# Structure of the Pakistan Army

The structure of the Pakistan Army is based on two distinct themes: operational and administrative. Operationally the Pakistan Army is divided into nine corps and three corps-level formations with areas of responsibility (AOR) ranging from the mountainous regions of the north to the desert and coastal regions of the south. Administratively it is divided in several regiments (details below). The General Headquarters (GHQ) of the Army is located in Rawalpindi in Punjab province. It is planned to be moved to the capital city of Islamabad nearby.

## Army headquarters and staff

The Chief of the Army Staff (COAS), formerly called the Commander-in-Chief (C-in-C of the Pakistan Army), is challenged with the responsibility of commanding the Pakistan Army. The COAS operates from army headquarters in Rawalpindi, near Islamabad. The Principal Staff Officers (PSO's) assisting him in his duties at the lieutenant general level include:
| Post | Name |
| Chief of the Army Staff (COAS) | General Asim Munir |
| Vice Chief of the Army Staff (VCOAS) | Vacant |
| Deputy Chief of the Army Staff (DCOAS) | Vacant |
| Chief of the General Staff (CGS) | Lieutenant General Avais Dastgir |
| Chief of Logistics Staff (CLS) | Lieutenant General Inayat Hussain |
| Inspector General Arms (IG Arms) | Lieutenant General Sarfraz Ahmed |
| Adjutant General (AG) | Lieutenant General Muhammad Asim Malik |
| Quarter Master General (QMG) | Lieutenant General Muhammad Ali |
| Military Secretary (MS) | Lieutenant General Amer Ahsan Nawaz |
| Master-General of Ordnance (MGO) | TBA |
| Inspector General Training & Evaluation (IG T&E) | Lieutenant General Fayyaz Hussain Shah |
| Inspector General Communications and Information Technology (IG C&IT) | Lieutenant General Muhammad Aqeel |
| Engineer-in-Chief (E-in-C) | Lieutenant General Kashif Nazir |
The Military Operations and Intelligence Directorates function under the Chief of General Staff (CGS). A major reorganization in GHQ was done in September 2008 under General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani, when two new PSO positions were introduced: the Inspector General Arms and the Inspector General Communications and IT, thus raising the number of PSO's to eight.
The headquarters function also includes the Judge Advocate General (JAG), and the Controller of Civilian Personnel, the Chief of the Corps of Engineers (E-in-C) who is also head of Military Engineering Service (MES), all of them also report to the Chief of the Army Staff.

## Operational structure
### Hierarchy

| Order | Organization | Organization | Typical Commander | (NATO) OFC-Star |
| 1. | Chief of Army Staff | This post is held by the senior most and an experienced army officer, although the Chief of Army doesn't directly command but it has significant importance, the role of Chief of Army is to ensure the command of the whole of national army that includes: Overseeing the army: The army chief is responsible for overseeing all aspects of the army, including training, discipline, equipment, and readiness. Acting on orders: The army chief must carry out the orders of the Prime Minister or President, and may be responsible for implementing military action as directed. Advising the government: The army chief provides advice to the government on matters of national security, and may be called upon to provide advice to the Prime Minister or President. | General | |
| 2. | Corps | A corps usually comprises two or more divisions. | Lieutenant General | |
| 3. | Division | A division usually comprises three brigades including infantry, artillery, and engineers. Each division also has one or more armoured brigades, except mountain divisions. There are nineteen Infantry divisions, one Special Security Division, two mechanised divisions, two armoured divisions, one division-sized formation called Force Command Northern Areas, one engineer division, three artillery divisions (two are believed to possess ballistic missiles). | Major General | |
| 4. | Brigade | A brigade usually comprises three or more battalions of different types and is commanded by a brigadier. Some brigades are independent of divisions and report either to Corps HQ or Army HQ (e.g. 111 Bde). The independent brigades include seven mechanised infantry brigades, eight armoured brigades, four artillery brigades, and nine engineer brigades: 105 Independent Infantry Brigade under V Corps 105 Air Defence Independent Brigade Group in XXXI Corps 111 Independent Infantry Brigade at Rawalpindi with X Corps 212 Infantry Brigade at Lahore with IV Corps. | Brigadier | |
| 5. | Regiment | The only active operations regiments (as opposed to administrative regiments) are training regiments. Colonels don't exercise command appointments except training commands, staff appointments, brigade executive officers and a few administrative establishment commands. | Colonel | No Star |
| 6. | Battalion | A battalion has about 600–900 soldiers and is commanded by a lieutenant colonel. This number varies depending on the type of subunits of the battalion. A battalion comprises either three batteries (artillery or air defence) or four companies (infantry) or three squadrons (armoured). | Lieutenant Colonel | No Star |
| 7. | Company | Headed by the major/captain, a company comprises about 120–150 soldiers. | Major - Captain | No Star |
| 8. | Platoon | An intermediate between a company and section, a platoon is headed by a lieutenant or, depending on the availability of commissioned officers, a junior commissioned officer, with the rank of subedar major. It has a total strength of about 30–36 troops. | Subedar major | No Star |
| 9. | Section | Smallest military outfit, with a strength of about 9–13 personnel. Commanded by a non-commissioned officer of the rank of subedar, depending upon the working conditions of the section. | Subedar - Naib Subedar | No Star |

