An overview of Pakistan Army

An overview of Pakistan Army. Pakistan Army is the land-based service branch of the Pakistan Armed forces.it came into existence after the independence of Pakistan in 1947. Pakistan Army is not a profession but a way of life. It is for those who want leadership abilities and who have the dare to join it.Every person can join army whether he belong to medical field or engineering field. You should join armed forces because it is for those who love challenges,Armored corps for the ones who dare.Pakistan military has been ranked as the 11th strongest military in the world.Ranked seven spots after India's military,the report gives Pakistan a final military strength score of 0.41.further,the report reveals that Pakistan's active personnel number stands at 710,000 and has it more weaponry than Germany,Australia and Canada.The report ranks the strength of 20 countries according to weaponry, including tanks, aircraft, helicopters and submarines, each country represents.The US is listed as number one followed by Russia,China, Japan and India in the top five. Thread on the Pakistan army.It will cover the following Areas: ;
Summary.
Assessment.
Deployments, Tasks and Operations.
Army Aviation Corps.
Recent and Current Operations.
Command and Control.
Organization.
Divisions and Brigades.
Operational Concept.
Order of Battle.
Corps and Subordinate Formations
Strategic Forces Command.
Army Aviation Orbat.
Special Forces.
Para-Military Forces.
Reserves.
Operational Art and Tactical Doctrine.
Bases
Training
Main Military Schools, Training Centers and Depots.
Army Procurement. 
Equipment in Service.
Artillery.
Anti-Tank Weapons.
Air-Defence Weapons.
Infantry Weapons.
                                                                                                                                                                     Summary.
STRENGTH: 520,000 (Plus Reserves of some 500,000)

INFANTRY:
Infantry Division x 19
Force Command Northern Areas (Division Equivalent) x 1
Mechanized Infantry Division x 2
Independent Infantry / Mechanized Infantry Brigade x 6

ARMOUR:
Armoured Division x 2
Independent Armoured Brigade x 7
Independent Armoured Reconnaissance Regiment x 8

ARTILLERY:
Artillery Division x 2

ENGINEER:
Brigade x 7

SPECIAL FORCES:
Battalion x 3

AIR DEFENCE:
HQ x 1
Brigade x 8

ARMY AVIATION:
Squadron x 13

Assessment.
The Army is large, well trained, reasonably well equipped and has good morale. Senior Leadership is of a high quality and there is no evidence of religious extremism among senior officers, largely due to tight monitoring of promotions and selection boards by successive army chiefs, although it appears there may be some extremists in junior ranks.
The army's weaknessesses include a shortage of high-quality officers, lukewarm co-operation with the Pakistan Air Force (PAF), insufficient appreciation that Indian tactical airpower is probably its major threat, and difficulty in retraining to meet the military/insurgency threat in the western regions. Some planning has been based on unrealistic assessments of achievement of local air superiority over the forward edge of the battle area (although, given IAF difficulties in maintaining air superiority capability, the situation is not now as critical as it was in the late 1990s). There is emphasis on ground Air-Defence (AD) by surface-to-air missiles (such as the Swedish RBS70 and US Stinger) and extensive gun systems. Both strike corps have considerable AD assets intended to be deployed rapidly during obstacle crossings and breakout, and mechanization has been steadily improving.
Following the 1989 excercise Zarb-i-Momin (Believer's Blow), it was made clear to commanders that logistics mattered, that resupply was not to be considered "out of excercise" or "notional" and that all excercises had to have a credible logistics plan. Analysis of Zarb-i-Momin resulted in considerable restructuring, including the creation of Air Defence Command and Artillery Divisions. It was assessed that Command, Control, Communication, Computers and Intelligence (C4i) had serious defects, especially in the passage of tactical information from higher HQ to unit level, but improvement in this aspect has been slower than desired, mainly because of financial constraints. With the injection of US equipment, this situation is expected to improve.
Some use is made of satellite communications. Although it is accepted these are insecure, there have been notable advances in the development and production of secure systems, but these do not appear to be available other than its strike formations and special and independent forces. Subsequent excercises have tested the development matrix generated by Zarb-i-Momin, but budget limitations have precluded conduct of trials on the scale necessary to test, prove, and modify doctrine and procedures to the extent desired by commanders and GHQ.
On 3 November 2007, former Pakistani President and Chief of Army Staff Pervez Musharraf imposed emergency rule and suspended the country's constitution by putting into effect a Provisional Constitution Order (PCO). The military high command remained on side with Musharraf until he stepped down as the commander of the military amid domestic and international pressure on 28th November 2007. General Ashfaq Kayani was appointed his successor.

Deployments, Tasks and Operations.

Pakistan Army Corps:

I Corps, Mangla - A "strike" corps, it commands 6 Armoured Division, 8 Independent Armoured Brigade and two Mechanized Infantry Divisions (17 and 37). some elements have been deployed to North West Frontier Province (NWFP) to assist in countering militancy and securing the border with Afghanistan.

II Corps, Multan - A "strike" corps with a Mechanized Infantry Division (40), an Infantry Division (14) which was deployed to South Waziristan in 2007, an Armoured Division (1) and an Independent Armoured Brigade.

IV Corps, Lahore - The corps "mission" is to defend the area of Punjab province opposite Amritsar in India. it has two Infantry Divisions (10 and 11). two Independent Infantry Brigade Groups (partly mechanized), and one Independent Armoured Brigade Group.

V Corps, Karachi - The corps defends eastern and southern Sindh province. it has two Infantry Divisions (16, 18 partly mechanized) and three Independent Armoured Brigade Groups.

X Corps, Rawalpindi - Responsible for local security in the event of an emergency (the task of 111 Independent Infantry Brigade, Rawalpindi), and for Northern Pakistan and Pakistan-Administered Kashmir. HQ Force Commander Northern Areas (FCNA) is under administrative command of 10 Corps and opcom from GHQ. FCNA commands four Brigades with their HQ in Skardu, Astor, Siachen Glacier and Gilget. most infantry units are Northern Light Infantry Battalions (13), the three Infantry Divisions (12,19,23) have a total of 12 Brigades along the Line of Control (LOC).

XI Corps, Peshawar - Two Infantry Divisions (7 and 9) responsible for North West Frontier Province (NWFP), the Afghan Border, and for reinforcement of eastern formations; font-family: "arial" , "trebuchet ms" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 16.64px;">as required. currently involved in counter-insurgency operations, and heavily reinforced by units and formations from eastern corps.

font-family: "arial" , "trebuchet ms" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 16.64px;">XII Corps, Quetta - Two Infantry Divisions (33 and 41) responsible for western Sindh, the Afghan border, and for reinforcement of eastern formations as required (as took place during the India-Pakistan confrontation in 2002). also committed to internal security operations against the separatist Baloch National Army (BNA)

XXX Corps, Gujranwala - Two Infantry Divisions (8 and 15), two Independent Armoured Brigade Groups. responsibility for defence of the eastern front, south of IV Corps boundaries.

XXXI Corps, Bahawalpur - Provides depth defence and available for exploitation and counter attack. Commands 26 Mechanized Division and two Infantry Divisions (35 and 40), of which elements have been redeployed to the west.

Note: - Independent Armoured and Infantry Brigades are capable of extended operations without necessarily being reliant on a higher HQ for short-term logistic or intimate support. They can be used in counter-attack, exploitation of an advance, or rapid movement to reinforce formations under pressure.