No. 29 Squadron PAF

The 29 Aggressor squadron is a unit of the Pakistan Air Force which flies F-16s out of Mushaf Airbase. It is the sole squadron which undertakes Aggressor emulation in the air force and is part of the PAF's Airpower Center of Excellence.^[1][2][3]

No. 29 Squadron "Aggressors"
Active	Since January 2019 (6 years, 7 months)
Country	Pakistan
Allegiance	Pakistan Air Force
Branch	Combat Commander's School
Type	Squadron
Role	Aggressor emulation
Airbase	PAF Base Mushaf
Nickname(s)	Aggressors
Motto(s)	جس کی گرمی سے پگھل جائے ستاروں کا وجود (Urdu for 'The heat of which melts the stars')
Engagements	Operation Swift Retort
Insignia
Patch
Aircraft flown
Fighter	F-16AM/BM Block-15 MLU

History

The 29 Aggressor squadron was formed on 1 January 2019 under the umbrella of Tactics Development School of the Air Power Centre of Excellence (ACE) at CCS Sargodha and commenced flying operations from 23 January 2019. It was established to develop and replicate near realistic Aggressor tactics as well as evaluate counter tactics.^[1]

Operational history

During Operation Swift Retort the squadron's F-16s were deployed on combat air patrols along the Indian border as Mirages from the 15 Squadron bombed Indian military installations in Indian Occupied Kashmir (IOK). As the events unfolded, an Indian Mig-21 was shot down by 29 Squadron F-16s with an AIM-120C5 fired by Squadron Leader Nouman Ali Khan. India claimed that the PAF lost an F-16 Fighting Falcon in the dogfight, although a U.S count found no Pakistani F-16s missing.^[4]