Air Chief Marshal Mohammad Abbas Khattak NI(M) HI(M) SI(M) SBt (Urdu: عباس خٹک ; born: 16 July 1943) is a four-star rank air force general in the Pakistan Air Force who tenured as the Chief of Air Staff (CAS) from 8 November 1994 until 7 November 1997.^[3][4]

Quick Facts Chief of Air Staff, Preceded by ...

Air Chief Marshal Abbas Khattak NI(M)  HI(M)  SI(M)  SBt
عباس خٹک
Chief of Air Staff
In office 8 November 1994 – 7 November 1997
Preceded by	ACM Farooq Feroze Khan
Succeeded by	ACM Parvaiz Mehdi Qureshi
President of Pakistan Squash Federation
In office 1997–1998
Personal details
Born	Mohammad Abbas Khattak (1943-07-16) 16 July 1943 (age 80) Jehangira, NWFP in British Sub continent (Present-day in Peshawar, Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa in Pakistan)
Nickname	Muhammad Abbas Khattak
Military service
Allegiance	Pakistan
Branch/service	Pakistan Air Force
Years of service	1960 – 1997
Rank	Air Chief Marshal
Unit	No. 19 Squadron[1] (S/No. PAK/4385: 430 [2])
Commands	DCAS (Operations) DCAS (Training) AOC Southern Air Command
Battles/wars	Indo-Pakistani War of 1965 Indo-Pakistani War of 1971
Awards	Nishan-e-Imtiaz (Military) Hilal-e-Imtiaz (Military) Sitara-e-Imtiaz (Military) Sitara-e-Basalat Order of Military Merit (Jordan)

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Abbas Khattak was born in Peshawar, NWFP on 16 July 1943.^{: 355 [5]} He was educated at the Cadet College Hasan Abdal, and joined the Pakistan Air Force in 1960, from which he was directed to attend the famed Pakistan Air Force Academy in Risalpur.^{: 355 [5]} He passed out with the class of 35th GD(P), and gained commission on 20 January 1963 in No. 19 Squadron Sherdils.^{[1]: 355 [5]}

P/Off. Khattak was trained to fly the F-86 Sabre and took participation in the various combat missions during the second war with India in 1965.^[1] During this time, F/Off. was among the eight fighter pilots who were selected to take part in famous aerial raid on Pathankot Air Force Station in India, a squadron commanded by then-Squadron Leader Sajad Haider.^{: 488–489 [6]: 122 [7]} In 1970–71, Sq-Ldr. Khattak was posted with the Eastern Command in East-Pakistan, leading several mission against the Indian Air Force but was reposted in Sargodha Air Force Base before his country's surrender in Eastern Front of the third war with India in 1971.^: 69 [8]

After the war, Wg-Cdr. Khattak was directed to attend the war course at the National Defence University in Islamabad.^[9]

In 1988, Air-Commodore Khattak was appointed as AOC of the Southern Air Command, serving until 1990.^{: 48 [10]} In 1991, AVM Khattak was posted to the Air Headquarters (AHQ) in Islamabad as DCAS (Training), where he played a pioneering role in aviation and flight safety programs.^{: 327 [11]} In 1994, Air-Marshal Khattak was promoted to DCAS (Operations) at AHQ.^{: 206 [12]}

On 8 November 1994, Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto approved the promotion papers of Air-Mshl. Khattak to be promoted to the four-star rank, Air Chief Marshal. This promotion was controversial since Air-Mshl. Khattak superseded two senior air officers: Air-Mshl. Shafique Haider (the Vice Chief of the Air Staff), and Air-Mshl. Dlavar Hussain (Chairman PAC).^{: 49–50 [13]} The reason this appointment was highly controversial is because the departing Chief of Air Staff Farooq Feroze Khan struck a deal behind closed doors with Benazir and Zardari to appoint him as the Joint Chief of Staff and in exchange he would allow Zardari to promote Khattak as the Chief of Air Staff. Khattak and Zardari have been accused of receiving millions of dollars in kickback from a Mirage deal.^[14]

During his tenureship as air chief, ACM Khattak made attempts to acquire the Mirage-2000 from Qatar but vetoed the acquisition of MiG-29F and the Su-27 aircraft from the Eastern Europe, despite the strong backing of the then-Chairman joint chiefs, ACM Feroze Khan, due to their poor war performances.^{: 58–60 [15]} During his tenure, Pakistan worked with China to develop the K-8 Karakorum.^[16] After his retirement he was succeeded by Air Chief Marshal PQ Mehdi.

He is married and has two sons.^[9]

• History of the Pakistan Air Force