F-86 Sabre

The No. 26 Squadron was raised on 30 August 1967 at PAF Base Masroor under the command of Wing Commander Rehmat Khan. Equipped with the F-86 Sabre, the squadron was assigned the role of operational conversion unit and trained pilots on the F-86 Sabre.^[3]

The squadron later shifted to PAF Base Peshawar from where it is still currently operating. For the next 10 years, more than 300 Pakistani and 150 foreign pilots were trained.^[5][2]

Shenyang F-6C

By December 1980, the F-86 Sabre had become obsolete, thus the squadron was assigned the role of Air superiority and re-equipped with the Shenyang F-6 air superiority fighter.^[2][5]

Nanchang A-5C

In 1984, the squadron was re-equipped with the Nanchang A-5C, thus the unit became a Tactical Attack squadron. In 1985 it was awarded with the Flight Safety, Command Armament, and the Professionals Trophies. In April 1989, the squadron provided pilots to ferry A-5C fighters requiring overhaul to China. In 1991, the first four of the squadron's aircraft were fitted with new Martin-Baker ejection seats.^[5][2][13]

PAC JF-17 Thunder

On 18 February 2010, the Black Spiders was re-equipped with 14 JF-17 thunders and thus became the PAF's first squadron to be equipped with the new aircraft resultantly attaining the role of multirole squadron. A special ceremony was held at the airbase in which then COAS "Rao Qamar Suleman" was also present. The Squadron also bid farewell to the A-5C during which it led two JF-17s in a spectacular flypast.^[14][15] Before their official induction however, the squadron's JF-17s were used in Operation Rah-e-Nijat against militants to test its weapons and effectiveness.^[16][17]

In 2015, 8 JF-17s from the No. 16 and No. 26 Squadrons escorted President Xi's Boeing-747 during his official visit to Pakistan. ^[18]

Exercises

^[5][2]

• Flat Out 89
• Wide Awake 89
• 1989 air-to-air firing camp (PAF Base Masroor)
• ISAC 89 – inter-squadron armament competition, the squadron achieved first place and Wing Commander Wali Mughni was declared Sher Afghan.
• ACES 89 – air combat evaluations.
• High Mark 89
• 1992 DACT camp (PAF Base Minhas)
• Flat Out 92
• Wide Awake 92
• High Mark 93 – deployed at PAF Base Murid
• High Mark 95 – deployed at PAF Base Shahbaz (Jacobabad)
• Saffron Bandit 97
• 1998 DACT camp (PAF Base Minhas) – held from 14 to 30 December 1998, No. 26 was deployed with ten A-5C and all squadron pilots flew sorties during the deployment. Other squadrons deployed were No. 8 and No. 16 Squadrons.
• 1998 Armament cyclic training (PAF Base Mushaf, Sargodha) – ten pilots and eight A-5C deployed, 246 armament sorties flown in a 19-day period from 5 October to 24 October 1998.
• Awards:
  • Sarfraz Rafiqui Flight safety Trophy (1992)
  • Chief of Air Staff Professionals Trophy (1994)
  • Sarfraz Rafiqui Trophy (1994)
  • Sarfraz Rafiqui Trophy (1996)
  • Air Combat Evaluations – ACES Trophy (1996)