Pakistan Army Armoured Corps

The Pakistan Army Armoured Corps is a military administrative and combined arms service branch of the Pakistan Army.^[3]

Pakistan Armoured Corps
Badge of the Armored Corps
Active	1947; 78 years ago (1947)
Country	Pakistan
Branch	Pakistan Army
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

Headquartered in Nowshera, Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa in Pakistan, the corps is commanded by its director-general, Major-General Zafar Marwat as of 2023.^[2]

Overview

The Pakistan Army's armored corps was commissioned as an administrative corps from the partition of the former British Indian Army's 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.

Regiments in the Corps

The President's Bodyguard (PBG)[16][17] 4th Cavalry (Valiants)[18] 5th Horse (Probyn's Horse)[17][19] 6th Lancers (Fateh Khem Karan)[18][20] 7th Lancers[17] 8th Cavalry (Izz-Ul-Khail)[21]: 130  9th Horse (The Arabian Horse)[17] Guides Cavalry (Frontier Force)[17][22] 11th Cavalry (Frontier Force) (Pavo Cavalry)[17][23] 12th Cavalry (Frontier Force) (Sam Browne's Cavalry)[17][24] 13th Lancers (Spearheads)[17][25] 14th Lancers (Zarb-e-Ghazi)[17] 15th Lancers (Baloch)[17][26] 16th Horse (Al-Mugheerat)[27] 17th Lancers[17] 18th Horse[27][28] 19th Lancers (Gajj K Wajj)[17][29] 20th Lancers (Haideri)[17][30] 21st Horse (Murtajiz)[31] 22nd Cavalry (Death or Glory)[17] 23rd Cavalry (Frontier Force)[17] 24th Cavalry (Frontier Force) (Chargers)[17] 25th Cavalry (Frontier Force) (Men of Steel)[17][32] 26th Cavalry (Mustangs)[33]: 601  27th Cavalry (Ribat-ul-Khail) Steeds of war[17] 28th Cavalry (Chamb Hunters)[34]

29th Cavalry (Bengal Tigers)[17] 30th Cavalry (Bold Till Death)[35] 31st Cavalry (Sprocketeers)[17] 32nd Cavalry (Conquerers)[17] 33rd Cavalry (Fortunes with the Bold)[17][36] 34th Lancers (The Dragoons)(Tawakkal-al-Allah)[17] 35th Cavalry (Al Mubarizun)[37] 36th Cavalry 37th Cavalry (Ribat-us-Sehra)[17] 38th Cavalry (Desert Hawk)[38] 39th Cavalry (The Vanguards) [39] 40th Horse (Sind)(Scinde Horse)[31][28] 41st Horse (Frontier Force) (Karakash)[17] 42nd Lancers (Punjab Lancers)[17][30] 43rd Cavalry (al-Zarib) (Raised 2015)[citation needed] 44th Cavalry (Hell on Wheels) (Raised 2016)[citation needed] 45th Horse (Alambardar)[citation needed] 47th Cavalry 51st Lancers (Silver Eagles)[18] 52nd Cavalry (Howal Mastan)[40] 53rd Cavalry (Golden Eagle)[17] 54th Cavalry (Hizbullah)[17] 55th Cavalry (Adham) (Adham)[17] 56th Cavalry (Raad ul Harb)[17] 57th Cavalry (Allāhu ʾakbar)[17] 58th Cavalry (Lionhearts) (شیر دا پنجہ)[17]

Al-Zarrar Main Battle Tank of the Pakistan Army A column of Pakistani Type 59 tanks during the 1965 War. 2nd Bombay Lancers (now 13th Lancers). Coloured lithograph by Richard Simkin, 1885.

Equipment

Armoured Corps regiments are equipped with the following:

• The VT4 is a Chinese third-generation MBT specifically made for export.
• The Al-Khalid main battle tank is a joint Sino-Pakistani production with a 125 mm smoothbore gun.
• The T-80UD is of Ukrainian origin with a 125 mm smoothbore gun.
• The Al-Zarrar is a heavily upgraded version of the Chinese Type 59 tank equipped with a 125mm smoothbore cannon, ERA, and many more modern equipment.
• The T-85III is an upgraded version of the Chinese T-85AP with a 125 mm smoothbore gun.
• The Type 69 tank is a Chinese MBT with a 105 mm gun.
• The Haider Main Battle Tank has been designed by using the design of the Chinese VT4.

See also

• Azad Kashmir Regiment
• Baloch Regiment
• Frontier Force Regiment
• Northern Light Infantry Regiment
• Punjab Regiment
• Sindh Regiment