ROLE OF AEROSPACE POWER IN THE NATIONAL SECURITY OF PAKISTAN UNDER THE UMBRELLA OF NATIONAL SECURITY POLICY

Aerospace power and national security are intertwined in a complex way. Aerospace power operates in the air and space domains, starting from immediately above the surface of the Earth and extending beyond the atmosphere into outer space. In the military context, National Security implies ‘the defence of a sovereign state, including its territories, citizens, economy, and institutions, which is regarded as a fundamental duty of government’. Pakistan’s National Security Policy of 2022 (NSP) underscores the importance of aerospace power in safeguarding the nation’s sovereignty, territorial integrity, and strategic interests. This paper examines the contribution of aerospace power to Pakistan’s deterrence posture and defence strategy in the setting of national and international security dynamics. Although aerospace power has many applications in the military and civil sectors, this study primarily focuses on the military applications of aerospace power. Besides a typical nation-state, non-state actors, like terrorists, traffickers, and criminal cartels, are also laying their hands on the military applications of aerospace utilities. This has become possible due to the cheap and easy equipment availability, like armed drones, robots, shoulder-mounted air defence missiles, paratroopers, and associated disruptive technologies. This paper assesses the sufficiency of Pakistan’s current aerospace power prowess vis-à-vis the aerospace threats and makes recommendations to overcome the shortfall, wherever it may exist.