For the Pakistan Air Force (PAF), a critical aspect of Swift Retort — the PAF’s retaliatory incursion against India for its stand-off range attacks across of the Line-of-Control (LoC) — was its ability to demonstrate a reasonable attack capability against predetermined targets in enemy territory.
Granted, the PAF’s F-16s had demonstrated their value as potential offensive counter-air (OCA) assets by locking onto enemy aircraft from across the LoC, but the Mirages had played a quieter, yet equally as vital role in hitting targets at long-range through stand-off range weapons (SOW), such as the H4.
In an earlier Quwa Premium article (from December 2017), it was noted that within the PAF fleet, the F-16s and Mirages are practically complementary. The PAF’s F-16s are not equipped with SOWs, but they evidently possess credible long-range air-to-air capabilities. On the other hand, the Mirages are no longer the PAF’s primary air defence fighter, yet they carry the bulk of its long-range attack duties.
Thus, the two platforms are inevitably poised to function together in a real war scenario, they would need to in order for the PAF to maintain a credible offensive capability. Fortunately, this is not a small force by any means; combined, the F-16s and Mirages could amount to 150-200 aircraft, which is sizable.
Likewise, the Mirages are equipped with contemporary SOW capabilities through the H2/H4-series of heavyweight glide weapons, the low-cost Range Extension Kit (REK) precision-guided bomb (PGB) kit, and Ra’ad/Ra’ad 2 air-launched cruise missile (ALCM), which offer 350 km and 550 km in range, respectively.
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