I wanted to start a discussion thread on the pressing need for Pakistan Navy to adopt asymmetrical war-fighting strategy in Pakistani waters. The reason for this is obvious and plain for everyone to see. Naval fleet is non-existent, severely lacking firepower. It has eight or nine 3000-4000 ton frigates that lack firepower. There are no VLS for AAW on these ships. At most one ship may have eight missiles. In other words these ships are sitting targets for AShM and IN aircraft. Submarine fleet is aging & thinly stretched. The other ships aren't worth discussing.
The original expansion & upgrade plan for the armed forces, envisioned during Musharraf's rule, has been long since shelved. It doesn't look like Pakistan will have the budget or economy to pick that back up anytime soon either.
There are have been a few questionable purchases made recently, such as the OPV or Swift vessels. I can't imagine what role these ships are going to play against numerous IN destroyers loaded with Brahmos and other AShM? Highly doubt any meaningful ToT will come out of these. I believe ToT is misleading term to begin with.
Question arises, where does PN go from here?
The most pragmatic and efficient plan, is to go the asymmetrical route. I will list some points:
Instead of having few large & toothless ships, let's have a few hundred FAC (speed boats)
Each FAC (speed boat) should be equipped with a quad-launcher. PN can distribute these boats and spread them accordingly to different roles. Some of these boats can be devoted to
The purposes these boats can be fitted for, are numerous. The cost involved to construct these boats, are incredibly cheap. Please read on the effectiveness of FAC in naval warfare. Israel has had success in its wars against much larger adversaries in similar naval scenarios. Iranian navy has gone this cheap, but effective route. Look at how other countries are hesitant to attack them in the Gulf. PN has its own setbacks to learn from, example - IN attack on Karachi in 1971 war.
The basis of this idea is bringing the "beehive to the bear". Read US naval strategies used during WWII against Japan. Japan's navy had larger more powerful ships, like the Musashi. US swarmed the ships with superior number & aircraft. I like to point out that naval warfare is really a battle of attrition when weapons fielded on both sides are comparable.
Even if PN acquires the Type-54A with the 32-cell VLS, four of these ships are not going to make much of a different in our context. They will be overwhelmed when IN saturates them with its AShM firepower.
PN can reverse this numerical advantage by fielding more FAC. They may be small speedboats, but armed with quad-launchers & AShM, they are no less dangerous. These boats will also be harder to target, in the sense that they are smaller and much faster. They can evade incoming missiles through fast maneuvering. These boats can "shoot & scoot". In other words, can fire their payload and run.
You can further mask these boats with camouflage color and you can even paint them with radar absorbing coating. Each boat can be equipped with ECM (electronic counter measures) and other jamming mechanisms.
Layer coastal points with underwater Mines
With distributed sensors and UUV (unmanned underwater vehicles), PN can establish "smart" use of underwater minefields. With sensor, mines can be controlled to detonate at the right time and targets.
This will greatly help PN avoid IN naval blockades.
Please read below:
https://www.usni.org/magazines/proceedings/2014/august/mine-and-undersea-warfare-future
Mass Produce Midget Submarines
Each midget sub can carry SSG, fire torpedoes, lay mines. Having numerous midget subs with ability to fire torpedoes can have the same, if not better, effect of having 3 Agosta subs going against the IN.
I'm struggling to understand why PN only had 3 constructed? Why wait decades for larger subs that may not come? From what I understood, is that the COSMOS plant in Italy shut down. I see no reason why Pakistan can't slightly modify the original design and mass produce it locally.
Exploding Drones
PN can modify some FAC (speed boats) to become unmanned vehicles, with the purpose of swarming on & crashing into IN ships. These boats can be packed with explosives and guided to their targets via remote control. Imagine swarming each IN destroyer or frigate with 20 of these?
PN can also modify some midget subs to become UUV (unmanned underwater vehicles). These can be used for the same purpose as the boats above. Packed with explosives, a midget sub can sneak into the IN fleets and detonate. PN can swarm IN fleets with these underwater and with the unmanned speed boats, above water.
Missile Saturation
Here, I believe PN, needs to move away from designating Babur cruise missiles specifically for second-strike platform. Please visit the USN strikes conducted on Syrian facilities some time back. The USN saturated Syrian air defense with cruise missiles. Russian SAM's didn't even bother engaging. PN, in fact all the armed forces, need to be able to launch a numerically overwhelming amount of conventional Babur cruise missiles to saturate and overwhelm indian defenses. This strategy could be key to winning in a conflict with india. Imagine a volley of 150 Babur cruise missiles launched at IN fleet, or IAF and IA bases? Indian SAM batteries will be overwhelmed pretty quickly. Their aircraft could be wiped out with CEM (combined effect munitions) on some of these missiles.
I fail to see why Pakistan has not adopted the strategy of using superior missile numbers as an integral part of conventional warfare?
This is especially true, given the fact, that Pakistan produces these cruise missiles locally and wouldn't be limited by budget.
AShBM Carrier Killer
It seems the Chinese AShBM DF-21 missile has caused tremendous concern for aircraft carriers. USN strategy is now gearing toward increasing operating range of aircraft on the carriers as a means to stay safe. It would be a good idea for Pakistan to invest in building AShBM for the indian theatre. Pakistan could embark on a program to existing SRBM and develop AShBM variants to take down IN carriers and destroyers. Perhaps, some help from China can be sought in this regard, pertaining to radar seekers on warheads.
