"We are always outnumbered and must maintain a minimum deterrence which we will continue to do," he said at the end of a week of exercises by the Pakistan Air Force. "We will maintain the deterrence in regard to armed forces at all the three levels of quantified comparison, ability to threaten such vulnerable targets of enemy which are beyond its threshold and deterrence of will and result of the force."

He referred to the growing military disparity between nuclear rivals Pakistan and India in the light of New Delhi's massive increase in defence spending and its recent arms deals with Russia. Musharraf said the firing demonstration spoke volumes of the professionalism, talent, training and standard of Pakistan Air Force. He pointed out that the nation was confident that its air space was safe and secure. "This is the airforce, which is darling of the nation," he added and recalled his days of September 1965 war when he was a lieutenant. On 8th of September 1965, the armored division of Pakistan Army was not very much at ease when it was trying to approach "Khem Karan" due to threatening posture of Indian air force. There was a little frustration, but that did not last longer as F-86 Sabre jets and F-104 star fighters of PAF did not allow the IAF aircraft to do any damage to the Pakistani forces, he said.

Similarly, the chief executive recalled the role of PAF during the 1971 war in the Eastern Sector and pointed out that the PAF, despite having only one air field, fought fearlessly and kept knocking down the Indian aircraft. He said that the PAF was the force that trained many airforces and raised some air forces in the region of Middle East and Africa. "We are proud of the air force and are sure that it will always maintain its professionalism and expertise and strength," he added.

Earlier, the PAF held an engaging firing demonstration at its Sonmiani firing range in Balochistan, 75 km to the west of Karachi, utilizing all types of its fighter aircraft and the FT-5 trainer aircraft that delivered missiles, bombs and rockets on designated targets.

The firing demonstration was held on the last day of PAF Weapons Firing Camp 2001, which commenced on March 16. Over 1,150 personnel including 65 pilots from 20 squadrons participated in the camp, which was aimed at giving practice and confidence to the entire range of PAF combat crew and validate its air-to-air inventory and provide realistic training opportunities, as described by AOC, Headquarters, Southern Air Command, Air Vice Marshall Muhammad Abid Rao.

The last-day events of the camp, which included air-to-air missile firing, surface-to-air weapon firing and air-to-ground weapon delivery, were, among others, witnessed by Chief Executive General Pervez Musharraf, Governor Sindh Mohammadmian Soomro, Governor Balochistan Justice (retd) Amirul Mulk Mengal, chiefs of Pakistan Air Force and Pakistan Navy, Air Chief Marshal Mushaf Ali Mir and Admiral Abdul Aziz Mirza, Commander 5 Corps Lt-Gen Muzaffar H Usmani, other senior officials of the three Services and representatives from the armed forces of friendly countries.

Before the commencement of the events, AOC, Southern Air Command, Air Vice Marshall Muhammad Abid Rao informed the audience that in addition to the state-of-the-art aircraft F-16, Mirage, F-7, F-6 and A-5 aircraft flying from Masroor Base were being used as platforms. He said the F-6, which were inducted in 1966, perhaps, were performing their last assignment, as those were going to be grounded.

The day's display started with the flying of national and PAF flags separately by two Chinese version of Mig-19 aircraft, in front of the audience. The flag-past was followed by fly-past of all the participating fighter aircraft. The formation led by the Fighting Falcon F-16, which was flanked on the right wing by F7p and Mirage and on the left wing by F-6 and A-5 maintaining a distance of only 10 feet from wing tip to wing tip, at a speed exceeding 700 feet per second and displayed a final bomb burst, which was a treat to watch.

The next event was the firing of ANZA surface-to-air missile by the Air Defence Operators. Two missiles, fired from shoulder-launchers at two different posts, engaged the drone and specially the star shell. This followed a series of thrilling and impressive performance by the aircraft as part of the air-to-air firing. Twelve aircraft, including the FT-5 trainer aircraft, launched one missile each against a shell target.

The aircraft launched their weapons and engaged the targets directly in most of the cases, which reflected the expertise of PAF pilots. During the air-to-air firing session the missile inventory comprised US origin weapons (AIM-9P, AIM 9L) and the French Matra (R 550 Magic).

The launching of missiles by 12 aircraft was followed by air-to-ground weapons delivery. The audience had a unique experience of witnessing the delivery of MK-82 Snake Eye retarded bombs and Durandal anti-runway special weapons that were delivered by Mirage.

The first to appear were three Mirage aircraft of No 2 Tactical Attack Squadron in close formation. They dropped the Snake Eye bombs of 500lb class from a low level and with high speed against a variety of targets including troops concentration areas, convoys, armoured concentrations and line of communication. The bomb in question has a special tail unit which decelerates the bomb after it is released and affords it the optimum impact.

The next in the air-to-ground sequences were two Mirages that delivered the Durandal Bombs. The aircraft running together positioned themselves for attack on the runways and taxi tracks simulated for the purpose. The drag chute of the Durandal blossoms upon release from the aircraft, stabilizing and placing it at an optimum angle for impact. Then its rocket motor is fired which thrusts it down to strike and penetrate deep into the surface. The next event on card was dropping of 2 lbs bombs each by three A-5 aircraft, which are very potent ground attack platforms. The A-5 aircraft approached from left side, targeted the vehicular convoy while maintaining a distance of less than 50 ft from each other and surely the concentration by the pilots was recognizable.

