ISLAMABAD \u2014 Pakistan’s Air Force (PAF) Thursday stood up its unit of Chinese Karakorum Eagle AEW&C aircraft in a ceremony attended by the head of the PAF, Air Chief Marshal Tahir Rafiq Butt, and Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Though the exact location of the ceremony base <\/span>was not given, by the PAF, <\/span>it is believed to have been held at PAF Base Masroor in Karachi as the prime minister was known to have been in the city that day.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Author, analyst, and former Australian defense attache to Islamabad<\/span>,<\/span><\/span>Brian Cloughley, Author<\/span>, <\/span>an analyst,<\/span> and former Australian defense attache to Islamabad, said AEW&C this <\/span>“is very good news for the PAF \u2013 and for Pakistan” because as <\/span>it “will dramatically improve early warning capabilities which up until now have been comparatively rudimentary.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n The ZDK-03 Karakorum Eagle is a dish-based AEW&C system mounted on a Shaanxi Y-8F600 aircraft. Though never officially <\/span>confirmed, it has been speculated that the dish houses an AESA antenna. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Four were ordered in 2008 with the first delivered in 2010.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Air Commodore Syed Muhammad Ali, a S<\/span>spokesman for the Air Force, Pakista<\/span>n <\/span>Air Force<\/span>Air Commodore Syed Muhammad Ali<\/span>confirmed all Karakorum Eagle aircraft on order have had <\/span>now been delivered, but could not say if more would be ordered from China. <\/p>\n\n\n\n The aircraft join No.4 Squadron, which was first established in 1959 with Bristol Freighter transports and Grumman HU-16 Albatross amphibians. The amphibians were used for maritime reconnaissance, search and rescue, and casualty evacuation alongside Sikorsky H-19D helicopters. The HU-16s were retired in 1968 and the H-19Ds in 1969.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The unit was then “number-plated” until till <\/span>officially re-equipped with the Karakorum Eagle. on Thursday.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n The four Karakorum Eagle AEW&C aircraft join the surviving three Saab Erieye AEW&C aircraft ordered in 2005 and delivered from 2009. One of the four Erieye aircraft was destroyed in a terrorist attack on Kamra Air Base in August 2012.<\/p>\n\n\n\n That the Air Force operates two types of AEW&C aircraft for the same mission has been much commented on.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Analyst Usman Shabbir of the Pakistan Military Consortium think tank says the Karakorum Eagle’s mission is “[b]B<\/span>asically the same job as Erieye but based in southern sector.<\/p>\n\n\n\n “To cover all the length of Pakistan we needed additional AEW&C aircraft and ZDK-03 was the answer due to political and financial considerations,”,<\/span> he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Former Air Commodore Kaiser Tufail says the PAF was not keen on their purchase.<\/p>\n\n\n\n