KARACHI, June 12: The Pakistan Air Force is fully geared and determined to take on the enemy and inflict significant damages despite numerical disparity, said, the Chief of Air Staff, Air Chief Marshal Mushaf Ali Mir, here on Wednesday.

He was speaking at the Air War College (AWC) on the recent changes in the geo-strategic scenario and the role of air power following the US-led attacks on Afghanistan and the Indian provocative moves.

“The heightened state of alert to guard our vital interests, however, continues unabated with our assets poised to defend against a threat from the east. The other major security concern that we have is the question of providing adequate safeguards to our strategic installations.

“Under the prevailing circumstances, it would be important to remain prepared to respond to any adventurism that the Indians could embark on. By the grace of Allah, we are a sovereign state, fully capable of safeguarding our interests and frontiers alike,” he said.

The PAF chief said the Indian provocative moves in December were met with a determined posturing from Pakistan’s armed forces. The PAF response was swift and proportional in which limited assets were deployed to generate not only a defensive response but also carried the capacity to bolster surgical offensive operations.

“As of today it is a tense stand-off between two old rivals, but in a nuclear arena,” he declared.

He emphasized the need for staying operationally prepared over longer periods to counter rapid escalation with all elements of national power.

Even before the Indian adventurism, the American and British attacks on Afghanistan had significantly transformed the geo-political set-up of the region, the PAF chief said.

He also referred to the attack on the twin towers which, according to him, demonstrated the profound effectiveness of unconventional warfare, which exposed the fragility of one of the most sophisticated intelligence networks in the world.

On the domestic front predictions of a protracted unconventional war against terrorism had raised security concerns in the affected countries — Afghanistan and Pakistan, he said.

The US government’s specific request for Pakistan’s support for operations in Afghanistan was no surprise. It was abundantly clear that Pakistan’s participation from the US side would have a long-lasting effect on the security environment of the region in general, and of Pakistan in particular, he said, adding that the strategic reverberations would, however, greatly depend on the US’s long-term goals in the region.

Referring to the use of Pakistan’s bases and airspace by the coalition, the Air Chief Marshal said it was limited to a specific area and managed through a system of joint co-ordination for de-confliction between civil and military traffic. These operations continued to remain under strict PAF monitoring and scrutiny.

With the current situation unfolding, Pakistan and its importance as a major player in the region emerged as a key factor in determining future options in Central and South Asia, the Air chief emphasized.

Our domestic and international balancing act was appreciated worldwide. However, India made no mistake in realizing the opportunity of exploiting the situation on “terrorism” to portray the Kashmir struggle as a similar case.

As predicted earlier, the prospect of long-term Western support now appeared dubious, but the armed forces would inflict heavy attrition in a war limited in time and space with the aim of capturing sensitive territory and degradation of standing forces in a very short span of time, he said.

The emphasis would continue to be on swift action, to avoid invoking the nuclear threshold, Air Marshal Mushaf Ali stressed.

Referring to specific threat to Pakistan, the PAF chief said: “As of this moment, the main threat remains from the east.” In this context, he referred to the Indian modernization programme with the assistance of Israel and others and the advantage it had with the acquisition of BVRWs.

The PAF strategy must therefore cater for the impact of this widening disparity in the ability to create effects.

“ On a line comparison, the IAF may look formidable, but in essence its fleet is in an unstable state. The majority of its aircraft and air defence equipment are of Russian origin and handicapped with severe constraints of serviceability and reliability,” he said.

He also referred to the PAF plans to upgrade packages starting from the early 1990s to restore some of the qualitative advantage it had enjoyed over the years. The air chief also referred to various constraints in the way of modernization of the PAF fleet.

The address was attended by the commandant of the AWC, Air Vice Marshal Maqbool Ali Shah, and other senior officers.