Jaidev Jamwal Profile picture
Jan 6, 2023 13 tweets 9 min read Read on X
A thread about Pakistani Nuclear Forces, their assets and Command & Control structure. If you want just the basics, then read this thread.
For details and maps, go to this link: jjamwal.in/yayavar/pakist…
Questions (not dumb), corrections & feedback welcome.
#orbat #osint
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Pakistan has managed to create a fairly good nuclear command structure and arsenal with help from China and US which ignored the illegal proliferation attempts and even helped the project in some ways. Although not as advanced and susceptible to internal security risks,
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it accounts for a huge portion of Pakistani defence spending. 

Nuclear Command & Control consists of following organisations:

1. National Command Authority (NCA): Highest decision making command with 6 civilian ministers, 3 military and 1 intelligence as members.

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It's headed by PM or dictator.

2. Employment Control Committee (ECC): Tasked with policy making decisions. Chairman is Joint Chief of Staff (JCS). 9 permanent members and others can be included.
3. Developmental Control Committee (DCC): This body implements the decision made
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by ECC. Headed by JCS and has military and civilian scientists and officials.

4. Strategic Plans Division (SPD): Headed by a Lt Gen ranked military officer, it takes care of operations, development, communications, construction, design and security of nuclear arsenal.

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5. Security Division (SD) is a specialised force under SPD which is tasked with security of personnel, nuclear installations, factories, labs & other installations. It has received help from US for training & equipment.

IMAGE: SPD Training Academy in Chakri, near Islamabad
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6. Strategic Force Command (SFC). Army, Air Force & Navy each have their own SFC tasked with maintenance and training of weapon crews.

Types of weapons and delivery systems:

Army:
Pakistani Army relies on ballistic missiles as primary delivery platform with a wide

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variety of ballistic missiles sourced from China and North Korea. A few of them have been modified a bit to suit their own requirements. All the known ballistic missiles are road mobile SRBMs and IRBMs. They also claim that Nasr SRBM is nuclear capable, but they don't have

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any useful warhead or proper use case scenario for it.

Pakistani Air Force is believed to have around 36 air tossed #nuclear bombs with F-16s and ancient Mirage-IIIs as their primary delivery platform. They may also try to use Ra'ad ALCM (Babur, reverse engineered Chinese

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copy of Tomahawk), but it's not clear if they have small enough warheads for it. Nuke capable squadrons are: 5, 7, 8, 9, 11 & 22. 3 have F-16s, 2 Mirage-III and 1 Mirage-V.

Navy lacks any submarines capable of launching SLBMs or SLCMs, though it may change in future.

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Nuclear Storage Sites

There are 12 known nuclear storage sites spread all over the country with a few more suspected under construction. Some sources say that warheads and missiles are usually stored separately. Many of the newer sites are built into tunneled mountains,

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usually quite far from populated areas. Older #nuclear storage sites like Rahwali were built in cantonments, right next or inside cities. Although it is likely that some of those sites don't store warheads, just missiles.

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Research & Manufacturing.
The list has 26 points that I know of. Includes reactors, manufacturing, assembly and research of #nuclear warheads and #missiles. Take a look at the link in 1st tweet for all with maps and other details.

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More from @JaidevJamwal

Oct 3, 2023
Since illegal #Chinese funding to Indian journalists (and others) is in news, here is a partial list of Chinese organisations which work for CCP and are most likely involved in this scenario. Info provided here has some gaps & I won't go into details, but take a look.

1/
It starts with Strategic Support Force (SSF) & Ministry of State Security (MSS). They command or work with a wide network of local and foreign organisations involved in propaganda, espionage, warfare and R&D. SSF is involved in space, weapon development and other things too.

2/
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SSF's oversees multiple departments & I'm not 100% sure about exact hierarchy yet. So take it FWIW.
Network Systems Department under SSF is meant for Information warfare operations through multiple Departments
-Cyber Warfare
-Electronic Warfare
-Multiple country specific
3/
Read 10 tweets
Jan 8, 2023
Thread about Chinese PLA Rocket Force (PLARF), missiles and nuclear assets. Read on for a general overview.
For details and maps, visit this link: jjamwal.in/yayavar/chines…

There've been some new updates since this post was published, but those are relatively minor.

