Pakistani Armed Forces ORBAT, Part 6: Artillery

M109A2 155mm 10 Medium Artillery Regiment

Artillery is one of the most valued arms of the Pakistan Army and a lot of scarce resources have been invested in it. Over the years, PA has relied on its artillery extensively during regular wars with India as well as for shelling of civilians in India, Afghanistan and even in Pakistan when they are fighting against some other Islamist terrorists they don’t agree with . 


Pakistan Artillery Corps flag

Pakistan Artillery Corps badge

The artillery regiments are classified as per following. The numbers of regiments mentioned are speculative and subject to change:

  1. Heavy : 203 mm (Self-propelled and towed). 6-8 regiments
  2. Medium: 130 mm, 155 mm (Self-propelled and towed). 38 regiments.
  3. Field: 122 mm, 105 mm (Towed). 76 regiments.
  4. Mountain: 105 mm (Towed). 4 regiments.
  5. MBRL: 122 mm, 300 mm (Self-propelled)
  6. Meteorological and Locating Regiments

There are two artillery divisions 2nd (Gujranwala) and 21st (Pano Aqil), each comprising 3 brigades. Each artillery brigade usually has 3 regiments with each gun regiment having 18 guns. MBRL regiments have 12 launchers. Additionally each Corps has one independent artillery brigade. These are usually armed with MBRLs and sometimes towed guns. 

The artillery divisions are assigned to Corps HQs and the HQ can assign whole divisions or its subordinate units to different sectors. There are two known independent artillery brigades. Additionally, some regiments have different composition than others. 

  • Field artillery regiments (four^) under FCNA have 12 105 mm guns instead of 18.
  • Artillery regiments with armoured divisions usually have 2 Heavy Regiments of 8 M110 203 mm SPH + 4 M59 155 mm and one regiment of 18 Type-59 130 mm.
  • Certain mechanised armoured divisions (4 in numbers^) each have 1 artillery brigade with 3 regiments each. Each such regiment is a SP Medium with 12 M109 155 mm SPH
  • Artillery brigades with Infantry divisions have 4 field artillery regiments with 18 122 mm towed guns.
  • Independent armoured brigades (5 in numbers^) have one regiment each of 12 M109 155 mm SPH.
  • The 2 armoured divisions have 1 artillery brigade. Each such brigade has 1 Medium  regiment of 8 M109 155mm SPH + 4 M110 203mm  and 2 Medium regiments with 12 M109 155mm SPH.

2nd Artillery Div insignia. 151 Med Reg, 130 mm

21st Artillery Division insignia. 30 SP Reg. M110A2
IMAGE: Pakistani artillery divisions insignia

A Pakistani artillery division will have following structure:

  1. First artillery brigade : 
  • 1x Heavy Regiment (203mm towed) 
  • 2x Medium Regiment (155/130mm towed) 
  • 1x Field Regiment (122/105mm towed).
  1. Second artillery brigade
  • 3x Medium Regiment (155/130mm towed) 
  • 1x Field Regiment (122/105mm towed)
  1. Third artillery brigade
  • 2x SP Heavy Regiment (203mm SP)
  • 1x SP Medium Regiment (155mm SP)
  • 1x Medium Regiment (155/130mm towed)
  1. Divisional artillery units under command of Divisional HQ:
  • 1x 300 mm MBRL regiment
  • 1x 122 mm MBRL regiment
  • 1x Locating Regiment
  • 1x Meteorological & Survey Battery (with each Brigade & Divisional HQs)
  • Signals, Supply & Transport, EME, Ordnance and other support units 

Table below provides a general idea of the number of artillery guns in the Pakistani army. It is quite possible that some of these guns would have been taken out of service due to issues such as breakdowns, end of life and battle damages sustained during border skirmishes with India and Afghanistan. Different sources have wildly varying figures and it is hard to get a fairly accurate number just from open sources.

CALIBRENAMETYPENUMBERSNOTE
203 mmM115Towed28
203 mmM110SP Tracked40-60 M110/M110A2
155 mmSH-15SP Wheeled236 ordered3 regiments raised in Mar 2022
155 mmM-109SP Tracked152-200 M109A2, 115 M109A5, 123 M109L
155 mmM-198Towed148
155 mmM-114Towed144
130 mmType 59-1Towed410Chinese copy of M46
122 mmType-54-1Towed490-570Chinese copy of D30
105 mmM101Towed216
105 mmM-56Towed113
88 mm25 pounderTowedSeemingly retired.
122 mmKRL-122MBRL80-100Romanian copy of BM-21 Grad
300 mmA-100MBRL36Chinese copy of Smerch
TABLE: Artillery arsenal of Pakistan


M198 155mm (51 Med Artillery)

M110A2 203mm SPH (35 SP Regiment)

M109A2 155mm SPH (10 Med Regiment)

A-100, 2nd MLRS Reg, 2nd Art Div
IMAGES: Some of Pakistan artillery

The table below lists some of the known Pakistani artillery regiments and other units. The locations are from time period of  2019 to 2022 and may have changed since then.

