Pakistan Naval Air Arm

Pakistan Naval Air Arm
Command Naval Aviation insignia
Active 1971 – Present
Country  Pakistan
Branch Pakistan Navy
Type Naval aviation
Size 60 aircraft, 28 helicopters
Part of Pakistan Navy
Naval Air Headquarters Mehran Naval Air Base, Sindh, Pakistan
Nickname(s) Pakistan Naval Aviation
Motto(s) Resources are limited; creativity is unlimited
Colors Navy blue and White         
Engagements 1999 Atlantique Incident
2001 Indo-Pakistan standoff
War on Terror
Combined Task Force 150
Commanders
Commander Naval Air Arm, COMNAV Cdre. S.W. Hassan, S.Bt.
Insignia
Roundel
Aircraft flown
Attack Westland Lynx, Mirage 5
Electronic
warfare		 Raytheon Hawker 800
Helicopter Aérospatiale SA-319B Alouette III, Aérospatiale Alouette II, Harbin Z-9
Patrol Lockheed P-3C Orion, Fokker F27-2000, Breguet Atlantique, Britten-Norman Defender
Reconnaissance SATUMA Mukhbar (UAV)
Transport Westland Sea King

The Pakistan Naval Air Arm (unofficially Pakistan Naval Aviation) is the naval aviation and naval warfare service branch of the Pakistan Navy.

The Naval Air Arm is tasked to carry out air surveillance, limited aerial warfare, and reconnaissance operations. The Naval Air Arm was created after the Indo-Pakistani War of 1971 and it is designed to operate in all facets of naval operations ranging from surveillance, tracking and subsequent destruction of enemy units.[1] The arm also takes part in operations other than war such as search and rescue, casualty evacuation, relief operations.[2] Early in its inception the Naval Air Arm was dependent upon the Air Force and the Army to meet its training requirement of air and ground crew.[1]

History

After the 1965 Indo-Pakistan war, the Navy attempted to established the naval air branch to sustain the purely defence naval strategy of Pakistan.[3] Chief of Naval Staff Muzaffar Hassan made an unsuccessful attempt to establish the air wing in the Navy, but this was impossible to achieve.[3] The lack of funds and the PAF itself objected the plans.[3] The air force objected any attempts as the air force saw the potential risked of losing aircraft in open-sea operations, therefore Air Marshall Abdul Rahim Khan, chief of air staff, remains positively hostile towards the creation of the naval air arm.[3]

Formation

The Naval Air Arm was created after the careful analysis of Operation Trident during the Indo-Pakistani War of 1971. It was established that lack of early warning from seaward, for example the absence of a naval air surveillance capability, had allowed the Indian Navy to close Karachi harbour for attacks. After studying various available options, the French Breguet Atlantique was selected and acquisition formalities were completed in 1974. Finally the first squadron was raised in 1976, with three Atlantiques.

On 28 September 1974, the first of the six Westland Sea King helicopters was also acquired from the United Kingdom, marking the introduction of naval aviation and rotary wing aircraft in the service. 111 Squadron was established for these rotary wing aircraft.

To support the Naval Air Fleet, the naval base, P.N.S. Mehran was commissioned on 26 September 1975 as Naval aviation's headquarters. The base is approximately 10 kilometres (6.2 mi) from Jinnah Terminal. Sea King helicopters were the first machines to fly from this base. Atlantique and Aérospatiale Alouette III helicopters soon joined the Naval Air Arm. As the formation year of 1976 coincided with 29th year of Pakistani independence, the first squadron of Atlantiques was named 29 ASW Squadron. In 1977, six Alouette helicopters were acquired from France leading to the formation of 333 Squadron. In 1982 Fokker F-27 Aircraft were acquired, leading to the formation of 27 Squadron.

In early 1994, three Lynx helicopters were acquired from the United Kingdom leading to the formation of 222 Squadron. In 1996, three P-3C Orion aircraft were acquired from United States and were inducted into 28 Squadron of the Naval Air Arm. The delivery of these long range maritime patrol aircraft had earlier been withheld due to the application of the Pressler Amendment in 1990. One of these planes was lost due to an accident while carrying out routine exercises in own coastal waters on 29 October 1999.

Atlantique Incident

An Atlantique plane belonging to the Italian Navy. The downed Pakistan Navy plane was an identical one.

The Atlantique Incident was a major international incident that occurred on 10 August 1999 when a Pakistan Naval Air Arm patrol aircraft—a Breguet Atlantique with 16 personnel on board—was shot down in the border area of the Kutch region by Indian Air Force jets. Pakistan and India both claimed the aircraft to be in their respective airspace.

