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JOINT USAF / PAF AIR EXERCISES IN 1978

by Air Cdre (retd.) Jamal Hussain


Early this year, USAF had conducted a joint air exercise with the Indian Air Force, codenamed ‘Cope India’. A brief report of the event appeared in the Dawn article of Friday June 15 titled, “Air exercise with India a wake-up call for US: general”.





Midlink 78

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F-111 seen deployed at Masroor Air Base during the Midlink 78.



Exercise Midlink 78 was held in November/December 1978 where air and maritime forces of Pakistan and USA interacted with each other off the Karachi coast and in the air spaces around Karachi and the Arabian Sea. As the Flight Commander of No.5 Squadron, I was again fortunate and privileged to have taken part in the Exercise.

The air portion of Exercise Midlink 78 was fairly conventional. Red forces (aggressors) were represented by land based USAF F-111 and F-4 squadrons operating from Masroor. PAF Mirage IIIs and F-6s again from Masroor operated in the air defence role. F-111s (singly) and F-4s (in pairs) conducted raids over Masroor while Mirages and F-6s from Masroor carried out interceptions with the aid of air defence radar that were deployed for the purpose.

The aggressors ingressed at low levels and while the minimum height from safety point of view was 250 feet Above Ground Level (AGL), the F-111s, having their terrain following radars at their disposal invariably flew in at about 100 feet AGL. We as the defenders rarely complained.

As per the Rules of Engagements, the interceptor was permitted to carry out a single attack simulating a heat missile (Fox 2) or gun shot (Fox 3) while the attackers were permitted one hard turn into the interceptor at which point further manoeuvring by both was to cease. These restrictions were placed for flight safety reasons. These restrictions, as we soon learnt, existed on paper only.

F-111s, basically being an attack aircraft with little pretence to air combat potential, generally adhered to the laid down rules. The F-4s were a different kettle of fish. They had too much of fighter ego ingrained in their psyche to tamely allow another fighter jock to expose gun camera film on them capturing their theoretical destruction without a serious struggle. On a number of occasions, a hard turn by the strike formation led to full fledged combat at what in our fighter pilots’ lexicon is termed as the ‘deck level’.

These manoeuvrings and subsequent claims were never officially revealed as it would have resulted in strict disciplinary actions on both the guilty parties. But unofficially we talked about it in a hushed manner, displaying the cines on the quiet and only to each other.

Till the advent of F-15s and then F-16s, F-4s were the most potent fighter/ground attack aircraft in USAF’s inventory. During the Arab – Israeli war of 1973 when the Israeli Air Force possessed both F-4s and Mirages, the former was considered to be their No.1 air combat aircraft. With that impressive background, we expected a very tough dog-fight if the F-4s decided to engage us seriously in air combat.

The F-4s, as I had mentioned earlier, on more than one occasion took us on and much to our surprise and delight we normally enjoyed the upper hand in those engagement. Mercifully also, there were no mishaps.


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F-4 in Mirage gun sight - Midlink 78

Was Mirage a better air superiority fighter than the F-4 or were we better trained in air combat than the F-4 crews we had engaged? Even the F-4 crews were surprised at our dexterity. Informal discussion with the F-4 squadron pilots revealed that the particular squadron we were dealing with had reconnaissance and strike as their primarily roles. Air combat manoeuvres were restricted primarily to defensive manoeuvring. No wonder, we had outperformed that lot of F-4 pilots in the air combat role.

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Now a word of advice and caution from an old sinner to my younger colleagues. Exercise Midlink was one of the very few occasions when I had deliberately violated the rules and was fortunate to get away with it. In my 28 years of active service with the PAF where I flew practically all the fighters in the PAF inventory for about twenty years, I was not involved in a single accident, major or minor. Either I was fortunate or I really was not a habitual rule breaker. The fact that I was and will always remain a fighter pilot at heart and that we were engaging the world’s premier air force pilots in combat led me to believe, wrongly I realise now, that PAF’s honour had to be protected at any cost. Perhaps we were fortunate or perhaps we had the necessary skill to engage in low level combat without flying into the ground. A bit of both I think and the fact that I had just completed the Combat Commanders’ Course where we had trained for low level combat. My fervent appeal therefore to my young friends is not to indulge in any activity for which you have not been specifically trained, or which is strictly forbidden.

