Pakistan Naval Air Arm

The Pakistan Naval Air Arm (unofficially Pakistan Naval Aviation) is the naval aviation and naval warfare service branch of the Pakistan Navy.

The Naval Air Arm is tasked to carry out air surveillance, limited aerial warfare, and reconnaissance operations. The Naval Air Arm was created after the Indo-Pakistani War of 1971 and it is designed to operate in all facets of naval operations ranging from surveillance, tracking and subsequent destruction of enemy units. The arm also takes part in operations other than war such as search and rescue, casualty evacuation, relief operations. Early in its inception the Naval Air Arm was dependent upon the Air Force and the Army to meet its training requirement of air and ground crew.

History
After the 1965 Indo-Pakistan war, the Navy attempted to established the naval air branch to sustain the purely defence naval strategy of Pakistan. Chief of Naval Staff Muzaffar Hassan made an unsuccessful attempt to established the air wing in the Navy, but this was impossible to achieve. The lack of funds and the PAF itself objected the plans. The air force objected any attempts as the air force saw the potential risked of losing aircraft in open-sea operations, therefore Lieutenant-General Abdul Rahim Khan, chief of air staff, remains positively hostile towards the creation of the naval air arm.

Formation
The Naval Air Arm was created after the careful analysis of Operation Trident during the Indo-Pakistani War of 1971. It was established that lack of early warning from seaward, for example the absence of a naval air surveillance capability, had allowed the Indian Navy to close Karachi harbour for attacks. After studying various available options, the French Breguet Atlantique was selected and acquisition formalities were completed in 1974. Finally the first squadron was raised in 1976, with three Atlantiques.

Naval Air Squadrons
On 28 September 1974, the first of the six Westland Sea King helicopters was also acquired from the United Kingdom, marking the introduction of naval aviation and rotary wing aircraft in the service. 111 Squadron was established for these rotary wing aircraft.

To support the Naval Air Fleet, the naval base, P.N.S. Mehran was commissioned on 26 September 1975 as Naval aviation's headquarters. The base is approximately 10 km from Jinnah Terminal. Sea King helicopters were the first machines to fly from this base. Atlantique and Aérospatiale Alouette III helicopters soon joined the Naval Air Arm. As the formation year of 1976 coincided with 29th year of Pakistani independence, the first squadron of Atlantiques was named 29 ASW Squadron. In 1977, six Alouette helicopters were acquired from France leading to the formation of 333 Squadron. In 1982 Fokker F-27 Aircraft were acquired, leading to the formation of 27 Squadron.

In early 1994, three Lynx helicopters were acquired from the United Kingdom leading to the formation of 222 Squadron. In 1996, three P-3C Orion aircraft were acquired from United States and were inducted into 28 Squadron of the Naval Air Arm. The delivery of these long range maritime patrol aircraft had earlier been withheld due to the application of the Pressler Amendment in 1990. One of these planes was lost due to an accident while carrying out routine exercises in own coastal waters on 29 October 1999.

Atlantique Incident
The Atlantique Incident was a major international incident that occurred on 10 August 1999 when a Pakistan Naval Air Arm patrol aircraft—a Breguet Atlantique with 16 personnel on board—was shot down in the border area of the Kutch region by Indian Air Force jets. Pakistan and India both claimed the aircraft to be in their respective airspace. However, the wreckage fell well within Pakistani territory, giving credence to the Pakistani claim.

The Indian Air Force stated that the Atlantique was trying to return to Pakistani airspace after intruding more than 10 nmi and as such was headed towards Pakistan. At the speed of 400 knots at which the shoot-down occurred most of the wreckage could have been expected to land at least 25 mi away; the fact that all of the wreckage fell in Pakistani territory would tend to vindicate Pakistani claims that the aircraft did not violate Indian airspace. This incident resulted in escalated tensions between the two neighbouring countries.

Tehreek-i-Taliban attack
On 22 May 2011, Tehreek-i-Taliban attacked the PNS Mehran naval base and destroyed 2 P-3C Orion aircraft.

Naval Air Bases

 * Jinnah Naval Base
 * P.N.S. Mehran
 * PNS Base Faisal