Respected military aviation magazine Air Forces monthly (AFM) recently had an interesting article about the Pakistani Army's aviation units, particularly in their combat with Taliban. This is my interpretation after thinking it over a bit.
The increased intensity of fighting along the Afghan border regions is taking its toll and several aircraft have been lost. However the war on terror has provided Pakistani Army aviation with much training and also some new helicopters (notably AH-1 Cobras).
The original Pakistani Cobras have night fighting sensors, but the newer ex-US AH-1s do not. Apparently the AH-1s are getting worn out and Pakistan is looking for replacements - Eurocopter Tiger has been considered.
Pakistan's Bell-412s have been locally modified with 7.62mm machine guns in door positions. Apparently these will be retrofitted with better door mounts. These augment the AH-1s which are in short supply.
The Pakistani army is gaining some conflict experience but not against a sophisticated enemy like India. It is no doubt improving logistics readiness and operational flexibility and command experience. Additionally I'd guess that seeing US military operations this close also has great learning potential for Pakistani commanders.
Another aspect where Pakistani Army is gaining experience is repairing combat damage. Experience not to be under-estimated. On the other hand this underlines that Pakistani helicopters are getting hit by 14.5mm and lighter AAA by poorly trained adversaries. Pakistan has large logistic helicopter fleet but relatively few attack helicopters. If routine missions are exposing the AH-1s to ground fire on a frequent basis then Pakistan would have attrition issues very quickly against the comparatively better equipped Indian forces when operating in similar environments (eg Kashmir). MANPADS and 23mm AAA.... All attack helicopters operate in a mode where losses to ground fire are inevitable in anything approaching a "fair fight". This would be particularly true if they were advancing into enemy held ground. Whereas if the enemy is advancing they are less susceptible because many air defence assets cannot easily keep up with MBTs (depends of course). It shows that although the machine guns fitted to tanks can potentially bring down helicopters, they are unlikely to deter Pakistani AH-1s who are used to operating against 14.5mm AAA.
The Mi-17s, and I'd expect the Pumas, are massively increasing logistics capability and enabling Pakistani Army to maintain combat momentum during sweeping operations. This to is a transferable lesson to Kashmir scenarios.
Transfer these experiences and expanding capabilities to the Indian border and it's obvious that Pakistani Army Aviation is today better than previously: Better able to supply forward positions, better able to provide combat support and better able to adapt to tactical conditions and led by more experienced commanders
The increased intensity of fighting along the Afghan border regions is taking its toll and several aircraft have been lost. However the war on terror has provided Pakistani Army aviation with much training and also some new helicopters (notably AH-1 Cobras).
The original Pakistani Cobras have night fighting sensors, but the newer ex-US AH-1s do not. Apparently the AH-1s are getting worn out and Pakistan is looking for replacements - Eurocopter Tiger has been considered.
Pakistan's Bell-412s have been locally modified with 7.62mm machine guns in door positions. Apparently these will be retrofitted with better door mounts. These augment the AH-1s which are in short supply.
The Pakistani army is gaining some conflict experience but not against a sophisticated enemy like India. It is no doubt improving logistics readiness and operational flexibility and command experience. Additionally I'd guess that seeing US military operations this close also has great learning potential for Pakistani commanders.
Another aspect where Pakistani Army is gaining experience is repairing combat damage. Experience not to be under-estimated. On the other hand this underlines that Pakistani helicopters are getting hit by 14.5mm and lighter AAA by poorly trained adversaries. Pakistan has large logistic helicopter fleet but relatively few attack helicopters. If routine missions are exposing the AH-1s to ground fire on a frequent basis then Pakistan would have attrition issues very quickly against the comparatively better equipped Indian forces when operating in similar environments (eg Kashmir). MANPADS and 23mm AAA.... All attack helicopters operate in a mode where losses to ground fire are inevitable in anything approaching a "fair fight". This would be particularly true if they were advancing into enemy held ground. Whereas if the enemy is advancing they are less susceptible because many air defence assets cannot easily keep up with MBTs (depends of course). It shows that although the machine guns fitted to tanks can potentially bring down helicopters, they are unlikely to deter Pakistani AH-1s who are used to operating against 14.5mm AAA.
The Mi-17s, and I'd expect the Pumas, are massively increasing logistics capability and enabling Pakistani Army to maintain combat momentum during sweeping operations. This to is a transferable lesson to Kashmir scenarios.
Transfer these experiences and expanding capabilities to the Indian border and it's obvious that Pakistani Army Aviation is today better than previously: Better able to supply forward positions, better able to provide combat support and better able to adapt to tactical conditions and led by more experienced commanders
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