Air Power, Insurgency and the “War on Terror” - Prof. Joel Hayward's ...

Chapter 8
Violations of Pakistan’s airspace
Not only did <strong>the</strong> VVS <strong>and</strong> AA have to guard <strong>the</strong>mselves against Mujahideen attacks on
<strong>the</strong>ir aircraft, <strong>the</strong>y also had to keep an eye out when operating around <strong>and</strong> over <strong>the</strong> border
areas with Pakistan. As mentioned above, Pakistan provided a bolt-hole from which <strong>the</strong>
rebels could operate. The VVS performed attacks on Mujahideen targets over <strong>the</strong> border
such as infiltration routes. Soviet <strong>and</strong> DRAAF incursions of Pakistan air space began in
1981 <strong>and</strong> continued throughout <strong>the</strong> war, with over 200 violations conducted per year
between 1981 <strong>and</strong> 1984. 335
The patience of President Mohammed Zia-ul-Haq’s government in Pakistan was wearing
thin <strong>and</strong> <strong>the</strong> PAF was ordered to perform air patrols from Peshawar with <strong>the</strong> rules of
engagement stressing that all wreckage from any PAF shoot-downs must fall inside
Pakistani territory. However, <strong>the</strong> PAF would have to wait until 1986 to shoot down an
intruder. 336 F-16As from nine <strong>and</strong> fourteen Squadrons downed seven aircraft <strong>and</strong> scored
a probable hit on a single aircraft. A single Su-22 fell to Squadron Leader Qadri’s AIM-9L
Sidewinder on 17 May 1986, with ano<strong>the</strong>r Frogfoot suffering damage. Wing Comm<strong>and</strong>er
Razzaq claimed an An-26 on 30 March 1987 while seventeen days later Squadron Leader
Badar bagged a Frogfoot. However, on 29 April an F-16A was lost during an engagement
with six DRAAF aircraft. The following year Squadron Leader Bokhari downed <strong>the</strong> Su-
22 of Colonel Alex<strong>and</strong>er Vladimirovich Rutskoy, a future Russian Vice President, on 4
August. Just over a month later, Flight Lieutenant Mahmoud destroyed two MiG-23s on
12 September, following with a Su-22 on 3 November, while his intercept of an An-24
on 31 January 1989 caused <strong>the</strong> Antonov to crash as it tried to l<strong>and</strong>. A MiG-23MLD may
have also crashed on <strong>the</strong> night of 20/21 November 1988, but this has never been verified.
Mujahideen air defences
The Mujahideen certainly claimed <strong>the</strong>ir fair share of Soviet aircraft, although by what
means <strong>and</strong> how many has been notoriously difficult to verify. At <strong>the</strong> start of <strong>the</strong> conflict,
jets flew too fast <strong>and</strong> Hinds proved to be fairly resilient to Mujahideen machinegun fire. 337
The rebels got <strong>the</strong>ir first MANPADS system in 1982, an SA-7 but <strong>the</strong> weapon, according
to arms trade expert James Adam, could “be easily distracted by reflections hitting snow
or heading for <strong>the</strong> sun instead of <strong>the</strong> aircraft’s engine”. 338 The Grail did force Soviet pilots
to fly higher to avoid <strong>the</strong> missile, thus degrading <strong>the</strong> accuracy of <strong>the</strong>ir air-to-ground
attacks. Moreover, <strong>the</strong> Soviets soon learnt to spoof <strong>the</strong> weapon with countermeasures.
The missile also did not work too well if fired from altitude downwards at an aircraft flying
at low-level along a valley floor. 339 Things improved slightly from 1986 when President
Ronald Reagan’s administration began to covertly supply weapons to <strong>the</strong> Mujahideen
including <strong>the</strong> Oerlikon 0.8-inch (20-mm.) cannon <strong>and</strong> British Blowpipe MANPADS; <strong>the</strong>
latter of which was particularly difficult to operate. The famous FIM-92A Stinger arrived
<strong>Air</strong> <strong>Power</strong>, <strong>Insurgency</strong> <strong>and</strong> <strong>the</strong> “War on Terror” 139