Please Feel Free to Pitch in More Ideas!
The original expansion & upgrade plan for the armed forces, envisioned during Musharraf's rule, has been long since shelved. It doesn't look like Pakistan will have the budget or economy to pick that back up anytime soon either.
There are have been a few questionable purchases made recently, such as the OPV or Swift vessels. I can't imagine what role these ships are going to play against numerous IN destroyers loaded with Brahmos and other AShM? Highly doubt any meaningful ToT will come out of these. I believe ToT is misleading term to begin with.
Question arises, where does PN go from here?
The most pragmatic and efficient plan, is to go the asymmetrical route. I will list some points:
Instead of having few large & toothless ships, let's have a few hundred FAC (speed boats)
Each FAC (speed boat) should be equipped with a quad-launcher. PN can distribute these boats and spread them accordingly to different roles. Some of these boats can be devoted to
- AAW (anti-air warfare) - Can hook up MANPADS like ANZA
- AShM (anti-ship missile) - Load cruise missiles like
- ASW (anti-submarine warfare)
- land attack roles using cruise missiles
- coastal invasion using SSG commandos
- feel free to share more
The purposes these boats can be fitted for, are numerous. The cost involved to construct these boats, are incredibly cheap. Please read on the effectiveness of FAC in naval warfare. Israel has had success in its wars against much larger adversaries in similar naval scenarios. Iranian navy has gone this cheap, but effective route. Look at how other countries are hesitant to attack them in the Gulf. PN has its own setbacks to learn from, example - IN attack on Karachi in 1971 war.
The basis of this idea is bringing the "beehive to the bear". Read US naval strategies used during WWII against Japan. Japan's navy had larger more powerful ships, like the Musashi. US swarmed the ships with superior number & aircraft. I like to point out that naval warfare is really a battle of attrition when weapons fielded on both sides are comparable.
Even if PN acquires the Type-54A with the 32-cell VLS, four of these ships are not going to make much of a different in our context. They will be overwhelmed when IN saturates them with its AShM firepower.
PN can reverse this numerical advantage by fielding more FAC. They may be small speedboats, but armed with quad-launchers & AShM, they are no less dangerous. These boats will also be harder to target, in the sense that they are smaller and much faster. They can evade incoming missiles through fast maneuvering. These boats can "shoot & scoot". In other words, can fire their payload and run.
You can further mask these boats with camouflage color and you can even paint them with radar absorbing coating. Each boat can be equipped with ECM (electronic counter measures) and other jamming mechanisms.
Layer coastal points with underwater Mines
With distributed sensors and UUV (unmanned underwater vehicles), PN can establish "smart" use of underwater minefields. With sensor, mines can be controlled to detonate at the right time and targets.
This will greatly help PN avoid IN naval blockades.
Please read below:
https://www.usni.org/magazines/proceedings/2014/august/mine-and-undersea-warfare-future
Mass Produce Midget Submarines
Each midget sub can carry SSG, fire torpedoes, lay mines. Having numerous midget subs with ability to fire torpedoes can have the same, if not better, effect of having 3 Agosta subs going against the IN.
I'm struggling to understand why PN only had 3 constructed? Why wait decades for larger subs that may not come? From what I understood, is that the COSMOS plant in Italy shut down. I see no reason why Pakistan can't slightly modify the original design and mass produce it locally.
Exploding Drones
PN can modify some FAC (speed boats) to become unmanned vehicles, with the purpose of swarming on & crashing into IN ships. These boats can be packed with explosives and guided to their targets via remote control. Imagine swarming each IN destroyer or frigate with 20 of these?
PN can also modify some midget subs to become UUV (unmanned underwater vehicles). These can be used for the same purpose as the boats above. Packed with explosives, a midget sub can sneak into the IN fleets and detonate. PN can swarm IN fleets with these underwater and with the unmanned speed boats, above water.
Missile Saturation
Here, I believe PN, needs to move away from designating Babur cruise missiles specifically for second-strike platform. Please visit the USN strikes conducted on Syrian facilities some time back. The USN saturated Syrian air defense with cruise missiles. Russian SAM's didn't even bother engaging. PN, in fact all the armed forces, need to be able to launch a numerically overwhelming amount of conventional Babur cruise missiles to saturate and overwhelm indian defenses. This strategy could be key to winning in a conflict with india. Imagine a volley of 150 Babur cruise missiles launched at IN fleet, or IAF and IA bases? Indian SAM batteries will be overwhelmed pretty quickly. Their aircraft could be wiped out with CEM (combined effect munitions) on some of these missiles.
I fail to see why Pakistan has not adopted the strategy of using superior missile numbers as an integral part of conventional warfare?
This is especially true, given the fact, that Pakistan produces these cruise missiles locally and wouldn't be limited by budget.
AShBM Carrier Killer
It seems the Chinese AShBM DF-21 missile has caused tremendous concern for aircraft carriers. USN strategy is now gearing toward increasing operating range of aircraft on the carriers as a means to stay safe. It would be a good idea for Pakistan to invest in building AShBM for the indian theatre. Pakistan could embark on a program to existing SRBM and develop AShBM variants to take down IN carriers and destroyers. Perhaps, some help from China can be sought in this regard, pertaining to radar seekers on warheads.
Please Feel Free to Pitch in More Ideas!
