forces. It broadcasts and coordinates military news and information to the country's Media of Pakistan, civilian media and the Pakistani ...

(ISPR) of the Pakistani military has acknowledged very little of its achievements, with its commanders routinely assigned new mission parameters. In past, the No. 11 Squadron (''Arrows'') were part of the Air Force Strategic Command; the ''Arrows'' has F-16s (variant ''A/B'') which are understood to be nuclear weapons delivery capable. It has been understood that the No. 16 Squadron (''Black Panthers'') and the No. 26 Squadron (''Black Spiders''), have been reported as likely to be tasked with the delivery of nuclear weapons. In 1998, the ''Black Panthers'' and ''Black Spiders'' were rotated and stationed in PAF Base Masroor in Karachi but were redeployed at the PAF Base Peshawar as early as in 1999. Due to its control over the nuclear weapons, the Air Force's strategic command routinely moves the aircraft, devices, its personnels, and their delivery mechanisms all over the country and practice combat delivery of nuclear weapons quarterly. The No. 15 Sqd. (''Cobras''), No. 25 Sqd. (''Eagles'') and No. 27 Sqd. (''Zarrar'') are also widely suspected of the part of the strategic command since they have ability to carry and deliver nations' nuclear standoff weapon system.

References

{{Pakistan Air Force main Strategic forces of Pakistan Pakistan Air Force Military units and formations established in 1985 1985 establishments in Pakistan Pakistan Air Force commands