Pakistan Armoured Corps | |
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![]() Badge of the Armored Corps | |
Active | 1947 |
Country | ![]() |
Branch | ![]() |
Role | Combat and combined arms administrative and staffing oversight. |
Size | 52 regiments [1] |
HQ/Garrison | Nowshera Cantonment, Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa in Pakistan. [2] [3] |
Nickname(s) | AC Men of Steel [4] |
Color identification | Red and Yellow |
Anniversaries | 1947 |
Engagements | Military history of Pakistan |
Commanders | |
Director-General | Maj-Gen. Zafar Iqbal Marwat |
Notable commanders | Lt. Gen. Shah Rafi Alam General Jehangir Karamat General Shamim Alam Khan Lt-Gen Nadeem Zaki Manj Lt-Gen Hameed Gul Lt-Gen Gul Hassan Khan Maj-Gen. Bilal Omer Khan |
Insignia | |
War flag | ![]() |
Administrative Corps of the Pakistan Army | ||||
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The Pakistan Army Armoured Corps is a military administrative and combined arms service branch of the Pakistan Army. [3]
Headquartered in Nowshera, Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa in Pakistan, the corps is commanded by its director-general, Major-General Zafar Marwat as of 2023. [2]
The Pakistan Army's armored corps was commissioned as an administrative corps from one-third of the personnel and assets of the British Indian Army's Indian Armoured Corps– there were six regiments that formed the basis of the Armoured Corps.: 156 [5] [6]
During the early years, the British Army officers played a crucial role in running the military operations from the Nowshera Cantonment which remains till this day Armoured Corps' headquarter.: 83 [7] Until 1956, the training and field manuals were based on British Army but later adopted U.S. Army's field manual and training, which is continue to be practiced by armoured corps' training school. [8] The School of Armor and Mechanized Warfare trains cadets and officers to be a part of the Armored Corps at the Nowshera Cantonment. [9] The Armored Corps is commanded by the director-general who is usually at two-star active duty rank, Major-General, working directly under the Chief of the General Staff at the Army GHQ in Rawalpindi. [8]
The Armoured Corps only has an administrative control over its combat strike brigades and such brigade teams are employed in numbers of strike maneuver corps to defend the national borders of Pakistan from the foreign threats. [10] [11] [12] [13]
Until 2001, the armoured corps was focused towards opposing Indian advances in the east but later stationed its interests in western border to prevent foreign threats coming from Afghanistan. [14]
In 2012, the CIA used satellite imagery to estimate that there were 32 armoured regiments in Pakistan Army, including two armoured reconnaissance regiments. [15] Most of these units were operating near the border with India.
At the time of independence of the country in August 1947, Pakistan Army inherited six armoured regiments from the British Indian Army, as follows:
Regiment | Nickname | Raised |
---|---|---|
President's Bodyguard (Pakistan) [16] [17] | PBG | 1773 |
13th Lancers [17] [18] | The Spearhead Regiment | 1817 |
Guides Cavalry [17] [19] | The Guides | 1846 |
11th Cavalry (Frontier Force) [17] [20] | PAVO Cavalry | 1849 |
5th Horse [17] [21] | Probyn's Horse | 1857 |
6th Lancers [22] [23] | Watson's Horse | 1857 |
19th Lancers [17] [24] | Tiwana Lancers | 1858 |
15th Lancers [17] [25] | Baluch Horse | 1955 |
12th Cavalry (Frontier Force) [17] [26] | Sam Browne's Cavalry | 1955 |
4th Cavalry (Pakistan) | The Valiants | 1956 |
20th Lancers [17] [27] | Haideri | 1956 |
22rd Cavalry [17] | Death or Glory | 1962 |
23rd Cavalry | 1962 | |
24th Cavalry (Frontier Force) | The Chargers | 1962 |
25th Cavalry | Men of Steel | 1962 |
32nd Cavalry | Conquerers | 1964 |
27th Cavalry | Steeds of War | 1965 |
30th Cavalry [28] | Bold Till Death | 1966 |
31st Cavalry [17] | Sprocketeers | 1966 |
34th Lancers | Dragoons | 1999 |
26th Cavalry [29] : 601 | The Mustangs | 1968 |
28th Cavalry [30] | Chamb Hunters | 1969 |
29th Cavalry [17] | Bengal Tigers | 1969 |
33rd Cavalry [17] [31] | Fortunes with the Bold | 1971 |
38th Cavalry [32] | Desert Hawk | 1971 |
39th Cavalry [33] | The Vanguards | 1971 |
51st Lancers [22] | Silver Eagles | 1971 |
52nd Cavalry [34] | Howal Mastan | 1972 |
53rd Cavalry [17] | Golden Eagle | 1972 |
54th Cavalry | Hizbullah | 1974 |
21 Independent Armoured Squadron | 1985 | |
55th Cavalry | Adham | 1985 |
56th Cavalry | Raad ul Harb | 1985 |
57th Cavalry | Allāhu ʾakbar | 1985 |
58th Cavalry | Lionhearts | 1985 |
40th Horse [35] [36] | Scinde Horse | 1987 |
41st Horse [17] | Karakash | 1987 |
42nd Lancers [17] [27] | Punjab Lancers | 1988 |
21st Horse [35] | Murtajiz | 1990 |
7th Lancers | Zarrar | 1991 |
8th Cavalry [37] : 130 | Izz-Ul-Khail | 1991 |
9th Horse | The Arabian Horse | 1991 |
14th Lancers | Zarb-e-Ghazi | 1993 |
16th Horse [38] | Al-Mugheerat | 1993 |
18th Horse [38] [36] | 1994 | |
17th Lancers | 1998 | |
37th Cavalry | Ribat-us-Sehra | |
35th Cavalry | AL-MUBARIZUN | 2014 |
43rd Cavalry [ citation needed ] | Al-Zarib | 2015 |
44th Cavalry [ citation needed ] | Hell on Wheels | 2016 |
45th Horse | Alambardar | |
47th Cavalry | ||
36th Cavalry | ||
During World War II, the British Indian Army received low priority for equipment, and the surplus American tanks and vehicles obtained afterward were mostly outdated. The Indian Armoured Corps operated a mix of obsolete Churchills, Shermans, Stuarts, and armoured cars. This same mix was inherited by the Pakistan Armoured Corps (excluding the Churchill tank), which struggled to keep them operational in the difficult years after independence. [39] After the independence, Pakistan got 135 light armoured vehicles consisting of M3 Stuarts, Humber armoured cars and Daimler armoured cars along with some Universal Carriers, 2 AEC armoured command vehicles and 162 Sherman medium tanks from the division of assets. [40]
Armoured Corps regiments are equipped with the following: