Combat Commanders' School

The Combat Commanders' School or CCS is the advanced air combat tactics development and training school of the Pakistan Air Force (PAF) based at PAF Base Mushaf, Sargodha, Pakistan.

CCS is a part of the PAF Airpower Centre of Excellence (PAF ACE) under the PAF's Central Air Command (CAC). Operationally, PAF ACE has the status of a Wing under the CAC, with three fighter squadrons of the CCS under its command.

CCS is geared primarily towards the mid-career advanced air combat training of PAF fighter squadron commanders, air defence controllers, and instructors and for the development of advanced air combat tactics for the PAF's fighter squadrons.

The CCS has its origins in the PAF's Flight Leaders' School (FLS) established at PAF Base Masroor at Karachi in April 1958 under the PAF's first Pakistani Commander-in-Chief, Air Marshal Asghar Khan, with Wing Commander M.Z. Masud (later Air Commodore) as the FLS's first commanding officer. After the 1965 India-Pakistan War, the FLS underwent periodic closures due to various constraints and faded from the scene in the early 1970s.

In late 1974, the PAF decided to establish an institution that would not only revive the FLS but surpass it.

Consequently, the CCS was established on 5 May 1976 at PAF Base Sargodha with Wing Commander Hakimullah (later Air Chief Marshal) as its first commanding officer. It was inaugurated officially by Air Chief Marshal Zulfiqar Ali Khan on 15 August 1977. At its inception, the CCS was equipped with two fighter squadrons comprising Mirage III and F-6 fighters. On 16 July 1988, an F-16 squadron was added. In 1993, the F-6 squadron was re-equipped with F-7Ps. On 26 January 2015, a fourth squadron equipped with JF-17s was raised.

In 2016, CCS was made a part of the newly-formed PAF ACE under the CAC.

In 2021, the CCS F-7P Squadron was decommissioned after the retirement of all F-7Ps/FT-7Ps from PAF service.