Pakistan Naval Air Arm

Pakistan Naval Air Arm
Command Naval Aviation logo, COMNAV
Active	1971 – Present
Country	Pakistan
Branch	Pakistan Navy
Type	Naval aviation
Size	60 aircraft, 28 helicopters
Part of	Pakistan Navy
Naval Air Headquarters	Mehran Naval Air Base, Sindh Province, Pakistan
Nickname(s)	Pakistan Naval Aviation
Motto(s)	Resources are limited; creativity is unlimited
Colors	Navy blue and White
Engagements	1999 Atlantique Incident 2001 Indo-Pakistan standoff War on Terror Combined Task Force 150
Commanders
Commander Naval Air Arm, COMNAV	Rear Admiral Zain Zulfiqar
Insignia
Roundel
Aircraft flown
Attack	Westland Lynx, Dassault Mirage V (Operated by PAF)
Electronic warfare	Raytheon Hawker 800
Helicopter	Aérospatiale SA-319B Alouette III, Aérospatiale Alouette II, Harbin Z-9
Patrol	Lockheed P-3C Orion, Fokker F27-2000, Breguet Atlantique, Britten-Norman Defender
Reconnaissance	SATUMA Mukhbar (UAV)
Transport	Westland Sea King

The Pakistan Naval Air Arm (unofficially Pakistan Naval Aviation) is the naval aviation and naval warfare service branch of the Pakistan Navy.

The Naval Air Arm is tasked to carry out air surveillance, limited aerial warfare, and reconnaissance operations. The Naval Air Arm was created after the Indo-Pakistani War of 1971 and it is designed to operate in all facets of naval operations ranging from surveillance, tracking and subsequent destruction of enemy units. The arm also takes part in operations other than war such as search and rescue, casualty evacuation, relief operations. Early in its inception the Naval Air Arm was dependent upon the Air Force and the Army to meet its training requirement of air and ground crew.

After the 1965 Indo-Pakistan war, the Navy attempted to established the naval air branch to sustain the purely defence naval strategy of Pakistan.Chief of Naval Staff Muzaffar Hassan made an unsuccessful attempt to establish the air wing in the Navy, but this was impossible to achieve. The lack of funds and the PAF itself objected the plans. The air force objected any attempts as the air force saw the potential risked of losing aircraft in open-sea operations, therefore Air Marshall Abdul Rahim Khan, chief of air staff, remains positively hostile towards the creation of the naval air arm.

The Naval Air Arm was created after the careful analysis of Operation Trident during the Indo-Pakistani War of 1971. It was established that lack of early warning from seaward, for example the absence of a naval air surveillance capability, had allowed the Indian Navy to close Karachi harbour for attacks. After studying various available options, the French Breguet Atlantique was selected and acquisition formalities were completed in 1974. Finally the first squadron was raised in 1976, with three Atlantiques.