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PLARF is a unique force which holds the world's largest arsenal of ballistic missiles (BMs) & employs nearly 1 lakh (100 thousand) personnel. It is a separate arm from PLA Army, Air Force and Navy which have their own separate arsenals of SRBMs, cruise missiles (CMs) & SLBMs

2/
There are 2200-2500 ballistic missiles in China, of which 80-110 are ICBMs. There are supposedly 300-320 nuclear warheads which are spread across these ICBMs, SLBMS, ALCMs and a small number of shorter ranged BMs. Nearly all newer BMs are solid fueled apart from older DF-4

3/
Read 14 tweets
Dec 23, 2022
Thread about Chinese Eastern Theatre Command (ETC) ground forces, their major assault force against Taiwan and possibly Japan.
More details with Google Maps link in the last tweet of this thread.

#orbat
1/n
ETC has 3 Group Armies (GA), 71st, 72nd and 73rd. Each has 6 Combined Arms Brigades (CAB) with the usual supporting units.

71st CABs: 3 Heavy, 1 Medium, 1 Light, 1 Unclear (160th)

72nd CABs: 2 Heavy, 1 Medium, 1 Light, 1 Amphibious, 1 Unclear (124th)

2/n Tanks belonging to Eastern Theater Command being transported
73rd CABs: 2 Heavy, 1 Medium, 1 Light, 2 Unclear (14th, 145th)

The borders are maritime and patrolled by 301st, 302nd, 303rd and 304th BDRs with Boat units.

3/n Type-96 MBT belonging to 72nd Group Army, Eastern Theater Co
Read 6 tweets
Dec 22, 2022
Thread about Chinese Marine Corps (PLAMC). More information and map in last tweet.

It is seemingly the fastest expanding arm of PLA since the last 4-5 years. Till 2017, it was a poorly equipped force with 2 Brigades. Now there are 7, 2 each under Eastern, Northern and

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Southern Theatre Navies and one under direct command of Marine Corps HQ. Total number of troops is around 40,000-50,000 right now and is expected to reach 1 lakh in 12-14 brigades. All Brigades have around 6000 troops except 7th Special Ops Brigade.

2/n
The new Marine brigades follow a Combined Arms structure like Army:

-3 Amphibious Combined Arms Battalions, one of them light.
-1 Battalion each of Air Assault, Artillery, Air Defence, Recon, Combat Support and Service Support.

#orbat
3/n
Read 5 tweets
Dec 21, 2022
There are some noises about a new Indian Rocket Force (IRF) on the lines of Chinese PLARF. The planners must have made the decision after due thought and process. Yet an IRF doesn't seem like a good idea, amateur's opinion. 

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For one, it adds ambiguity & complexity of chain of command. PLARF is an independent branch, yet some of its traditional assets are with respective Theatre Commands (TC) while the nuclear assets are under direct command of CMC.

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All Indian nukes are under SFC while only conventional missiles are with armed forces. Latter is simple and effective. The Chinese system adds an extra layer of bureaucracy with an overlapping chain of command which can get confusing for own side and needlessly threatening

3/n
Read 7 tweets
Dec 18, 2022
Thread about Chinese PLA's Western Theatre Command (WTC) ground forces in Tibet, Indo-Tibet border to be more specific. Covers most of ground troops in the sector which could see action against India.

More details with geographical coordinates in last tweet of this thread.

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Read overview of basic structure and #orbat of Chinese ground forces here:


Not necessary, but will help you understand some data if you are not familiar with Chinese military structure.

#orbat #osint

2/
WTC is the military formation oriented against India. It also covers Tibet's borders with Pakistan, Afghanistan, Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan and Tajikistan.
It's the largest among all Army TCs & has following units:
1. 76th Group Army (GA)
2. 77th Group Army

3/
Read 14 tweets

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