### Corps

There are nine corps (each including an independent signals brigade) and three corps-level formations (Air Defence, Aviation and Strategic Forces).
| Corps | HQ Location | Current Commander | Major Corps Formations |
| I Corps | Mangla, Azad Kashmir | Lieutenant General Nauman Zakaria | 6th Armoured Division (Gujranwala) 17th Infantry Division (Kharian) 37th Infantry Division (Kharian) |
| II Corps | Multan, Punjab | Lieutenant General Akhtar Nawaz Satti | 1st Armoured Division (Multan) 40th Infantry Division (Okara) |
| IV Corps | Lahore, Punjab | Lieutenant General Syed Aamer Raza | 10th Infantry Division (Lahore) 11th Infantry Division (Lahore) |
| V Corps | Karachi, Sindh | Lieutenant General Babar Iftikhar | 16th Infantry Division (Pano Aqil) 18th Infantry Division (Hyderabad) 25th Mechanized Division (Malir) |
| X Corps | Rawalpindi, Punjab | Lieutenant General Shahid Imtiaz | Force Command Northern Areas (Gilgit) 12th Infantry Division (Murree) 19th Infantry Division (Mangla) 23rd Infantry Division (Jhelum) 34th Light Infantry Division (Chilas) |
| XI Corps | Peshawar, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa | Lieutenant General Syed Omer Ahmed Bokhari | 7th Infantry Division, (Miranshah) 9th Infantry Division (Kohat) |
| XII Corps | Quetta, Balochistan | Lieutenant General Rahat Naseem Ahmed Khan | 33rd Infantry Division (Khuzdar) 41st Infantry Division (Quetta) 44th Light Infantry Division (Gwadar) |
| XXX Corps | Gujranwala, Punjab | Lieutenant General Syed Imdad Hussain Shah | 8th Infantry Division (Sialkot) 15th Infantry Division (Sialkot) |
| XXXI Corps | Bahawalpur, Punjab | Lieutenant General Saqib Mehmood Malik | 14th Infantry Division (Okara) 26th Mechanized Division (Bahawalpur) 35th Infantry Division (Bahawalpur) |
| Air Defence | Rawalpindi, Punjab | Lieutenant General Muhammad Zafar Iqbal | 3rd Air Defence Division (Sargodha) 4th Air Defence Division (Malir) |
| Strategic Forces | Rawalpindi, Punjab | Lieutenant General Shehbaz Khan | 2nd Artillery Division (Gujranwala) 21st Artillery Division (Pano Aqil) 22nd Artillery Division (Bahawalnagar) Strategic Forces North (Sargodha) Strategic Forces South (Petaro) |
| Aviation | Rawalpindi, Punjab | Major General Nadeem Yousaf | 101 Avn Group (Rawalpindi) 202 Avn Group (Quetta) 303 Avn Group (Gujranwala) 404 Avn Group (Multan) 505 Avn Group (Mangla) 606 Avn Group(Tarbela) |

