Pakistan Air Force

The Pakistan Air Force is commanded from Air Headquarters in Islamabad and divided into three regional air commands, Northern at Peshawar, Central at Sargodha and Southern at Faisal, together with air defence, training and logistics commands. Operational units are spread across main bases including Kamra, Sargodha, Mianwali, Jacobabad, Rafiqui and Masroor, with a dispersal doctrine that assumes early strikes on fixed installations. The Pakistan Aeronautical Complex at Kamra assembles the JF-17, overhauls the Mirage fleet and produces the Super Mushshak trainer, giving the force a domestic industrial base that reduces exposure to supplier restrictions.

Doctrine is shaped by the disparity in size with the Indian Air Force and by short warning times across a narrow front. The PAF emphasizes networked operations, fusing radar, satellite imagery, airborne early warning and datalink feeds to compensate for numbers, and fields a comparatively large AEW&C force built on the Saab 2000 Erieye and the ZDK-03. Officers have described the resulting approach as non-contact warfare, prioritizing detection range, electronic attack and beyond-visual-range engagement over close combat and attrition.

The May 2025 air battle with India, fought during the Indian operation named Sindoor, is the reference engagement for the current force. Pakistani J-10C fighters carrying PL-15 missiles were credited with long-range engagements against Indian aircraft, and the outcome reinforced institutional confidence in Chinese fourth-generation-plus platforms and their weapons. The exchange also exposed the strain placed on long-range surface-to-air missile coverage, which has since become a procurement priority alongside additional HQ-9 series batteries.

The combat fleet is now centred on the JF-17, produced in Block I to Block III standards with an AESA radar and PL-15 integration on the latest variant, and on the J-10C, of which roughly thirty-six had been delivered by early 2026 under two Chinese contracts. The F-16A/B and F-16C/D fleet remains in service under US end-use restrictions that limit its employment, while the Mirage III and Mirage 5, upgraded under successive ROSE programmes, are being progressively displaced as JF-17 deliveries continue. Support aviation includes C-130 transports, Il-78 tankers, and an army aviation component operating AH-1F, Mi-17 and Bell 412 helicopters. Training runs on the MFI-17 and MFI-395 Super Mushshak, the K-8 Karakorum and the ageing T-37.

Announced procurement priorities cover further J-10CE aircraft, new and upgraded JF-17 variants, long-range precision strike weapons and an initial collaborative arrangement covering the Shenyang J-35AE, which would give Pakistan a fifth-generation type before any regional competitor fields one in numbers. Timelines for the J-35 remain unconfirmed and Pakistani officials have avoided committing to delivery dates. Training accidents have continued at a steady rate, with a JF-17 lost near Kamra and a K-8 and an FT-7PG lost near Mianwali within two days of each other in May 2026, followed by an Army Mi-17 near Muzaffarabad in June and a Super Mushshak near Mardan the same month.