| Kaleem Saadat Rana | |
|---|---|
Air Chief Marshal Kaleem Saadat (left) meeting with Colonel Haji Mahmud bin Haji Saidin, Commander Royal Brunei Air Force. |
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| Birth name | Kaleem Saadat |
| Born | December 12, 1951 Faisalabad, Punjab Province, West Pakistan (now-Pakistan) |
| Allegiance | Pakistan |
| Service/branch | Pakistan Air Force |
| Years of service | 1971–2006 |
| Rank | Air Chief Marshal (General) |
| Commands held | Chief of Air Staff Deputy Chief of Air Staff (Operations) Deputy Chief of Air Staff (Personnel) AOC PAF Base Peshawar Chief Instructor ND Wing at NDC OC No. 14 Squadron Tail choppers No. 32 Wing |
| Battles/wars | Indo-Pakistani War of 1971 2001–2002 India–Pakistan standoff War in North-West Pakistan |
| Awards | Tamgha-e-Imtiaz (Military) Sitara-e-Imtiaz (Military) Hilal-e-Imtiaz (Military) Nishan-e-Imtiaz (Military) Légion d'honneur |
Air Chief Marshal Kaleem Saadat Rana, NI(M), (born December 12, 1951), is a retired four-star general who was the Chief of Air Staff of the Pakistan Air Force from 2003 to 2006. He was promoted as the air chief on March 20, 2003, when the previous air chief Mushaf Ali Mir died in a tragic air crash along with several other high-ranking Air Force officers on February 19, 2003.[1]
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Air Chief Marshal Kaleem Saadat was born in Faisalabad. He is a graduate of PAF Public School Sargodha 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; Flying Instructors' Course from Risalpur; Staff College and Air War Course from PAF Air War College; L'ESGI and CSI from the École Militaire in France; and National Defence Course from the National Defence College, Islamabad.
Kaleem Saadat Rana was born in a Rajput family of Faisalabad
His foreign tours include: Exchange Pilot in Turkey (1977–78); Deputation to Algeria (1980–83); War Course at the École Militaire, Paris, France (1989–90).
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 at PAF Academy, director of plans at AHQ, chief instructor at the National Defence College, Islamabad, and deputy chief of air staff (operations) at AHQ.
On February 20, 2003, the then PAF Chief Air Chief Marshal Mushaf Ali Mir died in a plane crash when the Fokker he along with his wife and fifteen other high ranking officers were flying in crashed near Kohat in northwestern Pakistan, 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.[1]
The JF-17 Thunder 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).[1] In addition, he was decorated with French Légion d'honneur (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."[2]
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 Tanvir Mahmood Ahmed as the air chief.
| Military offices | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by Mushaf Ali Mir |
Chief of Air Staff 2003 – 2006 |
Succeeded by Tanvir Mahmood Ahmed |