### Regional formations

In Pakistani military terminology, the regional commands are the temporary military formations that are structure based upon the conventional corps, and troop rotations are constant and varies based on the Pakistani war strategists' calculations.$^{:309}$ The regional commands are led by the three-star rank general officer whose staff includes numbers of general officers.$^{:309}$
In past, the Eastern Command was organized at a corps-level conventional formation in East Pakistan (now Bangladesh), consisting of the 9th Infantry Division, 14th Infantry Division, and 16th Infantry Division. These divisions are still active duty with their respected Regiments. To further support the Eastern Command, the 36th Adhoc Division and 39th Adhoc Division were commissioned to support the paramilitary units and police; and subsequently decommissioned after Eastern Command was de-activated.
To address the challenges and issues faced by the Cold Start strategy of Indian Army, the army formed regional commands to protect the North—South regions by establishing the first the Southern Command in 1999 and later the Northern Command in 2008.$^{:310}$ Other active regional formations includes the Army Strategic Forces Command and the Army Air Defence Command that serves as a platform of missile defense.$^{:311}$
Regional formational commands
* Eastern Command (1960-1971)
* Northern Command (2008–Present)
* Southern Command (1999–Present)
* Army Strategic Forces Command (2002–Present)
* Army Air Defence Command (1999–Present)
* Army Cyber Command (2022–Present)

## Administrative structure

The Pakistan Army is organised in two main ways, which are Arms and Services.

