[🇵🇰] Untitled 1987 War Book - Discussion

[Aestas Vivax]

I have to give you something which is cleared for the public domain and not classified. Let me look and you can also search for the Indian ORBAT at that time as Indians usually love to show off while not caring much about information security.

Public domain would be great, and any outdated not useful stuff which won't call for a black van, would be great.

Searching Indian ORBAT gives nothing to me.

 

[Old School]

Searching Indian ORBAT gives nothing to me.

You need to do advanced search than simply googling. You have to know what documents you are looking. I usually look for books written by Indian generals and diplomats. Those are great resource. Indians love writing books too. Then you have to know which general’s book- Is he contemporary of that time?

 

[Lulldapull]

So the scenario is that we are heavily involved in Khalistan guerrilla war. IAF has covertly but unsuccessfully attacked Kahuta with minimal damage cuz the main facilities are buried deep in the mountains and the Soviets are massing troops on FATA borders. All three are plotting their next move.

 

[Lulldapull]

My line up in simple terms for both sides AF's will be as follows (remember, this is 1987 we are talking about):

PAF Operational
110 Mirage III/ V's
180 F-6's
54 A-5's
40 F-16's
First batch of 60 F-7P skybolts in slow induction (they had not really arrived until 1990 to replace F-6's)
PAF Reserves/ second line
15 B-57B's
40 F-86E's (mothballed) in storage
15 T-33's/ 25 T-37's
PAF emergency wartime requisitions
1 Sqd RJAF F-5E's
1 Sqd LARAF Mirage V's
possible 1 sqd UAE Mirage V's
Note: 1 sqd here means 10-12 aircraft.....not 24 aircraft!.....lol....in 71 war all we could muster were 9 RJAF F-104A's and then Shah Iran agreed to belatedly send us a sqd of F-5E's toward the end of the war.

IAF Operational
500 Mig-21FL's/ M's/ Bis
40 Mig-23MF's
40Mig-23BN's
40 Mig-27's
40 Mirage 2000's
40 Mig-29's
IAF Reserve/ second line
50 Su-7's in long term storage
60 Hawker Hunters
50 Canberra
80 Ajeet
40 Marut's (mothballed) in storage

 

[Aestas Vivax]

My line up in simple terms for both sides AF's will be as follows (remember, this is 1987 we are talking about):

PAF Operational
110 Mirage III/ V's
180 F-6's
54 A-5's
40 F-16's
First batch of 60 F-7P skybolts in slow induction (they had not really arrived until 1990 to replace F-6's)
PAF Reserves/ second line
15 B-57B's
40 F-86E's (mothballed) in storage
15 T-33's/ 25 T-37's
PAF emergency wartime requisitions
1 Sqd RJAF F-5E's
1 Sqd LARAF Mirage V's
possible 1 sqd UAE Mirage V's
Note: 1 sqd here means 10-12 aircraft.....not 24 aircraft!.....lol....in 71 war all we could muster were 9 RJAF F-104A's and then Shah Iran agreed to belatedly send us a sqd of F-5E's toward the end of the war.

IAF Operational
500 Mig-21FL's/ M's/ Bis
40 Mig-23MF's
40Mig-23BN's
40 Mig-27's
40 Mirage 2000's
40 Mig-29's
IAF Reserve/ second line
50 Su-7's in long term storage
60 Hawker Hunters
50 Canberra
80 Ajeet
40 Marut's (mothballed) in storage

I still belive the revised list I made is better.

Essentially a rushed arms race, with Pakistan get the Volunteer forces to ensure that despite the lack of numbers, quality is high enough. PAF is going to be the tip of the spear, and they need everything to ensure that they give the Ground Troops enough time to bust the door open.

PAF irl should have pushed for the F-20, to replace it's F-6 and A-5 fleet, would give a decent edge.

 

[Lulldapull]

I still belive the revised list I made is better.

Essentially a rushed arms race, with Pakistan get the Volunteer forces to ensure that despite the lack of numbers, quality is high enough. PAF is going to be the tip of the spear, and they need everything to ensure that they give the Ground Troops enough time to bust the door open.

PAF irl should have pushed for the F-20, to replace it's F-6 and A-5 fleet, would give a decent edge.

You have to keep in mind that a good half of the IAF strength was 24/7 deployed up north to face the Chinese threat. With IAF’s western command getting the bulk of the remainder. So you could say that the disparity between the IAF vs the PAF was not as stark as the numbers denote.

 

[Aestas Vivax]

You have to keep in mind that a good half of the IAF strength was 24/7 deployed up north to face the Chinese threat. With IAF’s western command getting the bulk of the remainder. So you could say that the disparity between the IAF vs the PAF was not as stark as the numbers denote.

1980s, Bulk of the IAF was still aimed at Pakistan. Chinese lacked the facilities to really target India, hence why the wake up call after Galwan, since the Chinese had more assets due to increase of infrastructure.

 

[Lulldapull]

1980s, Bulk of the IAF was still aimed at Pakistan. Chinese lacked the facilities to really target India, hence why the wake up call after Galwan, since the Chinese had more assets due to increase of infrastructure.

True, but they both had a sharp short war in 1975. IAF started deploying assets up north and created their northern command, relieving the pressure on us.