Pakistan Air Force Base Mushaf or more simply PAF Base Mushaf (formerly PAF Station Sargodha and PAF Base Sargodha), ) is a

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 ...

airbase situated at

Sargodha Sargodha (Punjabi language, Punjabi/; ; ) is a city and capital of Sargodha Division, located in Central Punjab, central Punjab, Pakistan, Punjab, Pakistan. It is Pakistan's List of most populous cities in Pakistan, 11th most populous city and ...

Punjab, Pakistan Punjab (, ) is a Administrative units of Pakistan, province of Pakistan. With a population of over 127 million, it is the Demographics of Pakistan, most populous province in Pakistan and the List of first-level administrative divisions by popu ...

. It is designated as a "Major Operational Base" (MOB) by the PAF.PAF Base Mushaf on Scramble (Dutch Aviation Society) website
Retrieved 30 September 2021 It was known as PAF Base Sargodha until 2003, when it was renamed in honour of the former Base Commander and Chief of the Air Staff

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 ...

Mushaf Ali Mir, whose aircraft crashed on a routine flight near

Kohat Kohat (; ) is a city that serves as the capital of the Kohat District in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan. It is regarded as a centre of the Bangash tribe of Pashtuns, who have lived in the region since the late 15th century. With a population o ...

in February 2003. The PAF's Central Air Command (CAC), the

Combat Commanders' School The Combat Commanders' School or CCS is the advanced air combat tactics development and training school of the Pakistan Air Force (PAF) based at PAF Base Mushaf, Sargodha, Pakistan.Pakistan Air Force, ''The Story of the Pakistan Air Force: A Saga ...

(CCS), and the PAF Airpower Centre of Excellence (PAF ACE) are based at PAF Base Mushaf, PAF Base Mushaf is the most elite and widely operational base in Pakistan, consisting of the highest equipped aircraft and squadrons and the best trained pilots and commanders.

History

PAF Base Mushaf was originally established as an airstrip by the

Royal Air Force The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the Air force, air and space force of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies. It was formed towards the end of the World War I, First World War on 1 April 1918, on the merger of t ...

during the 1930s. After

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, the airstrip was one of the Sargodha Satellite Fields, and was known as Sargodha (Main). In 1959, the airstrip was commissioned as PAF Base Sargodha. During 1979, the base was home to 5 Squadron with the

Dassault Mirage III The Dassault Mirage III () is a family of single/dual-seat, single-engine, fighter aircraft developed and manufactured by French aircraft company Dassault Aviation. It was the first Western European combat aircraft to exceed Mach 2 in horizont ...

EP, another squadron with the Mirage IIIDP, another squadron with the Mirage IIIRP and 9 Squadron with the

Dassault Mirage 5 The Dassault Mirage 5 is a French supersonic attack aircraft/fighter-bomber designed by Dassault Aviation during the 1960s and manufactured in France and other countries. It was derived from Dassault's popular Mirage III fighter and spawned sev ...

2007 Suicide bombing

On 1 November 2007, a suicide bomber struck the 50-seat bus carrying PAF officers to nearby Kirana Ammunition Depot, killing 11 people (including 7 officers) and injuring 28. The bombing took place on Faisalabad Road, where a motorcycle loaded with explosives rammed the bus and triggered the blast. All the officers were new recruits posted to PAFB Mushaf for training. This was the last major attack before the 2007 state of emergency was imposed on the country.

2025 India–Pakistan conflict

2025 Indian Air and Missile strikes

PAF Base Mushaf was struck by Indian retaliatory air and missile strikes as a part of Operation Sindoor during the

2025 India–Pakistan conflict The 2025 India–Pakistan conflict was a brief armed conflict between India and Pakistan that began on 7 May 2025, after India launched missile strikes on Pakistan, in a military campaign codenamed Operation Sindoor. India said that the operat ...

on 10 May, 2025. Indian millitary claimed to have used precision weapons to strike two sections of the runway. Later satellite imagery showed a crater on the runway.

References

* {{authority control

Mushaf ''Mushaf'' (, ; plural ) is an Arabic word for a codex or collection of sheets, but also refers to a written copy of the Quran. The chapters of the Quran, which Muslims believe was revealed during a 23-year period in Muhammad's lifetime, were wr ...

Military installations in Punjab, Pakistan Sargodha Indo-Pakistani war of 1965 Indo-Pakistani war of 1971 Royal Air Force stations in Pakistan

History

2007 Suicide bombing

2025 India–Pakistan conflict

2025 Indian Air and Missile strikes

See also

References