Air Power Beyond Combat: The PAF in Military Operations Other Than War

The seminar “Air Power Beyond Combat: The Role of PAF in Military Operations Other Than War” examined the expanding relevance of air power in security environments shaped by climate disasters, humanitarian crises, and systemic emergencies. While traditionally associated with combat and deterrence, evolving threats have structurally broadened its role. In Pakistan, recurrent disasters and infrastructure fragility have repeatedly placed the Pakistan Air Force (PAF) at the centre of national response, prompting a reconceptualisation of Military Operations Other Than War (MOOTW) as an integral element of contemporary air power employment rather than a peripheral function.

 

Mr Ameer Abdullah Khan, Senior Research Associate at CASS Lahore, delivered opening remarks. He noted that the seminar aimed to bridge the disconnect between academic hesitation and operational reality. He further stated that while military involvement in non-war domains is often considered conceptually uncomfortable in scholarship, practice demonstrates that air power has long served as a primary instrument of crisis response. He asserted that the objective was not to celebrate capability or redefine air forces as humanitarian actors, but to examine institutional adaptation within a security environment no longer defined solely by war.

 

Air Marshal Asim Suleiman (Retd), President CASS Lahore, delivered the keynote address. He stated that while air power remains the primary instrument for kinetic operations, contemporary threat environments have structurally expanded its role into MOOTW. He further noted that climate change, disasters and internal crises have made non-combat missions strategically embedded rather than exceptional. He identified four drivers of this shift: the urgency of decision-making in crises, infrastructure vulnerability, the growing centrality of information dominance, and climate change as a direct security stressor. He highlighted that air and space capabilities, characterised by speed, reach, and situational awareness, position air forces as indispensable enablers in time-sensitive humanitarian environments.

 

President CASS Lahore emphasised that human security broadens rather than dilutes state security, noting that protecting citizens strengthens legitimacy and resilience. Air power contributes across economic, health, environmental, and political dimensions by sustaining access, enabling evacuation, and delivering relief in moments of crisis. He stated that doctrinal adaptation is necessary, as traditional combat frameworks offer limited guidance for politically sensitive humanitarian missions. Referring to United Nations peace operations, he emphasised that air power’s effectiveness depends not only on capability but on political consent, access, and clarity of mandate.

 

In outlining PAF’s role, Air Marshal Suleiman stated that Pakistan’s geography and recurrent disasters repeatedly make air power the most reliable instrument of access when ground systems fail. He highlighted PAF’s medical and air mobility capabilities, noting that sustained Humanitarian Assistance and Disaster Relief (HADR) commitments pose a dual challenge: preserving combat readiness while responding to frequent emergencies. He also highlighted the PAF’s institutional adaptation vis-à-vis MOOTW under the leadership of Air Chief Marshal Zaheer Ahmed Baber Sidhu through capability development and training. He concluded by recommending doctrinal revision, prioritised HADR training, capacity enhancement, flexible dual-use capability development, strengthened interoperability, forward-looking risk assessment, and enhanced international coordination.

 

Professor Dr Shaheen Akhtar of the National Defence University provided the conceptual foundation for the seminar. She stated that security is historically contingent and evolves in response to structural shocks. She argued that traditional realist frameworks, centred on adversarial threats and military power, initially resisted integrating climate and environmental risks into security discourse. She observed that climate adaptation within militaries emerged primarily from operational necessity rather than environmental ideology, as extreme weather and infrastructure vulnerability began directly affecting military readiness.

 

Dr Akhtar further argued that climate stress has increasingly produced traditional security consequences through food insecurity, displacement, governance strain, instability, and conflict. She stated that military engagement with non-traditional security did not emerge through theoretical persuasion but through practice, particularly via Humanitarian Assistance and Disaster Relief and other MOOTW functions. She introduced the concept of climatisation to describe pragmatic institutional adaptation aimed at sustaining operational effectiveness under environmental stress. She cautioned that expanding military involvement in non-traditional domains carries governance risks, including blurring of mandates and erosion of civilian primacy, and emphasised the importance of structured legal frameworks and interagency coordination.

 

Air Vice Marshal Nasser Ul Haq Wyne (Retd), Director at CASS Islamabad, presented a decade-wise operational assessment of PAF’s humanitarian engagements. He stated that HADR is embedded within PAF’s institutional DNA rather than improvised in moments of crisis. He highlighted the 2005 earthquake as a strategic turning point, noting that large-scale air operations and multinational coordination transformed PAF into a central humanitarian logistics node. He further argued that the 2010 floods demonstrated sustained national-scale air mobility under conditions of infrastructure collapse, while the COVID-19 pandemic expanded HADR into public health logistics, reinforcing the role of air mobility in systemic emergencies.

 

AVM Wyne stated that recent operations reflect technology-enabled evolution, including enhanced meteorological forecasting, secure digital communications, satellite imagery integration, and improved air-ground synchronisation. He emphasised decentralised decision-making, logistics endurance, and interoperability as operational imperatives. He recommended formal articulation of HADR policy, institutionalised training frameworks, annual reporting mechanisms, and sustained investment in predictive and simulation-based systems.

 

The interactive session clarified the boundaries between traditional military operations and MOOTW, reaffirming that counter-terrorism and information warfare remain core combat functions. Discussions focused on preserving civilian primacy within coordinated disaster frameworks, strengthening anticipatory capacity through AI and integrated early warning systems, and addressing reliance on military assets, climate adaptation, and pragmatic approaches to military greening in response to escalating climate stress.

 

Seminar Chair, Air Marshal Asim Suleiman (Retd), concluded the event by stating that air power beyond combat is neither a temporary adjustment nor a dilution of military identity. He argued that climate stress and humanitarian crises have forced convergence between traditional and non-traditional security logics. He emphasised that the central policy challenge lies in carefully governing this adaptation. Air power must remain combat-ready while embedding MOOTW within doctrine, preserving civilian primacy, strengthening interoperability, and investing in predictive capability.

 

The seminar positioned the PAF not only as an instrument of deterrence and national defence, but also as an important pillar of national resilience alongside the army and navy, in an era in which security is increasingly defined by both armed conflict and environmental stress.