No. 27 Squadron PAF

No. 27 Squadron Zarrars
Logo of the squadron
Active	2007 - Present
Country	Pakistan
Allegiance	Pakistan Armed Forces
Branch	Pakistan Air Force
Role	Tactical Attack
Part of	Central Air Command No. 34 Tactical Attack Wing
Airbase	PAF Base Rafiqui
Nickname(s)	Zarrars
Motto(s)	دو نیم ان کی ٹھوکر سے صحرا و دریا (Persian for 'The desert and the river from their stumble')
Aircraft	Dassault Mirage 5F ROSE-III
Engagements	War On Terror Insurgency in KPK Operation Rah-e-Nijat Operation Khwakh Ba De Sham Operation Burq
Insignia
Patch

Mirage Aircraft of the squadron

The No. 27 Squadron, nicknamed Zarrars, is a tactical attack squadron from the No. 34 Wing of the Pakistan Air Force's Northern Air Command. It is currently deployed at Rafiqui Airbase and operates the Dassault Mirage-VEF ROSE-III aircraft. ^{[1] [2] [3] [4]}

History

The squadron was formally raised on 19 April 2007 at PAF Base Rafiqui and equipped with the upgraded Dassault Mirage-5EF ROSE-III combat aircraft. The first Officer Commanding (OC) was Wing Commander Shafqat Mushtaq and the first Senior Engineering Officer was Squadron Leader Najam-ul-Hasnain. ^{[5] [6] [7]}

Operational history

War On Terror

Main articles: War on terror and Insurgency in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa

After the spillover of militants & terrorists from Afghanistan into the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province during the US invasion, The Zarrars were tasked to carry out air strikes throughout the former FATA & NWFP regions. In FATA, it took part in Operation Khwakh Ba De Sham and Operation Rah-e-Nijat supporting the army and local law enforcement. ^[4]

As part of Operation Burq in 2009, the squadron carried out heavy air strikes on TTP positions in Swat valley in support of the army and local law enforcement's offensive. ^[3]

See also

• List of Pakistan Air Force squadrons
• No. 7 Squadron (Pakistan Air Force)
• No. 25 Squadron (Pakistan Air Force)

References

1. "No. 27 Squadron". PakDef.info. Archived from the original on 2008-12-26.
2. "No. 27 Squadron PAF". GlobalSecurity.org.
3. Khan, Farhat; Hashmi, Qadeer (2024). History of the Pakistan Air Force (2014-2023): The Next Generation Air Force (1st ed.). pp. 285–286. ISBN   978-969-7518-01-2.
4. Hashmi, Qadeer. The History of the Pakistan Air Force 1999-2013. p. 304.
5. "New Fighter Squadron added to Pakistan Air Force". Pakistan Times . April 4, 2007. Archived from the original on July 7, 2007.
6. "PAF gets fighter squadron". Dawn . 20 April 2007. Retrieved 3 August 2013.
7. "No. 27 Squadron "Zarrars"". PakDef.info. Archived from the original on 2008-12-26.