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5x JF-17 Thunders from the Pakistan Air Force are en route to Konya, Turkey to participate in the Anatolian Eagle 2021 exercises with the air forces of Turkey, Qatar, NATO and Azerbaijan.
Qatari Rafales will take part in the exercises with JF-17s.


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Anatolian Eagle-2021 Exercise,

In this year’s international Anatolian Eagle-2021 Exercise,
Azerbaijani Air Forces will participate with 2x MIG-29s and 2x SU-25s, Qatar Air Force with 4x Rafale jets, Pakistan Air Force with 5x JF-17s, and NATO with 1x E-3A AWACS aircraft. Turkish Air Force will attend the event with 38x F-16C/D of the 113th (5), 132nd (10), 151st (6), 152nd (6), 181st (8), and 191st (3) Squadrons, 1x KC-135R of the 101st Squadron, 1x E-7T of the 131st Squadron, and 1x ANKA-S of the 302nd Squadron. Turkish Naval Forces will also participate with 2x Frigates and 2x Fast Attack Crafts.

During the International Anatolian Eagle Exercise, the certification of the Turkish Air Force (TurAF) elements committed to the NATO Response Force (NRF) will also be carried out for the first time. The combat readiness and interoperability of 6x F-16s, 1x KC-135R tanker aircraft, and 6x Stinger Air Defense Teams, committed by the Turkish Air Force to the Very High Readiness Joint Task Force (VJTF) as part of NRF will be evaluated.

Bangladesh, Belarus, Bulgaria, Burkina Faso, Georgia, Iraq, Sweden, Kosovo, Lebanon, Hungary, Malaysia, Nigeria, Romania, Tunisia, Ukraine, Oman, Jordan, and Japan will also participate as observers.


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Officers from Pakistan Army & Air Force are participating in U.S. CENTCOM hosted multilateral wargame “Regional Cooperation 2021”.

The exercise aims to improve capabilities between coalition forces and improve the ability to conduct joint operations while building closer ties.


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Officers from Pakistan Army & Air Force are participating in U.S. CENTCOM hosted multilateral wargame “Regional Cooperation 2021”.

The exercise aims to improve capabilities between coalition forces and improve the ability to conduct joint operations while building closer ties.


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A Pakistan Air Force JF-17 Thunder Block-ll with In Flight Refueling Probe (IFRP) from No.16 Squadron "Black Panthers" Flying In Formation With Egyptian F-16, Saudi Air Force F-15 Stike Eagle, UAE Air Force F-16, F-5 From Royal Bahrain Air Force, KSA Euro Fighter Typhoon During Gulf Shield Military Exercise.


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PAF JF-17 Thunder aircraft performing in the Gulf Shield Exercise in eastern Saudi Arabia

Photos taken from a Kuwaiti F18 via Basil Lutfi


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A Pakistan Air Force F-16C Block-52+ belonging to No.5 Sqn dubbed the 'Falcons' on Finals while participating in Red Flag 2016, Exercise held at Nellis-AFB,

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Pakistan Air Force Chengdu F-7PG aircraft conducts a training mission during a multinational exercise Dec. 9, 2009, in UAE. Aircrews from France, Jordan, Pakistan, the U.A.E., the U.K. and the U.S. are training together in the Air Forces Central area of responsibility.


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Emirati F-16's, An Emirati Mirage 2000, and a Pakistani F-7PG, left to right, fly in formation during a multinational exercise, Dec. 9, 2009.

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Aircrews from France, Jordan, Pakistan, the U.A.E., the U.K., and the U.S. trained together in the Air Forces Central area of responsibility in fighting a large-scale air war.

Credit - USAF photo by Staff Sgt. Michael B. Keller
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