The last event of the day was rocket attack by F-6 aircraft. Three aircraft appeared from right side, split in front of the audience and positioned themselves to attack the tented target. The F-6 aircraft can expend 14 of 68-mm rockets and that capability was witnessed in practice. The 68 mm rockets are high speed rockets, which achieve supersonic velocity before impact, and these are specially effective against Armour variety like tanks, APCs and soft structures. In the end, Chief of the Air Staff Air Marshal Mushaf Ali Mir presented mementos to General Pervez Musharraf and Chief of Naval Staff Admiral Abdul Aziz Mirza.

(Published in "The News")

Pakistan to contribute over 4,000 soldiers to UN mission in Sierra Leone

The Government of Pakistan has decided to deploy a brigade-size contingent of over 4,000 troops to the UN Mission in Sierra
Leone (UNAMSIL), a UN spokesman announced today( April 5th) in New York. 

"The details of their deployment, including discussions on equipment, logistics and transportation requirements, are still being worked out,"
Manoel de Almeida e Silva told the press at UN Headquarters.

The Government of Nepal is also actively considering offering a battalion, which would bring the size of the UN Mission close to the 17,500
military personnel authorized by the Security Council. The current strength stands at a little over 12,000, the spokesman said.

Meanwhile Deputy Secretary-General Louise Fréchette, who arrived Wednesday evening in Freetown, met today with President Ahmed
Tejan Kabbah. She was also scheduled to meet with other senior Government officials, members of the diplomatic corps and the UN staff in
Sierra Leone.

On Friday, following meetings with senior UNAMSIL staff and representatives of international and local non-governmental organizations, Ms.
Fréchette will leave the capital to visit other parts of the country, the spokesman said. She is also scheduled to visit Lunsar, a town previously
held by the rebel Revolutionary United Front, to meet with UN peacekeepers who were deployed there recently. 

April 10: A  MiG 21 combat aircraft of the Indian Air Force crashed due to some unknown reasons near the Line of Control (LoC) in Jammu and Kashmir and the fate of the pilot is still not known, highly placed sources said in New Dehli he also added

"The flight status of the plane was classified." The official refused to further comment on that. As later it was declared that " The aircraft was on a routine flight." Keeping in mind it was very close to Pakistani Airspace.

According to official, Rescue and search parties have been sent to the area to locate the wreckage & pilot of plane.

MiG-21 took off from Srinagar airport and was flying over 13,000 feet high Toshi Maidan meadow. Indian Air Force also uses the area as high altitude firing range.

The thickly forested area is very close to the Line of Control and as peras per the provisions of a bilateral agreement Islamabad has been informed, the sources said. An Indian News paper also quoted that, 

"According to reports from Srinagar, the aircraft was observed by the Army's ground observation post plunging into the ground." 

 Aircraft crashed near a sensitive area, that has vital strategic importance for both India and Pakistan. India has many times blamed Pakistan for using the same area for, infiltration by militants into India from Pakistani administered Kashmir. Pakistan has always denied this baseless charge.

Recently there have been reports of the some of the militants groups having acquired American based shoulder firing  surface-to-air Stinger missiles.

Bangladeshi Troops Kill 16 Indian Solders In Recent clashes along Assam Sector.

DHAKA: Border troops of Bangladesh and India fought a gun battle along Bangladesh's northern Kurigram frontier on Wednesday, killing sixteen Indian soldiers and two Bangladeshi soldiers, reports BBC as per Bangladeshi security officials.

"Indian Border Security Force (BSF) early this morning launched an unprovoked attack on our Boroibari and Hizalmari border posts killing one soldier," chief of Bangladesh Rifles (BDR, border force) Major-General Fazlur Rahman said.

At the same time Bangladesh has put its Military forces on the state of High Alert.

BBC also quotes, It is clear that the trouble began when the Bangladesh Rifles (BDR) - the Bangladeshi border force - retook Pyrdiwah village, in the Indian state of Meghalaya.

The BDR chief said that Pyrdiwah had been illegally occupied by India Questions are now being asked as to what prompted Bangladesh to take on the Indian Border Security Force when it had waited 30 years to resolve the dispute.

Bangladesh Hands Over Dead Bodies Of Indian Solders

April 20 Friday: Bangladesh hand over 16 dead bodies of Indian solders that were killed in erlier clashes between two countries

Media reports earlier said India had refused to accept the 16 corpses because most of them were mutilated beyond recognition.

"The bodies of 15 Indian border guards were handed over" by Bangladesh's border paramilitary force after hours of negotiations between the two sides, a police official at Mankachar

But according to International media one of the reason for the condition of bodies can be time, as these bodies were laying on battle field for about a week. 

Fresh fighting had flared overnight on one front despite the accord, killing one Bangladeshi solder and injuring an Indian civilian, and the chief of India's Border Security Force said there was a light exchange of fire again in the morning.

The governments of both countries said later that firing had come to a halt and their forces had retreated to positions they held before the weekend, when Bangladeshi Rifles (BDR) troops occupied a narrow strip of land in the Indian state of Meghalaya.

PAF Indigenously Conducting Repairs & Manufecturing Of Light Aircrafts

PAF has attained the abality to repair all of its aircrafts. Now PAF will not be spending lots of Foreign Exchange on foreign experts. As of now PAF is repairing all of its jets i.e F-16, Mirage, MiG, F7, F6 etc. As the air force has already acquired the ability to upgrade all of its planes with latest avionics, weapon systems, guidance systems etc It has reduced the pressure on F-16s.

Keeping in mind PAF is being hit buy international sanctions since 1965 it still was able to improve its self in the harsh strategic environment. Right now PAF Base line is over 85% Quality & Operational readiness is 98-100%. Its been able to build Light aircrafts for combat training. At the same time PAF is working with China on Super-7 (FC-1) combat aircraft project. First prototype is supposed to fly by 2005.