UNITLOCATIONPARENT UNITWEAPONSLATLONG
Army Artillery CenterAttock Cantt33°46’37.69″N72°22’39.30″E
3 Medium Artillery Regiment
8 Medium Artillery RegimentLahore, Punjab11 Inf Div130 mm31°30’58.24″N74°21’55.92″E
9 Medium Artillery RegimentBagh, PoK^33°59’40.47″N73°46’38.45″E
10 Medium Artillery RegimentMultan6 Armd DivM109A2 155mm SP
11 Medium Artillery RegimentI Corps (I)M198 155mm
11 Medium Artillery Regiment ^
13 SP regimentSH-15??
15 SP Medium Artillery RegimentM109A 155mm SP
16 SP Medium Artillery RegimentM109A2 155mm SP
17 Locating Regiment ArtilleryMalir Cantt
21 Medium Regiment^
23 Regiment
24 SP Medium Artillery RegimentM109A2 155mm SP
26 Field Regiment ArtilleryType-54 122mm
29 Field ArtilleryOkara
30 Heavy SP Artillery RegimentRahim Yar Khan21st ArtilleryM110 A2 203mm SP28°27’14.36″N70°14’0.96″E
33 Heavy SP Artillery RegimentOkara6th Armd DivM110 A2 203mm SP
34 Medium Artillery RegimentGujranwala21st Artillery
35 Heavy SP Artillery Regiment21st ArtilleryM110 A2 203mm SP
37 Locating Regiment^ Corps^
38 Field Regiment^
39 Medium SP RegimentMultan Cantt30°10’59.25″N71°25’23.49″E
44 Medium Regiment
51 Medium Artillery RegimentPeshawarI Corps (I)M198 155mm
53 Field Regiment^
55 Field Regiment^
59th Field Artillery RegimentSwat, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa
63 Medium Artillery RegimentAhmedpur East29° 8’49.41″N71°14’59.39″E
64 Medium Artillery RegimentQuetta, Balochistan30°12’28.00″N67° 2’39.41″E
65 Medium Artillery Regiment^
66 Medium Artillery RegimentKotli130 mm
68 Field Artillery RegimentMehfooz Shaheed Garrison, Lahore
70 Field Artillery RegimentOkara, Punjab*30°44’2.00″N73°20’55.28″E
76 Field Artillery Regiment^
77 Field Artillery Regiment (Saat Saat)Jhelum, Punjab32°55’9.82″N73°41’35.33″E
78 Field Artillery RegimentGujranwala
79 Mountain Artillery RegimentBagh
80 Field Artillery RegimentSialkot Cantt32°30’49.94″N74°31’58.14″E
82 SP Medium Artillery RegimentMultan, Punjab30°10’11.76″N71°24’50.62″E
86 Field Artillery Regiment
92 Field Artillery RegimentMangla Cantt*33° 8’29.06″N73°36’55.43″E
92 Medium Artillery RegimentSialkot
99 Medium Artillery Regiment130 mm
109 Medium Artillery RegimentMangla Cantt33° 8’23.31″N73°37’2.29″E
110 Field Artillery RegimentMehfooz Garrison31°32’49.33″N74°26’11.82″E
118 Medium Artillery RegimentOkara, Punjab*30°43’43.02″N73°20’59.54″E
128 Field Artillery RegimentSialkot
130 Medium Artillery RegimentOkara, Punjab30°43’42.92″N73°20’48.79″E
139 SP Medium Artillery RegimentGujranwalaXXX Corps32°15’40.21″N74° 6’25.65″E
140 SP Medium Artillery RegimentKashmore
147 Field Artillery RegimentUpper Dir
148 Mountain Artillery RegimentAstore
150 Medium Artillery RegimentLahore*31°30’49.57″N74°21’58.11″E
151 Medium Artillery Regiment130 mm
154 Medium Artillery RegimentM109A2 155mm SP
156 Locating RegimentLahoreSLC2 WLR
157 Locating RegimentSLC2 WLR
161 Field Artillery RegimentSialkot Cantt
170 Field Artillery RegimentGoma, Gilgit35° 8’59.76″N76°46’51.50″E
173 Medium Artillery Regiment6th Armd DivM109A2 155 mm
184 SP Medium Artillery RegimentBhawalpur
191 RegimentIslamabad
209 Artillery RegimentSibi, Balochistan*29°32’41.53″N67°51’45.67″E
Mujahid Force Field Artillery RegimentRawalpindi, Punjab*33°32’55.70″N73° 2’21.55″E
831 Mujahid Field Artillery RegimentGilgit35°52’42.49″N74°25’54.88″E
School of ArtilleryNowshera Cantt34° 0’15.89″N72° 0’3.59″E
17 Locating RegimentMalir Cantt24°56’7.21″N67°12’24.97″E
158 Locating regimentNowshera*SLC2 Radar34° 0’11.74″N72° 0’41.75″E
5 MLRS Artillery Regiment2nd Art DivA-100
13 MLRS Artillery RegimentBahawalpur,29°21’45.11″N71°40’54.68″E
172 MLRS Artillery RegimentChitral, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa2019 Pano Aqil35°52’25.45″N71°47’59.09″E
187 Missile Regiment Artillery
190 MRAPetaro
209 Mas Battery ArtillerySibi cantt
237 Medium Artillery^
105 (I) Artillery Brigade
107 Artillery Brigade
TABLE: Pakistani Artillery Regiments ORBAT 2019-22

REFERENCES

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2 thoughts on “Pakistani Armed Forces ORBAT, Part 6: Artillery

  1. Excellent as is all your work

    AFAIK, 21 Arty Div is Strategic Forces

    Also, in your great article on armor, you forgot to add 25 and 26 Mech Divisions. There are two Corps, labeled as Corps reserves IV and XXXI Corps.

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