Whole of PAF made nuclear: Chief of Air Staff Air Chief Marshal Tanvir Mehmood Ahmed

Chief of Air Staff Air Chief Marshal Tanvir Mehmood Ahmed on Tuesday said that the whole of Pakistan Air Force (PAF) has been made nuclear with the aim to giving it the status of a real deterrent force. “We have made the whole of PAF a nuclear force”, he said while talking to media after launch of a book titled “A new dawn of PAF” on PAF development during a decade till 2008. The PAF has achieved such a deterrence level that no one can cast an evil eye on the motherland, he said. Air Chief‑designate Air Marshal Rao Qamar Suleman (Deputy Chief of Air Staff perations), who will take over the PAF’s command on Wednesday was also present with the Air Chief Marshal Tanvir Mahmood Ahmed on the accession.

Air Marshal Rao is architect of an effective strategy to deal with the Indian threat of carrying out surgical strikes against Pakistan. Due to this strategy the adversary had to shelve its nefarious plan of surgical operations. Air Chief Marshal Tanvir Mehmmod Ahmed said that the country achieved nuclear power back in 1998 with the aim that the defence of the country be made impregnable and over the years PAF has been able to successfully achieve the target. “We fought two wars with India in 1965 and 1971 and prevented three imminent wars in 1998, 2002 and in recent days in the aftermath of Mumbai attacks.” India had threatened Pakistan of undertaking surgical strikes against her but seeing the level of preparedness and alertness of PAF the looming dangers from the adversary were averted effectively, which showed that the attainment of nuclear power has helped in achieving peace in the region.

“It helped deter any misadventure in the region.” he said. Answering a question, he said 95 % of PAF personnel and officers are not out to earn livelihood but they joined PAF with the passion to defend the motherland through obtaining mastery over the machine and ammo. Talking about the last ten years, the Air Chief said the PAF today is much more effective and potent force than what it was in 1998 and it shall continue to excel further with the passage of time. Earlier, making remarks at the book launching, the Air Chief termed all the sanctions imposed by the west from time to time in the past a s blessing in disguise saying “this helped us a lot to achieve indiginization of technology. It has brought us at the higher pedestal.” “We would have not gone nuclear. We are now a nuclear state and it is all due to the sanctions,” he said.

The co‑production with China of a modern fighter aircraft like JF‑17 Thunder is also an outcome of the sanctions. “We achieved all that with minimal spending while living within our limited financial resources.” About the book he said the author Alan Warne (Editor of UK based Air Forces Monthly) has written the book on his own as the PAF had facilitated the writer to carry out his work with an unbiased approach independently. He appreciated the efforts of the writer for creating a masterpiece within a short span of about 15 months. He said the book covers past, present and future of the PAF, presenting salute to heros of the force besides shedding light on future plans. He also appreciated the services of former Director Public Relations (Air) Air Commodore Sarfraz Ahmed Khan for facilitating the author for accomplishment of his task.

He also mentioned the DPR (Air) Air Commodore Humayun and his able team in the Directorate. Earlier, the author of the book said that the PAF during the last 40 years had been undergoing sanctions and despite all that what it has achieved is highly appreciable. PAF is the only air force of the world which has been co‑building modern fighter aircraft like JF‑17 Thunder, he said. Chairman International Relations Department of Quaid‑e‑Azam University Islamabad Prof. Dr. Ishtiaq Ahmed and Assistant Professor of Strategic Studies Quaid‑e‑Azam University also spoke about the book. A large number of senior officers of PAF attended the function.

Meanwhile, in an interview with a TV channel, the air chief said that during his tenure, several agreements, worth $9 billion, were reached with different countries to modernise the PAF.He said the Airborne Warning and Control System (AWACS) was being obtained from Sweden and China.He said agreements had been reached with the US to provide electronic warfare system, smart bombs and long-range missile system. He said air-to-air refuellers were being modified and after some time, its pilot programme would be matured.He said the PAF was the only institute in the public sector, which was totally online. Responding to a question, he said the PAF had almost 550 aircrafts, including helicopters and transport aircrafts.The number of fighter planes was around 350, he added. At the moment, he said, there were 46 F-16 aircrafts in the PAF, including 14 F-16 aircrafts obtained from the US almost free of cost.

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