Some experts stated that the Atlantique was probably conducting a "probe" on India's air defence system, mainly the radar equipment in the border area; however, they advised that it was not part of any planned aggressive military action by Pakistan.[4] Foreign diplomats who visited the crash site noted that the plane "may have strayed into restricted space", and that Islamabad was unable to explain why it was flying so close to the border; they however added that India's reaction to the incident was not justified.[5] Many countries, the G8, the permanent members of the UN Security Council, as well as the western media questioned the wisdom behind Pakistan's decision to fly military aircraft so close to the Indian border.[6]

On 21 September 1999, Pakistan lodged a compensation claim at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in The Hague, accusing India of shooting down an unarmed aircraft. Pakistan sought about US$60 million in reparations from India and compensation for the victims' families. India's attorney general, Soli Sorabjee, argued that the court did not have jurisdiction,[7] citing an exemption it filed in 1974 to exclude disputes between India and other Commonwealth States, and disputes covered by multi-lateral treaties.

On 21 June 2000, the 16-judge Bench headed by Gilbert Guillaume of France ruled—with a 14–2 verdict—upholding India's submission that the court had no jurisdiction in this matter.[8][9] Pakistan's claims were dropped, without recourse to appeal, and the outcome was seen as a decision highly favourable to India.[10][11] The Pakistan government had spent close to 25 million Pakistani rupees (approx. $400,000) on the case.[12]

Attack and Rehabilitation

On 22 May 2011, Tehreek-i-Taliban attacked the PNS Mehran naval base and destroyed P-3C Orion aircraft.[13]

Aircraft

Current inventory

A Pakistan Navy Orion on take off
A Pakistani Westland Sea King
Aircraft Origin Type Variant In service Notes
Maritime Patrol
Fokker F27 Netherlands Maritime Patrol 7[14]
Hawker 800 United Kingdom Surveillance 2[14]
Lockheed P-3 Orion United States ASW / Maritime Patrol P-3C 7[15]
Transport
ATR 72 France / Italy Transport / ASW & Maritime Patrol 3[14] 2 being converted to ASW & Maritime Patrol Role. 1 of the 2 aircraft delivered to PN on 2nd July 2018. [16]
Helicopters
Mil Mi-14 Soviet Union Utility / SAR 2[14]
Harbin Z-9 China Utility / SAR / ASW 6[14] 6 x Z-9EC variants.
Westland Sea King United Kingdom SAR / Utility / Mk.45 6[14]
Aérospatiale Alouette III France Liaison / Utility 7[14]
UAV
GIDS Uqab Pakistan Surveillance 20[17]
Luna X-2000 Germany Surveillance 8[18]

Retired

Previous aircraft operated were the BN-2 Islander, Harbin Y-12, Breguet Atlantic, Westland Lynx, and the Sikorsky UH-19[19][20]

See also

Notes

  1. 1 2 "Pakistan Navy Official Website". www.paknavy.gov.pk. Retrieved 2017-07-19.
  2. ↑ John Pike (1987-01-01). "Pakistan". Globalsecurity.org. Retrieved 2017-07-19.
  3. 1 2 3 4 Goldrick, James (1997). No Easy Answers. New Delhi, India: Lancer's Publications and Distributors. pp. 63/65/66. ISBN 1-897829-02-7.
  4. ↑ "Pakistan Attacks Indian Aircraft". Globalpolicy.org. 1999-08-12. Retrieved 2017-07-19.
  5. ↑ "South Asia | Pakistani plane 'may have crossed border'". BBC News. 1999-08-13. Retrieved 2017-07-19.
  6. ↑ "Islamabad's Post-Kargil Challenges". Defencejournal.com. 1999-04-06. Retrieved 2017-07-19.
  7. ↑ "The Tribune, Chandigarh, India - World". Tribuneindia.com. Retrieved 2017-07-19.
  8. ↑ "Cour internationale de Justice | International Court of Justice". Icj-cij.org. Retrieved 2017-07-19.
  9. ↑ "Case Concerning the Aerial Incident of 10 August 1999" (PDF). www.icj. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2007-11-28. Retrieved 2017-07-19.
  10. ↑ "The Tribune, Chandigarh, India - Main News". Tribuneindia.com. 2000-06-22. Retrieved 2017-07-19.
  11. ↑ "SOUTH ASIA | World court blow for Pakistan". BBC News. 2000-06-21. Retrieved 2017-07-19.
  12. ↑ "Govt comments sought in Atlantique case - Newspaper". Dawn.Com. 2002-07-17. Retrieved 2017-07-19.
  13. ↑ Waldron, Greg (2011-05-23). "Taliban destroy two Pakistan navy P-3Cs". Flightglobal. Archived from the original on 2011-05-26. Retrieved 2017-07-19.
  14. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 "World Air Forces 2017". Flightglobal Insight. 2017. Retrieved 24 November 2017.
  15. ↑ "Troubled Waters". Alan Warnes. asianmilitaryreview. 2017. Retrieved 8 June 2018.
  16. ↑ "Pakistan Navy receives first converted ATR-72 maritime patrol aircraft". Naval Today. July 18, 2018. Retrieved July 23, 2018.
  17. ↑ "UQAB-II".
  18. ↑ http://www.suasnews.com/2012/06/17197/luna-uas-for-pakistan-navy/
  19. ↑ "World Air Forces 1976". flightglobal.com. Retrieved 24 November 2017.
  20. ↑ "World Air Forces 2004". flightglobal.com. Retrieved 24 November 2017.

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