Kaleem Saadat

Kaleem Saadat ( ; b. 12 December 1951) is a retired four-star air officer in the Pakistan Air Force who served as the Chief of Air Staff from 18 March 2003 until retiring on 20 March 2006. His appointment came after an air crash that killed Air Chief Marshal Mushaf Ali Mir, the air chief, along with several other high-ranking Air Force officers on 19 February 2003. He is the President of the Centre for Aerospace and Security Studies.

Biography Kaleem Saadat was born in Lyallpur (now Faisalabad), Punjab in Pakistan into a Punjabi-speaking Rajput family on 12 December 1951. He was educated at the Air Force Public School in Sargodha and matriculated 14th out of 697 in his class in 1969. He entered in the Air Force Academy in Risalpur and passed out with the class of 51st GD(P) course, along with his close friend and classmate Rashid Minhas. Rashid Minhas was the trainee pilot who lost his life preventing his flight instructor from defecting to India in 1971 when their struggled for control of their aircraft caused it to crash.

Saadat took the Basic Weapons Course, Turkey; the Flying Instructors' Course from Risalpur; the Staff College and Air War Course from the PAF Air War College; L'ESGI and CSI from the École Militaire in France; and the National Defence Course from the National Defence College, Islamabad. 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).

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 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.

PAF Air Chief

Death of Air Chief Mushaf Ali Mir On 20 February 2003, the PAF Chief Air Chief Marshal Mushaf Ali Mir died in a plane crash when the Fokker he, 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 the PAF. On 19 March 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.

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 Tanvir Mahmood Ahmed, as the air chief.

Centre for Aerospace and Security Studies

In 2019, ACM Kaleem Saadat became the first president of the Centre for Aerospace and Security Studies (CASS), which is an independent research think tank founded by the Pakistan Air Force with specializations in the domains of aerospace, aviation, security, doctrine, and economics. CASS was inaugurated by Air Chief Marshall Mujahid Anwar Khan in July 2019.

Awards and decorations

PAF GD(P) Badge RED (More than 3000 Flying Hours)Nishan-e-Imtiaz (Military)

(Order of Excellence)Hilal-e-Imtiaz (Military)

(Crescent of Excellence)Sitara-e-Imtiaz (Military)

(Star of Excellence)Tamgha-e-Imtiaz (Military)

(Medal of Excellence)Sitara-e-Harb 1971 War (War Star 1971)Tamgha-e-Jang 1971 War (War Medal 1971)Tamgha-e-Baqa (Nuclear Test Medal)

1998Tamgha-e-Istaqlal Pakistan (Escalation with India Medal)

Wiladat-e-Quaid-e-Azam

(100th Birth Anniversary of

Muhammad Ali Jinnah)

1976Hijri Tamgha (Hijri Medal)

1979Jamhuriat Tamgha (Democracy Medal)

1988Qarardad-e-Pakistan Tamgha (Resolution Day

Golden Jubilee Medal)

1990Tamgha-e-Salgirah Pakistan (Independence Day

Golden Jubilee Medal)

1997Turkish Legion of Merit (Turkey)Legion of Honour Officer Class

(France)

2005Order of King AbdulAziz (Saudi Arabia)Santos-Dumont Merit Medal (Brazil)

2006

Foreign Decorations Foreign AwardsTurkish Legion of MeritLegion of Honour - Officer Class Order of King Abdul Aziz (Class I)Santos-Dumont Merit Medal