Kaleem Saadat
Encyclopedia
Air Chief Marshal
Air Chief Marshal
Air chief marshal is a senior 4-star air-officer rank which originated in and continues to be used by the Royal Air Force...

 Kaleem Saadat Rana, NI(M), (born December 12, 1951), is a retired four-star general who was the Chief of Air Staff
Chief of Air Staff (Pakistan)
The Chief of the Air Staff of the Pakistan Air Force, abbreviated as CAS, is typically the highest ranking 4-star rank officer in the Pakistan Air Force, unless a four-star officer is appointed as the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee. The CAS is a senior and permanent member of the...

 of the Pakistan Air Force
Pakistan Air Force
The Pakistan Air Force is the leading air arm of the Pakistan Armed Forces and is primarily tasked with the aerial defence of Pakistan with a secondary role of providing air support to the Pakistan Army and the Pakistan Navy. The PAF also has a tertiary role of providing strategic air transport...

 from 2003 to 2006. He was promoted as the air chief on March 20, 2003, when the previous air chief Mushaf Ali Mir
Mushaf Ali Mir
Air Chief Marshal Mushaf Ali Mir was four-star general of the Pakistan Air Force who served as the chief of air staff of the Pakistan Air Force from 20 November 2000 until his death on February 20, 2003 when the PAF Fokker F-27 he was traveling in, crashed near Kohat, Pakistan...

 died in a tragic air crash along with several other high-ranking Air Force officers on February 19, 2003.

Initial military training

Air Chief Marshal Kaleem Saadat was born in Faisalabad. He is a graduate of PAF Public School Sargodha
PAF Public School Sargodha
PAF Public School Sargodha is a Pakistan Air Force operated boarding school located in Sargodha, Punjab, Pakistan.-History:...

 where he belonged to 14th entry (697 – Fury House). He was commissioned in the Pakistan Air Force on 13 March 1971 in the 51st GD(P) Course. Saadat has qualified Basic Weapons Course, Turkey
Turkey
Turkey , known officially as the Republic of Turkey , is a Eurasian country located in Western Asia and in East Thrace in Southeastern Europe...

; Flying Instructors' Course from Risalpur; Staff College and Air War Course from PAF Air War College
PAF Air War College
PAF Air War College is the Pakistan Air Force academic establishment providing training and education primarily to the mid-career officers of PAF as well as to limited number of officers from Pakistan Navy, Pakistan Army and officers of various Allied forces...

; L'ESGI and CSI from the École Militaire
École Militaire
The École Militaire is a vast complex of buildings housing various military training facilities located in the 7th arrondissement of Paris, France, southeast of the Champ de Mars....

 in France; and National Defence Course from the National Defence College, Islamabad.

Early life

Kaleem Saadat Rana was born in a Rajput
Rajput
A Rajput is a member of one of the patrilineal clans of western, central, northern India and in some parts of Pakistan. Rajputs are descendants of one of the major ruling warrior classes in the Indian subcontinent, particularly North India...

 family of Faisalabad
Faisalabad
Faisalabad , formerly known as Lyallpur, is the third largest metropolis in Pakistan, the second largest in the province of Punjab after Lahore, and a major industrial center in the heart of Pakistan. Before the foundation of the city in 1880, the area was very thinly populated. The population has...



His foreign tours include: Exchange Pilot in Turkey (1977–78); Deputation to Algeria (1980–83); War Course at the École Militaire
École Militaire
The École Militaire is a vast complex of buildings housing various military training facilities located in the 7th arrondissement of Paris, France, southeast of the Champ de Mars....

, Paris, France (1989–90).

Command and Staff assignments

During his Air Force career, Saadat commanded No. 14 OCU Squadron, No. 32 Wing at PAF Base Masroor, and PAF Base Peshawar.

His staff and instructional appointments include assistant commandant of the College of Flying Training
College of Flying Training
The College of Flying Training is located at Risalpur, Nowshera District, Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan. The College is a constituent unit of the Pakistan Air Force Academy.-External links:*...

 at PAF Academy
Pakistan Air Force Academy
"RAF Risalpur", "Risalpur Airbase/Airfield" & "Pakistan Air Force/PAF Base Risalpur" redirects here.The Pakistan Air Force Academy also known as PAFA, is an accredited co-educational four-year college for the undergraduate education of officer candidates for the Pakistan Air Force...

