The Army Strategic Forces Command (ASFC) is a major command of the

Pakistan Army The Pakistan Army (, ) is the Army, land service branch of the Pakistan Armed Forces. The roots of its modern existence trace back to the British Indian Army that ceased to exist following the partition of India, Partition of British India, wh ...

, which administers land-based nuclear weapons. Its comparable command includes the

Pakistan Air Force , "Be it deserts or seas; all lie under our wings" (traditional) , colours = , colours_label = , march = , mascot = , anniversaries = ...

's Air Force Strategic Command and the

Navy A navy, naval force, or maritime force is the branch of a nation's armed forces principally designated for naval and amphibious warfare; namely, lake-borne, riverine, littoral, or ocean-borne combat operations and related functions. It include ...

's Naval Strategic Forces Command, all commands formed the unified

command and control Command and control (abbr. C2) is a "set of organizational and technical attributes and processes ... hatemploys human, physical, and information resources to solve problems and accomplish missions" to achieve the goals of an organization or e ...

mechanism under the directorship and leadership of the

Strategic Plans Division Strategic Plans Division Force or (SPD Force) ( ur, ) is Pakistan's agency responsible for the protection of its tactical and strategic nuclear weapons stockpile and the strategic assets. It is the security branch of the National Command Author ...

(SPD) Significantly, it is a newer component of administrative corps of

. It is tasked to command all of Pakistan's land-based strategic forces.

History

Before its establishment, the

Pakistan Air Force , "Be it deserts or seas; all lie under our wings" (traditional) , colours = , colours_label = , march = , mascot = , anniversaries = ...

's Air Force Strategic Command was completely responsible for protecting the nuclear assets and had control over the land and air-based nuclear weapons. The Air Force Strategic Command was active during the country's nuclear test experiments in 1998, and it had completely dismantle the role of the Army to take any decisions over the nuclear weapons. Its success influenced Chief of Army Staff and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee General Pervez Musharraf to established a new formation that was created in June 1999. General Pervez Musharraf desired to have a formal command and control structure for the employment of Pakistan land based nuclear weapons, completely independent from the Air Force. The Command was established after

Prime Minister A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister is ...

Nawaz Sharif Mian Muhammad Nawaz Sharif (Urdu, Punjabi: ; born 25 December 1949) is a Pakistani businessman and politician who has served as the Prime Minister of Pakistan for three non-consecutive terms. He is the longest-serving prime minister of Pak ...

ordered nuclear tests in 1998, under codename '' Chagai-I'' and '' Chagai-II'' in Balochistan Province. The command structure includes the Nuclear Command Authority,

, and the Strategic Forces Commands of

Air Force An air force – in the broadest sense – is the national military branch that primarily conducts aerial warfare. More specifically, it is the branch of a nation's armed services that is responsible for aerial warfare as distinct from an ar ...

, and the Pakistan Navy. The formation itself became operational in March 2000. It became a fully fledged

corps Corps (; plural ''corps'' ; from French , from the Latin "body") is a term used for several different kinds of organization. A military innovation by Napoleon I, the formation was first named as such in 1805. The size of a corps varies great ...

in 2004.

Employment

The official remit of the formation is "the command and employment of all land-based strategic assets." This description seems to imply that it controls most, if not all, of Pakistans ballistic launchers. While Pakistan is a nuclear weapons state, it is unknown at this time if ASFC is in possession or control of any nuclear warheads, though presumably in a

nuclear war Nuclear warfare, also known as atomic warfare, is a theoretical military conflict or prepared political strategy that deploys nuclear weaponry. Nuclear weapons are weapons of mass destruction; in contrast to conventional warfare, nuclear wa ...

, a good percentage of the warheads would be delivered to their targets by the launchers of the ASFC.

Composition

Since 2004, ASFC has been made the equivalent of a

. It has subordinate divisions,

brigade A brigade is a major tactical military formation that typically comprises three to six battalions plus supporting elements. It is roughly equivalent to an enlarged or reinforced regiment. Two or more brigades may constitute a division. ...

s and units. There is scant information on these, except for the 21 Artillery Division (Pano Aqil) and 22 Artillery Division (

Sargodha Sargodha (Punjabi and ur, ) is a city and capital of Sargodha Division, located in Punjab province, Pakistan. It is Pakistan's 12th largest city by population and one of the fastest-growing cities of the country. Sargodha is also known as ...

), which seems to be missile artillery divisions. Previously 47 Artillery Brigade was reported at Sargodha.

List Of Commanders ASFC

References

{{Strategic forces Strategic forces of Pakistan Commands of Pakistan Army Military units and formations established in 2000 2000 establishments in Pakistan