ISLAMABAD – Ever since the faceoff between Pakistan and India in theaftermath of the Pulwama incident in February last year, there has beenplenty of debate on which country’s air force is superior.
While the result of the dogfight on February 27th and reactions in the heatof war are evidence enough to gauge the capabilities of the two air forces,let’s have a look at an evidence-based study to compare the Pakistan AirForce (PAF) and Indian Air Force (IAF):1. Crash Rate
PAF has airpower of 1,342 aircraft as compared to IAF’s 2,082 as per thelatest numbers from Global Firepower Index 2019. Pakistan’s aircraftstrength is almost 65% compared to India’s, however, it enjoys a lowercrash rate as well.
According to Warbirds of India, the IAF has had over 900 accidents since1947 whereas the number for Pakistan stands at 330.2. Flying Hours
Pakistani pilots clearly enjoy more flying hours due to extensive combatand exercise operations. According to some reports, PAF pilots spend 30-40more hours in flying than their Indian counterparts on average per year.
Talking about the Pakistani pilots after the F-16 Fighting Falcon trainingsessions in 2010, the then Air Force Maj. Windy Hendrick, a flightcommander, said:
They are all experienced pilots with 500 to 1,800 fighter hours in the F-16and the majority of that time is combat hours in the fight againstextremists. They are very humble and don’t talk about their experience, butthe more we learn about them and all they’ve done, it makes us proud to betheir instructors.
The flying hours are also a testament to the better serviceability of PAFjets.3. Pilot to Aircraft Ratio
Indian Air Force is no way near its Pakistani counterpart in terms of thepilot to aircraft ratio, target practice, and squadron strength.
Pakistan possesses 2.5 pilots per aircraft whereas the IAF has 1.5 peraircraft, which highlights its issues with the squadron strengths, Indiannews outlet, The Print wrote in its report post-Balakot.
Effectively, this implies that the PAF can carry out day and nightoperations more efficiently than the IAF in case of a full-scale war. Thereason behind this is that aircraft can be made to carry out even sixsorties a day, but the pilots have to deal with the limits of humanendurance.
India also doesn’t have a firing range for bombing practice which is why itresorts to simulation only. Pakistan Sonmiani Firing Range is astate-of-the-art facility that not only serves PAF’s purposes but also ofthe other armed forces.——————————
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PAF enjoys far greater serviceability of its jets than that of IAF,especially due to the fact that its aircraft are maintenance-friendly andare consistently upgraded, integrating complex technologies from all partsof the world including China, the US, Brazil, France, and Turkey.
India might have the numbers to look the world in the eye, however, allthat glitters is not gold. Eurasia Review sums up the state of Indian airforce jets serviceability as follows:
India’s present Russian/Soviet technology is generally less reliable andless effective and a large part of their fleet of MiG-21s and MiG-27s areoutdated.
The MiGs are often dubbed as ‘flying coffins’ especially looking at thenumber of accidents IAF has suffered in the last decade or so.5. Pilot Training
One of the main reasons behind PAF’s success especially against India isthe combination of world-class training of pilots and maintenance crews.Some reports claim that the PAF’s maintenance crews are trained on par withWestern standards.
Not just this, the PAF pilots carry out joint exercises with the best inthe business. In 2019 alone, squadron-level exercises were held alongsideChina, Turkey, and Saudi Arabia air forces whereas India carried outsmaller level exercises with less frequency in France only.6. Adversary Forces ACMI Range
PAF currently operates 4 small adversary and tactics development squadronsat Combat Commanders School. In addition, PAF operates a NATO standard AirCombat Electronic Range (supplied by Turkey) to develop air combat tactics.
On the other hand, IAF operates a smaller version of CCS at its TACDE withno dedicated adversary units or ACMI range.7. PAF Instructors
Pakistan Air Force inducts world-class instructors to train its pilots. Notonly the foreign cadets from Saudi Arabia, Nigeria, Turkey, Qatar, and Iraqare trained at PAF academies and institutions, the instructors are alsosent to academies in other countries such as UK, Turkey, and Saudi Arabia.
Indian instructors go out on such exchange programs far less than theirPakistani counterparts.
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*Extracted from Eurasia Review, US Air Force, The Print, Global Firepower,and Twitter@Griffin09314548.*
