Pakistan's Military Inventory

Vanity, various websites ^ | 1 June 2002 | JasonC

[JasonC]

Here is a rundown on Pakistan's current military forces, compiled from various sources on the web.

Strategic, air force, and air defense

42 combat ready IRBMs, nuclear capable. Estimates vary from enough material for 10 to 50 atomic bombs. Other delivery systems under development, but these or air delivery are the currently practical options.

32 F-16s
184 Mirage 3&5
215 MiG-21 (Chinese J-7)
96 MiG-19 (Chinese J-6 and A-5 strike versions)

AIM-9P, AIM-9L, and Matra Magic 550 all angle heat seekers
BL-5, BL-7, BL-9 (Chinese) heat seekers
No radar homing AAM capability. Top missle range about 8 miles.
FR Exocet, US Maverick, 500 lb laser-guided bombs

SAM-2 (China)
Mistral SAM (FR)
Cortel SAM (FR mobile wheeled)
SA-13 style Manpads

Navy

1 FR Agosta 90B SS, modern, exocet capable (2 more building).
2 FR Agosta 70 SS, 1980 era design
4 FR Daphne SS, 1970 era design
6 UK Amazon FFG
2 UK Leander FF (ASW)
3 FR Minesweepers
6 Missle Boats
2 Patrol Boats

Army

330 T-80s (Ukrainian "UD" model, with reactive armor)
230 T-85 (similar to T-72)
260 T-69 (similar to T-62)
1200 T-59 (similar to T-55)
450 M-48 Patton
50 T-55
100 amphib (PT-76 copies, 85mm gun)

Overall, 2600 tanks of which 560 or 1/4 are reasonably modern MBTs. The bulk of the tank force could be from 1960, in NATO/Russian terms.

1100 APCs, mostly M113, some BTR. MG armed.
900 ATGMs, TOW and similar models. Total missles, not launchers.

So by NATO/Russian standards, the infantry is not heavily mechanized or missle equipped.

SP Arty

40 8 inch (US M110)
150 155mm (US M109)
50 105mm (WW II era model US M7)

Towed Arty

26 8 inch
190 155mm
800 122mm and 130mm
45 122mm MRL
350 105mm
200 85mm ATG
225 120mm Mortars
500 81mm Mortars

Overall, about 2600 artillery systems, of which 405 or 1/6 are large caliber. The bulk of the artillery force is medium caliber towed guns.

[JasonC]

As there has been regular discussion and speculation on the subject in numerous other threads about the India-Pakistan situation, I thought it might be useful to gather some detailed information on Pakistan's present military hardware. I hope it is useful, and informs other discussions on the subject.

[ReaganIsRight]

184 Mirage -- I couldn't wait to see the Iraqi Mirage jets blown out of the sky in the desert war. Consider these to be 184 coffins should the fighting ever begin.

[TomGuy]

This graphic appeared in The Times of London last week, showing the nuclear capabilities of Pakistan:



The Ghauri II has a proven range of 2000km, so basically, any city in India is "in range."

[JasonC]

They are better than the MiG-21 variants the other half of the air force flies. But you are right, they are quite old planes. The Israelis used them well, but that was 30 years ago. They only have 32 F-16s that are better. While the Indians have a somewhat larger cutting edge of modern Russian planes, and can match the Mirages with MiG-23s. They also have hundreds of MiG-27s and Jaguars for duel role and strike. Those reasonably modern planes match the size of the whole Pakistani airforce. Then the Indians have a second line as big again, flying older MiG-21s.

To win in the air, the Pakistanis will have to beat modern MiGs and Sus with F-16s at 2:1 odds; the MiG-23/27 and Jags with Mirages at 2:1 odds, and Indian MiG-21s with their own Chinese versions of the same plane, again at 2:1 odds. In the past, the Pakistani pilots have been somewhat better than the Indian ones, one for one. But it is technologically a tall order. Especially when you consider that half of the Indian force is radar-homing AAM capable, and the Pakistanis don't have one radar homing firing platform in their whole air force. (The F-16s could, but they don't have the missles). So the Indians will outrange them.

[JasonC]

China sells it at a lower price, that is why Pakistan buys it from them. The Chinese have been making their own knock-offs of Russian military hardware since Mao. If they can reverse engineer the thing, they can make it with cheaper labor than the Russians and so sell it cheaper. The better items in the Russian inventory are beyond their copying ability, though. So they sell their versions of the older stuff, cheap. Notice that when the Pakistanis want a serious main battle tank, they go to the Ukrainians, and when they want better missles and ships, they go to the French. Quality is not China's long suit. Price is.

[maquiladora]

THERE WON'T BE ANY WAR

[JasonC]

I sure hope so, but hardly know it. Unless you are in the Indian high command, I don't see how you would either.

[JasonC]

Pakistan has two real advantages. One is that India doesn't have an operational missle capability to deliver nukes, while Pakistan does. Indian ones would have to be delivered by aircraft, which means they might be intercepted. That makes the question of whether Pakistan could win the air war rather important. If they think they can, they might think the Indians could not deliver their nukes. But if they think the Indians will win the air war before too long, then they would expect to be vunerable to a counterstrike if they used their own. This uncertainty is dangerous, because it tempts Pakistani commanders to gamble on avoiding a retaliation.

The second real edge they have is that, while they don't have radar homing air to air missles, the heat seekers they do have are darn good ones. Both US AIM-9 sidewinders in quite recent models, and French Magics about as capable as the older one of those (the AIM-9L). Both are better than what the Indians have in the same category. They are too fast and maneuverable to dodge, aren't easily fooled by countermeasures like flares, and can track a plane from any angle, not just from behind like older heat seekers. If they can get close enough, those missles could give them an edge. If the Indians can beat them at long range, they would't get that chance. The Indians also have numbers on them - and practically every other edge (size of army, the navy, etc). But there is enough assymmetry in the capabilities of the two air forces, that the Pakistanis might gamble on their edge mattering more.

[backhoe]

I'll cross-link to this:

The India-Pakistani Conflict... some background information-

BTW:

CIA -- The World Factbook -- Pakistan
Description: Political and geographical information about Pakistan.
Category: Regional > Asia > Pakistan > Guides and Directories

[Fish out of Water]

*Index Bump

[Black Powder]

Look at all the neat stuff that India's gonna blow up.