The Pakistan Army Corps of Aviation is a military administrative and combined arms service branch of the Pakistan Army. The Aviation Corps is tasked with configuration of all army aviation aircraft and provides principle close aerial combat support and aerial logistics for the Pakistan Army.
Overview The earliest use of aircraft by the army can be traced to the air observation posts (Air OP), where aeroplanes were used during the World War I to help artillery spotters (Forward Observation Officers) to locate and direct artillery fire to targets on the ground. This role was improved upon and further refined in the World War II. The Army Aviation wing of the Royal Air Force was established in India at in 1942. No. 656 Air OP Squadron (RAF), the first Air OP unit reached the Indian subcontinent in 1943 to assist the operations in the Burma campaign. Following the war, 659 Squadron of the Royal Air Force, which had played an important role as an air observation post unit and worked closely with Army units in artillery spotting and liaison was despatched to India on October 1945. On 14 August 1947, No.659 (Air OP) Squadron was disbanded at Lahore (which was deployed there in support of the Punjab Boundary Commission) and partitioned between India and Pakistan. On the next day the Air OP Squadron became part of the Pakistan Air Force as "No.1 Air Observation Post Flight". No. 1 Air Observation Post Flight was converted into a squadron, and on 20th June 1956, No. 1 Air OP Squadron was officially raised. It was commissioned in the Pakistan Army after its personnel were trained and certified in the United States in 1958. The Corps of Electrical and Mechanical Engineering started to maintain the aircraft and helicopters given by the U.S. Army's Aviation Branch, opening its own aviation school on 1 January 1959.
Since the 1960s, the corps expanded in momentum, manpower, and its operational scope has widened. The Aviation Corps became a combat support branch when it inducted its first attack helicopters from Iran in 1970. Although it came into existence in 1947, the corps was given a full commission on 2 March 1978. The Aviation Corps is commanded by an active-duty two star major-general, who serves as its director-general and functions directly under the Chief of the General Staff at the Army GHQ in Rawalpindi, Punjab.
Aircraft inventory The Pakistan Army Aviation currently operates (474) helicopters along with (314) fixed-wing aircraft.
Aircraft/System Photo Origin Role Variant Quantity Note Service period Helicopter’s (474)Changhe Z-10AttackZ-10ME5Total 60 ordered2025–present Bell AH-1 Cobra Attack AH-1F 551985–present Mil Mi-35 Attack Mi-35M34 2018–presentEurocopter AS350 ÉcureuilAttack, UtilityAS350302006–present Eurocopter Fennec Armed / ScoutH125M 37 2009–present Mil Mi-17 TransportUtilityMi-171 94 1996–present Aérospatiale SA 330 PumaIAR 330SARUtilitySA.330L330L 50 1977–present AgustaWestland AW139SARUtilityAW139M21 2017–present Bell 412MEDEVACUtility412EPI 65 2004–present Bell UH-1 IroquoisUtilityUH-1H 18 6 gifted by the US. 1974–present Aérospatiale Alouette IIILight Utility SA 316B 13The first utility helicopter of Pak Army. Inducted in 3 Squadron on 18 October 1967. 1967–present Aérospatiale Lama Light UtilitySA 315B17 1986–presentSchweizer 300 Trainer300C 25 1993–present Bell 206 JetRanger Trainer206B20 1975–presentEnstrom F-28 Trainer280FX 20 2018–presentFixed Wing (314) PAC MFI-17 Mushshak Trainer 2501978-presentSaab SafariTrainer28Beechcraft Super King AirReconnaissance350i3for SIGINT & ISRUtility350ER 6 Harbin Y-12 UtilityY-12(II)/F 4 Turbo CommanderUtility690C2Cessna 208 CaravanMEDEVAC 208B13Cessna 206 StationairMEDEVAC T206H4 Cessna Citation II VIP Transport Citation Bravo 1 Cessna Citation V VIP Transport Citation Ultra 1 Gulfstream IVVIP TransportG4501Gulfstream G600VIP TransportG6001
Retired Aircraft Aircraft/System Acquired Retired NoteAuster 519471957Auster AOP.619471957Cessna O-1 Bird Dog19571990Beechcraft U-8F Seminole19631983Bell OH-13 Sioux19641990The first helicopters operated by Pakistan Army. They were inducted and first flown on 24 September 1964.Bell Model 4719641990Mil Mi-819691998Acquired on 21 January 1969.
Notable accidents and incidents
2022 Pakistan Army helicopter incident: On 1st August a helicopter, which was on flood relief operations in Lasbela District of Balochistan, lost contact with Air Traffic Control. The six military personnel, including Commander XII Corps Lieutenant General Sarfraz Ali died in the crash. Reports from Pakistani authorities on their early investigations attributed the crash to poor weather conditions, with fog being the main culprit, due to which the Helicopter crashed into a mountain. 29 March 2022 – Eight UN peacekeepers, six Pakistanis, a Russian and a Serb, part of the United Nations Stabilization Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo were killed in a crash of a Puma helicopter operated by the Pakistan Army Aviation Corps while on a reconnaissance mission in the troubled eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo. 2019 Pakistan Army military plane crash 2015 Pakistan Army Mil Mi-17 crash 2009 Pakistan Army Mil Mi-17 crash
See also Pakistan Air Force List of active Pakistan Air Force aircraft List of aircraft of the Pakistan Naval Air Arm Equipment of the Pakistan Army
References
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