#38 Today, 09:53 PM
H Khan
Senior Member Join Date: Nov 2001
Posts: 4,821

PN ships stay in Male extended for 3 days

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http://www.pakobserver.net/200412/2…opstories09.asp

Islamabad—Chief of the Naval Staff Admiral Shahid Karimullah has extended the stay of PN ships in Male for another three days looking at the devastating condition of the Male.

All the exercises and other operational commitments have ben seized and PN Units are now only concentrating on supporting the local authorities.

Pakistan Navy ships Nasr and Tariq alongwith seaking and allouette helicopters are fully committed day and night with the provision of Search and rescue facilities to the effected foreigners/locals of Male. Each passing day is bringing new challenges and devotion to duty to the officers and men of Pakistan Navy units.

On the morning of December 27, foreign nationals, trapped around 100 nautical miles South Male at Meenuatoll (Mulkaoatoll), were recovered by PNS Tariq.

National Maldivian TV team also boarded the ship for recording of video footage and assessment of the damages. On arrival, it was observed that the structure on resort had been washed away, some people were injured and scarcity of food and water existed.

Electricity and communication had broken down. The survivors were recovered onboard and were provided first aid and meals. A total of 367 tourists from Pakistan, USA, UK, Germany, Holland and many other countries were evacuated. In addition, search and rescue missions at Menuatill was undertaken by Pakistan Navy helicopters.

On return of PNS TARIQ, High Commissioner of Pakistan boarded the ship and thanked the PN crew for undertaking the mission with alacrity. Pakistan Navy ship PNS NASR also established a medical camp at Male for the injured persons. Helicopters are being used by both the Pakistan Navy ships for undertaking search and rescue missions on different islands.

On scene Commander, Commodore Asif Sandila held a meeting with Deputy Chief of Staff Maldives Coast Guards at emergency cell headquarters to coordinate further rescue operations.—APP

Guys
anyone confirm that the new PAF CSAR unit is the only dedicated such unit in asia?

I have it down as having 4 CSAR MI-17s and a company of SSG for the rescue task

will these be accompanied by AH-1Fs in combat?

I beleived we trained with Turkeys CSAR unit during Anatolian Eagle, are we emulating them?

Sorry to Disagree, for PAF it has always been and will be an unfair fight, and that goes on for all the forces for this nation 8-10 times smaller than its enemy. PAF is made to live with that fact, especially the pilots, and there living with it for 50+ years. I’ll be shocked if things equal out, because they arent supposed to, even the aim is not to be equal to InAF, its supposed to be good enough to deny air control over Pakistani Lands.

Phrozen
I did not say equal, when I said fair, I meant odds of about 2 to 1, PAF can live with those odds…..

PAK FA is thing of PAST ???? :dev2: :dev2: 😀 😀 😀

this goes round in circles, IF and WHEN PAK-FA enters IAF service, PAF will not be sitting by……..

Contrary to media reports – CarNic Air Force Station is NOT completely destroyed. It has been physically battered and about a 100 out of the 1000 personnel and their families are either killed or missing. According to the Air Chief’s interview, the officers quarters were the worst hit as they were near the waterfront. The base has been now made active and the runway is currently operational and taking in relief flights. Evacuations and Supply missions are being carried out even as we speak.

sadly its worse then that Jagan

http://www.newindpress.com/coastalcalamity/News.asp?Topic=-367&Title=&ID=IE920041227123728&nDate=&Sub=&Cat=

Entire IAF station pushed off the map in Car Nicobar
Tuesday December 28 2004 00:00 IST

CAR NICOBAR ISLANDS: The day after, the sea here almost mocks in its ordinariness. The sun blazing, when you look down from the AN-32 on its way to Car Nicobar from Port Blair, there are just tiny white flecks on the calm Bay of Bengal. If you don’t search for land, it’s as if yesterday didn’t happen.

But once you land, you know why this is where an estimated 2,000 are feared dead, this is where once an Indian Air Force Base was.

The base has been pushed off the map by the sea and along with it, have perished over 100 officers and IAF personnel – of the total base strength of 1700. The entire coastline is strewn with trees that snapped like twigs. Those people who survived are so traumatised that even the slightest movement of wind or wave makes them run out into the open from the Air Force station hangars and other installations which are doubling up as shelters.

This was a plum posting, says Group Captain and Station Commander V Bandopadhyaya. “The officers and men wanted to stay here, wilfully.” Because the picture-postcard Air Force colony was drawn along the coastline, dotted with elegant two-storeyed bungalows. The sea was barely 200 m away, the front yard almost a private beach.

But not today.

Most of those houses have been flattened. In many spots, even debris is missing, the house swallowed up whole.

Standing, then staggering on the debris, Captain P Maheshwar counts himself lucky – he lost everything but has his wife and child.

“The night before, we had a Christmas party and when the earthquake hit early in the morning, people were scared but we all took it in the right spirit. Every family rushed out of their homes and began to assemble together. One of us even began filming the chaos on his handycam saying it will be precious visual evidence for posterity. Suddenly, I saw the water level rise and that officer (the one with the handycam) vanished.”

