The IAF was undergoing a major expansion in this time period. After an embarassing defeat at the hands of the Chinese in the short 1962 border war with China the IAF had decided to expand to 45 squadrons.
By September of 1965 it had accomplished about two thirds of its expansion having 27 fighter squadrons and 3 bomber squadrons operational when the conflict started. Each IAF squadron was equipped with sixteen aircraft and in order to man these aircraft the pilot training program had been significantly shortened with the result that they had many inexperienced pilots on hand and combat training was lacking. Treat IAF pilots of this period as Third World for initiative rules and pilot quality. The following is a summary of IAF aircraft available in the 1965 war.
Hawker Hunter:
Seven squadrons of Hunters saw service during the conflict. They were the workhorse of the IAF, undertaking all varieties of missions. While the Hunters provided valuable duty and were effective in strike missions, they were mostly unsuccessful in regards to air to air combat. There were four reasons for this:
- 1. Pilot Quality: PAF experience and tactical superiority was a decisive factor in several battles where Hunters were downed.
2. AIM-9B Sidewinder: Even though only a small number of the PAF Sabres carried the missile, it forced all IAF pilots to assume that all Sabres they met were so equipped and their tactics had tobeadjusted accordingly, giving them a disadvantage in terms of maneuvering against PAF Sabres.
3. Vulnerability: The Hunter lacked self-sealing fuel tanks and this made the Hunter vulnerable even to the machine guns of the Sabre and proximity hits from missiles. Damage that would have resulted in only slight or moderate problems to a more robustly constructed jet often proved catastrophic to Hunters.
4. Tactics: Hunters were most often employed as strike aircraft laden with bombs and rockets and thus subject to being bounced first while at low altitudes. This was a tough situation to fight one's way out of.
These four factors combined in one way or another to cause the lackluster result of twelve Hunters lost in action against four Sabres claimed. IAF Hunters would be camoflauged, and are suitable for a combined air to air and air strike campaign scenario.
HAL Gnat Mk.1:
The closest parallel one can draw to the Gnat is to liken it to a fifties version of what the F-16 was originally conceived to be; an austere, inexpensive lightweight day fighter. Since the era in which the Gnat was introduced was also the era of the big mach two plus, all weather, heavy missile armed interceptors like the F-106, Mirage III, and Lightning, the Gnat garnered no interest among the superpower air forces. However, the IAF saw in the Gnat the makings of an aircraft which could serve as a dayfighter, which could be produced indigenously, and would be cheap to maintain. Its maneuverability and small size (smaller than a MiG-17) made it a formidable opponent for PAF Sabre pilots. The three squadrons of Gnats involved in the conflict had numerous battles with Sabres and shot down at least six for two losses. This feat earned the Gnat the nickname "Sabre Slayer" and gave it the best kill ratio of any type in the war. Treat the Gnats as silver. They were only used in the air to air role.
Mystere IV:
Five squadrons of French built Mystere IVs served the LkF primarily in the strike role. An air strike campaign scenario would be well suited to these aircraft. Treat them as silver for sighting purposes. Because of their strike mission, Mysteres saw only a few instances of air to air combat and in one wild battle three were lost in an exchange for an F104. Like the Hunters, the Mysteres usually had to begin a battle while on the defensive.
MD. 450 Ouragan:
Known as "Toofanis" in Indian service, these French built fighters, like the Mysteres, served only in the strike role. The Ouragans were also silver and equipped three squadrons and would also be fun aircraft for an air strike campaign scenario. Like the Pakistani T-33s, these aircraft evidently were never engaged in aircombat. Any losses suffered were due to AAA.
Vampire Fb.5:
The IAF had eight squadrons of Vampires on hand for the war. The IAF intended to employ these twenty year old jets only on ground attack missions in low threat areas. They were only used on the first day of the conflict because one flight of four Vampires had the misfortune to be bounced by two Sabres and all four were destroyed. As a result, the Vampires were withdrawn from combat immediately as they were deemed too obsolete and vulnerable. The Vampires would have been silver and could make an interesting what if outfit if used in an air strike campaign (Can you survive a full week agaist Sabres?). Regardless of its shortcomings, the Vampire carried an adequate air to ground load and its four 20mm cannons made it a good strafer.
Canberra B.58:
The IAF had three squadrons of British built Canberras, as opposed to the PAF American built B-57 Canberras. they operated the bombers in a deep strike/night attack role, and also in an anti-shipping role. Again, since these Canberras were used much like the Pakistani ones they make for a good day/night strike campaign aircraft. They flew camoflauged.
MiG-21F-13:
The IAF MiG-21 force existed in the form of only eight aircraft recently received from the USSR and under evaluation in a service test squadron. They were used on local air combat patrols but did little else in the 1965 war since they had not yet been assimilated into service squadrons. They would make for an interesting what if campaign if you assume they were deployed to the front or had become operational sooner. They would be silver and would be equipped to carry the AA-2A Atoll missile.
AAA/SAM Weapons:
The Pakistani ground defenses consisted mainly of the Bofors L/60 and the .50 cal MG with some 20mm guns as well. Use the TCM twin stats given in Battleplan #9 for the 20mm guns. The M-16 quad .50 cal was also available. Most static AAA was implaced at important targets like Airfields and was seldom seen on the Kashmir front. The PAF had no SAMs.
The Indians had a basic assortment of ZPU-14.5mm guns, all types, and ZU-23mm guns. They also had the bofors L/60 and most of those 40mm sites would also have been equipped with an FCR-A. There were also about ten SA-2 SAM missile sites situated around priority targets in India but few near the front. The SA-2s never engaged fighters due to the low altitude penetration tactics used by the PAF. The only loss to Pakistan was a C-130 hit by an SA-2 at night.
Dispute Over Kashmir 1965 Indo-Pakistan Air War
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© Copyright 1991 by J.D. Webster
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