, director of plans at AHQ, chief instructor at the National Defence College
National Defence University, Islamabad
The National Defense University is an institution of higher education funded by the Ministry of Defence of Government of Pakistan, intended to facilitate high-level training, education, and the development of national security strategy...

, Islamabad
Islamabad
Islamabad is the capital of Pakistan and the tenth largest city in the country. Located within the Islamabad Capital Territory , the population of the city has grown from 100,000 in 1951 to 1.7 million in 2011...

, and deputy chief of air staff (operations) at AHQ.

Death of then Air Chief Mushaf Ali Mir

On February 20, 2003, the then PAF Chief Air Chief Marshal Mushaf Ali Mir
Mushaf Ali Mir
Air Chief Marshal Mushaf Ali Mir was four-star general of the Pakistan Air Force who served as the chief of air staff of the Pakistan Air Force from 20 November 2000 until his death on February 20, 2003 when the PAF Fokker F-27 he was traveling in, crashed near Kohat, Pakistan...

 died in a plane crash when the Fokker
Fokker F27
The Fokker F27 Friendship is a turboprop airliner designed and built by the Dutch aircraft manufacturer Fokker.-Design and development:Design of the Fokker F27 started in the 1950s as a replacement to the successful Douglas DC-3 airliner...

 he along with his wife and fifteen other high ranking officers were flying in crashed near Kohat
Kohat
Kohat is a medium sized town in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province of Pakistan. It is located at 33°35'13N 71°26'29E with an altitude of 489 metres and is the capital of Kohat District. The town centres around a British-era fort, various bazaars, and a military cantonment. A British-built narrow gauge...

 in northwestern Pakistan
Pakistan
Pakistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan is a sovereign state in South Asia. It has a coastline along the Arabian Sea and the Gulf of Oman in the south and is bordered by Afghanistan and Iran in the west, India in the east and China in the far northeast. In the north, Tajikistan...

, killing all the passengers on board. Thereafter, the then vice chief Air Marshal Syed Qaiser Hussain was made the acting Air Chief of PAF. On March 19, 2003, Air Marshal Kaleem Saadat, then deputy chief of air staff (personnel), was chosen over Hussain and Air Marshal Sarfraz Arshad Toor, air officer commanding, Air Defence Command (ADC), as the new chief of Pakistan Air Force.

Achievements

The JF-17 Thunder
JF-17 Thunder
The PAC JF-17 Thunder , or CAC FC-1 Xiaolong , is a light-weight, single-engine, multi-role combat aircraft developed jointly by the Chengdu Aircraft Industries Corporation of China, the Pakistan Air Force and the Pakistan Aeronautical Complex...

 program under Kaleem Saadat was throttled into full gear. It was during this time, the aircraft prototype was unveiled and it flew some hours, with the semi-production being started in 2005. The Air Headquarters were shifted to its permanent location in Islamabad after having stayed in Karachi, Peshawar and Rawalpindi. The PAF achieved its best Flight Safety record of its history when in the Year 2004, it had the lowest major aircraft accident rate. The PAF had the largest ever flying operations Exercise Highmark 2005 after nearly ten years' gap as well as holding its first ever tri-service wargame titled Tempest-I.

Saadat is a recipient of Tamgha-e-Imtiaz (Military), Sitara-e-Imtiaz (Military), Hilal-e-Imtiaz (Military) and Nishan-e-Imtiaz (Military). In addition, he was decorated with French Légion d'honneur
Légion d'honneur
The Legion of Honour, or in full the National Order of the Legion of Honour is a French order established by Napoleon Bonaparte, First Consul of the Consulat which succeeded to the First Republic, on 19 May 1802...

 (Legion of Honour) on 13 July 2005 for the "excellent cooperation existing between French defence industries related to aeronautics and the Pakistan Air Force, which happens to maintain the most important fleet of Mirages in the world, after France, and acknowledges the impulse given personally by the Chief of Air Staff."

Retirement

In March 2006, ACM Kaleem Saadat's three year term expired and he was replaced by the then vice chief of air staff Air Marshal
Air Marshal
Air marshal is a three-star air-officer rank which originated in and continues to be used by the Royal Air Force...

 Tanvir Mahmood Ahmed
Tanvir Mahmood Ahmed
Air Chief Marshal Tanvir Mahmood Ahmed is a retired four-star general and a career Air Officer in the Pakistan Air Force who commanded, as the chief of air staff of the Pakistan Air Force, from 2006 to 2009...

 as the air chief.

External links

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