Penguin
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like i said PN should first convince china to Provide some second hand 5000 ton destroyers
Instead of buying 30-33 yr old OHP from USA costing 78 Mil USD each
1-2 such destroyers would not only be better than 3-4 OHP but would give valuable experience in operating heavy ships , Provided they are less than 30yrs old , and PLAN operates 8 such destroyers which are between 25-30 yr old
Pakistan should also look at buying a second hand LPD from US , something like the 35 Yr old USS Trenton which India bought from US for only 52 Million USD including repairs and upgrade
The only ships of that tonnage that China could offer are two Luhu class ships, one of which (112 Harbin) is fitted with US GTu's and the other (113 Qingdao) with Ukrainian GTu's, which poses a logistical challenge.
Moreover, these ships are NOT superior to the OHP in many important respects (and certainly not to the extent that 2 of them would be worth 4 OHPs):
"The class is said to be the first indigenous Chinese warship design approaching modern standards"
"The operational capability of the Luhu-class Destroyers has been called into question by naval analysts. Ship visits in 1997 allowed US Naval officers to board and inspect Luhu Destroyer No.112 Harbin and to take numerous photographs. Analysis of these photographs and reporting by officers present strongly suggested that the Luhu Destroyers were mainly intended as technology demonstration vessels rather than serious naval combatants. "
Type 052 destroyer - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
PN has no (0, nada, zip) amphibious capability at present, nor should it necessarily have. When starting from scratch anyway, it would be better to buy a suitable new vessel (e.g. such as Indonesia got with assistance from South Korea, Makassar class, 4 new ships for USD$150 million dollar) rather than a way too big old and steampowered ex-USN vessel like Trenton (Austin class).
Trenton was bought by India in 2006, the Indian government paid US$48.44 million. Six UH-3 Sea King maritime utility transport helicopters, bought for and additional $39 million, operate from the ship.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/INS_Jalashwa
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