Captain Maheshwar stops, his eyes lock on a metal frame stuck on a tree branch about 20 feet from the ground. “That looks like my refrigerator,” he says, under his breath. “The skeleton of my car is lying there,” he points. “Every belonging of my 12 years of married life has been wiped out.” Except, his family, of course, which Maheshwar says he can’t explain other than saying it must be a miracle.

Not for six officers and their families, including several squadron leaders, the Met officer and the doctor of the Air Force station – all among the 102 that have been killed.

The waves hammered the coast for over two hours and once the water receded, the bodies of 23 IAF personnel were found strewn on the tarmac. Two more were retrieved from the debris, another 77 believed to have been sucked into the sea by the retreating waves.

The tarmac was the safe haven here. Being the highest point in the station. It stuck out, eyewitnesses said, amid the waves like the “back of a giant tortoise in the sea.” Most of those who could clamber onto it were saved.

The Mi-8 choppers were safe but the top floor of the three-storeyed Air Traffic Control was sliced off from the main structure, so neatly that it looks as if a giant crane ripped off the top floor and neatly placed it at a distance.

The neighbouring village of Malacca has been wiped out, most of the other half a dozen villages here are still inaccessible. This was why the toll could rise alarmingly, Lt Governor Ram Kapse told visiting Defence Minister Pranab Mukherjee and Sonia Gandhi when they arrived here on Monday afternoon.

Commander in Chief B S Thakur said that several sorties were carried out right through the day with over 430 people being evacuated from Car Nicobar. About 70 of them were brought to the Naval Hospital in Port Blair.

The importance of Car Nicobar base, which is the operational heart of the Andamans and Nicobar Command, lies in its location. It sits on the mouth of strategic Malacca Straits, which accounts for 52 per cent of world cargo and is the second-most busy shipping lane in the world. More than 114 supertankers carrying 9.5 billion oil barrels for South Asian markets traverse through this 10 degree channel route that bisects the Andamans Islands and the Great Nicobar Island.

Besides handling the reconnaissance and surveillance activities, the Car Nicobar base has a major role in tracking down gun-runners and narco-traffickers that push in arms and drugs to India’s north-east through the Cox’s bazaar and Chittagong route in Bangladesh.

The runway of Car Nicobar base was extended to handle fighter operations in 2001 after the government cleared the Andamans and Nicobar Tri-Service Command. Since then, the IAF was conducting fighter exercises involving Jaguars and Su-30s twice a year so that it would be ready in case India wanted to project force in the Indian Ocean.

Apart from the Car Nicobar base, the Indian Navy has 12 amphibious landing ships and fast attack crafts at the Port Blair harbour. Top Navy officials said that none of the ships were damaged in the tsunami as they were pushed to mid-stream the moment the first wave came and hit Port Blair. The state-of-the-art Thomson CSF radar that monitors traffic north of Landfall Islands is safe but the building housing the equipment has developed cracks.

there are rumours that they will add 3 extra subs. Anyway. The PN is expanding at such rate that even the Pakistani are suprised. Look at what they have added in 3 years. And what will be added. Maybe it has a lot to do with the Gwadar harbour.

The army has been running very well with a lot of successes (Zarrar Khaled MPC’s missiles)

The only missing part is airforce. Maybe 4/5 Hawkey and 6 Erieye. Lots of hercules. A lot of ROSE mirages. A lot of C130’s. With Fc1 gearing up (200!) and maybe J10 or other decent fighterjet we will have to admit that compared to many other forces it is not that bad either.

once Pakistan has a BVR missile in service and our AWACS are in operation, India will have no significant military edge over Pakistan…..

The AH-1s of the US found themselves grounded in the Yugaslav war for many a reason, haff and flare dispensers and RWR will not do much when you cannot have a guarantee of air superiority in the area and when there are so many MANPADS.

incorrect, it was the AH-64 Apaches that were grounded not AH-1s, lets try and get our facts right shall we?

the aquision of tps-77 is long overde after the tps 44s were suffering from santions, wow Pakistan finally upgraded its radar, a long time comming, a nice 100M purchase, it certainly is an upgrade but compared to the next door neighbour….

Phalanax vs what Kashtan and Barak? Please kindly take that debate on the Navy thread.
Harpoons compared to Klubs and Bhramos (hey if you can compare weapons that have yet to enter service so can I)
Jiangweihs compared to Talwars?
Do you see the IN advertizing the fact that they have Kashtans? nope its a standard weapon in today’s world, I of course expect the PN to have a Phalanax type system in the 21st century, its not a big deal, there is a huge gap and stop putting words in the IN chief’s mouth, the IN cannot have a strategy to delay or stop any Pak millitary aquisition, that is the job of the Govt of India.

Certainly the Klubs, Urans, Sea Eagles and Kh-31As that were actually purchased, not donated will still tilt the balance in favour of the IN, add to that the Sea Dragon etc, however the Orion is no laughing matter, that is a dangerous weapon.

Sameer
you misread my posts, I am not comparing them to their indian equivelents, just stressing that the US is giving them to Pakistan as weaponry NOT JUST destined for the war on terror…..

every major US addition to Pakistans conventional arsenal will make it even more expensive and difficult for india to defeat pakistan in a war, that is a fact, like it ot not

For your own information, the TPS-77 are new and superior to any system in Indias inventory….