### Regiments

| Infantry: Azad Kashmir Regiment Punjab Regiment Sindh Regiment Baloch Regiment Frontier Force Regiment Northern Light Infantry Regiment Mujahid Regiment Special Services Group | EME: 55 EME Battalion 53 EME Battalion 544 EME 42 EME Battalion 43 EME Battalion 118 EME Battalion Armour: President's Bodyguard Guides Cavalry 4th Cavalry (Valiants) 5th Horse (Probyn's Horse) 6th Lancers (Fateh Khem Karan) 7th Lancers 8 Cavalry (Izz-Ul-Khail) 9th Horse (Arabian Horse) 11th Cavalry (Frontier Force) 12th Cavalry (Sam Browne's Cavalry) 13th Lancers (Spearheads) 14th Lancers 15th Lancers (Baloch Horse) 16th Horse (al-Mugheerat) 17th Lancers 18th Horse 19th Lancers 20th Lancers (Haideri) 21st Horse (Murtajiz) 22nd Cavalry (Death or Glory) 23rd Cavalry (Frontier Force) 24th Cavalry (Chargers) 25th Cavalry (Frontier Force)(Men of Steel) 26th Cavalry (Mustangs) 27th Cavalry (Steeds of war)(Ribat-ul-Khail) 28th Cavalry (Chhamb Hunters) 29th Cavalry (Tigers) 30th Cavalry (Bold Till Death) 31st Cavalry (Sprocketeers) 32nd Cavalry 33rd Cavalry (Fortunes with the Bold) 34th Lancers (Dragoons) 35th Cavalry (al-Mubarizun) 36th Cavalry 37th Cavalry (Ribat-us-Sehra) 38th Cavalry (Desert Hawks) 39th Cavalry (Vanguards) 40th Horse (Scinde Horse) 41st Horse (Frontier Force) 42nd Lancers (Punjab Lancers) 43rd Cavalry (al-Zarib) 44th Cavalry (Pioneers) 45th Horse 47th Cavalry 51st Lancers (Silver Eagles) 52nd Cavalry (Howal mastan) 53rd Cavalry (Golden Eagles) 54th Cavalry (Hizbullah) 55th Cavalry 56th Cavalry (Raad-ul-Harb) 57th Lancers 58th Cavalry | Artillery 3 Medium Regiment Artillery 4 Medium Regiment Artillery 5 MLRS Regiment 7 Field Regiment Artillery 15 SP Medium Regiment Artillery 16 (SP) Medium Regiment Artillery 17 Locating Regiment Artillery 28 Medium Regiment Artillery 30 (SP) Heavy Regiment Artillery 32 Medium Regiment Artillery 35 SP (Heavy) Regiment 38 Field Regiment Artillery 39 (SP) Medium Regiment Artillery 44 Medium Regiment Artillery 45 Field Regiment Artillery 46 Field Regiment Artillery 48 Field Regiment Artillery 50 Field Regiment Artillery 51 Medium Regiment Artillery 54 Medium Regiment Artillery 61 Medium Regiment Artillery 63 Medium Regiment Artillery 64 Medium Regiment Artillery 65 Medium Regiment Artillery 72 (SP) Medium Regiment Artillery 79 Field Regiment Artillery 86 Field Regiment Artillery 93 Medium Regiment Artillery 115 Medium Regiment Artillery 118 Medium Regiment Artillery 139 (SP) Medium Regiment Artillery (WAKAZA) 140 (SP) Medium Regiment Artillery 150 Medium Regiment Artillery 154 Medium Regiment Artillery 156 Locating Regiment Artillery 159 Locating Regiment 162 Field Regiment Artillery 165 Field Regiment Artillery 170 Field Regiment Artillery 172 MBRL Regiment 174 Medium Regiment Artillery 176 Missile Regiment Artillery 184 (SP) Medium Regiment Artillery 189 Missile Regiment Artillery 197 Missile Regiment Artillery 198 Missile Regiment Artillery 830 Mujahid Field Regiment Artillery 831 Mujahid Field Regiment Artillery | Air Defence: 74 Light Air Defence (SAM) 88 Light Air Defence 52 medium Airdefence ESHORAD 58 medium Airdefence Regiment 97 RCG Air Defence Regiment 98 RCG Air Defence Regiment 102 Light Air Defence (SAM) Regiment 103 Light Air Defence (GM) Regiment 104 RCG Air Defence Regiment 126 Light Air Defence (Gun Missile) Regiment 127 Medium Air Defence Regiment 134 Radar Control Guns Regiment 146 Light Air Defence Regiment 148 Light Air Defence (SP) Regiment 153 Light Air Defence (SP) Regiment 154 Light Air Defence (SP) Regiment 160 RCG Air Defence Regiment Aviation Corps (AVN) Signals Corps (SIGS) 2 Signal Battalion 5 Signal Battalion 7 Signal Battalion 8 Signal Battalion 9 Signal Battalion 11 Signal Battalion 12 Signal Battalion 13 Signal Battalion 15 Signal Battalion 17 Signal Battalion 19 Signal Battalion 23 Signal Battalion 24 Signal Battalion 26 Signal Battalion 32 Signal Battalion 44 Signal Battalion 43 Signal Battalion 45 Signal Battalion  49 Signal Battalion 51 Signal Battalion 52 Signal Battalion 69 Signal Battalion 76 Signal Battalion 77 Signal Battalion 80 Signal Battalion 82 RC Signal Battalion 84 Signal Battalion 86 Signal Battalion 92 EW Signal Battalion 93 Signal Battalion Engineers Corps (ENG) 1 Engineer Battalion 2 Engineer Battalion (ICHDEIN)(Makran Sappers) 3 Engineer Battalion(Behtreen) 4 Engineer Battalion (Jurrat o Istaklaal) 5 Engineer Battalion (Laraka Panja) 6 Engineer Battalion (The Mighty Six) 7 Engineer Battalion 8 Engineer Battalion (Chawinda Sappers) 10 Engineer Battalion 11 Engineer Battalion 12 Engineer Battalion 13 Enginner Battalion 14 Engineer Battalion 16 Engineer Battalion 18 Engineer Battalion 19 Engineer Battalion 20 Engineer Battalion 21 Engineer Battalion 22 Engineer Battalion 23 Engineer Battalion 24 Engineer Battalion 25 Engineer Battalion 26 Engineer Battalion 100 Engineer Battalion 103 Engineer Battalion 104 Engineer Battalion 105 Engineer Battalion 106 Engineer Battalion 107 Engineer Battalion 108 Engineer Battalion 109 Engineer Battalion 173 Engineer Battalion 174 Engineer Battalion 314 Assault Engineers Battalion 474 Engineer Battalion 479 Engineer Battalion 662 Engineer Battalion 141 Engineer RMB (Road maintenance battalion) 142 Engineer RMB (Road maintenance Battalion) |

### Administrative Services

* Pakistan Army Medical Corps
* Service Corps (ASC)
* Military Police (MP)
* Electrical and Mechanical Engineering (EME)
* Education (AEC)
* Remount Veterinary and Farms (RVFC)
* Ordnance (ORD)
* Military Intelligence (MI)