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Pakistan recently moved to purchase six advanced submarines, with air independent propulsion technology, from China. In an email interview, Vijay Sakhuja, research director at the Indian Council of World Affairs, discussed Pakistan's naval capabilities.
WPR: What is the current state of Pakistan's navy?
Vijay Sakhuja: Pakistan's naval planners have been proactive in attempting to achieve parity and at times superiority over the Indian navy. They have consistently endeavored to introduce newer and more-advanced platforms to the subcontinent, including submarines capable of launching missiles, long-range maritime patrol aircraft, helicopters fitted with anti-ship missiles and more recently the air independent propulsion system for submarines. To that extent, Pakistan is a modern and credible naval power. However, the rapid growth of the Indian navy -- currently employing aircraft carriers, nuclear submarines and modern surface combatants -- poses a new challenge for Pakistan, which is now attempting to bridge the force imbalance. Given that it has only a rudimentary indigenous naval shipbuilding capacity, Pakistan is seeking Chinese assistance to address the naval capability gap, by acquiring and jointly building submarines and surface platforms.
WPR: Who are Pakistan's main international naval suppliers?
Sakhuja: In the early stages, Pakistan's navy relied on the U.S., but the 1965 and 1971 India-Pakistan wars resulted in a U.S. embargo on military sales. The embargo was short-lived, and the U.S. went on to supply a variety of destroyers, frigates, P-3 Orion maritime patrol aircraft and Harpoon and other missiles. Pakistan also explored alternate sources for its naval requirements, such as France and China. French naval hardware -- submarines, patrol aircraft and minesweepers -- is popular because the sales were spurred mainly by commercial interests and not by politico-strategic considerations. Meanwhile, China has recently emerged as the primary source of naval hardware, including frigates and missile craft, with submarines possibly soon to follow. China is also augmenting Pakistan's naval shipbuilding infrastructure to enable it to construct advanced naval platforms. Germany, too, has made inroads into Pakistan's naval inventory through Type 214 submarines.
WPR: How will the submarine acquisition affect the Pakistani navy's capabilities?
Sakhuja: Pakistani naval strategists have repeatedly argued that submarines are well-suited for smaller navies, like Pakistan's, to support an offensive sea-denial strategy. Accordingly, the primacy of submarines in Pakistani naval thought is visible through Islamabad's constant attempts to acquire these vessels from various sources. Following the acquisition of PNS Ghazi on lease from the U.S. in 1964, Pakistan acquired Daphne- and Agosta-class submarines from France. During the 1971 India-Pakistan war, one of these was able to sink an Indian frigate. Although Pakistan subsequently lost the Ghazi, submarines continued to gain primacy in Pakistani naval thinking. Perhaps what merits attention now is that Pakistani naval planners are seeking a nuclear role for themselves by either leasing a nuclear-powered submarine or modifying the existing inventory of cruise missiles to carry submarine-launched nuclear warheads. This thinking is motivated by the Indian navy's acquisition of nuclear submarines.
Trend Lines | Global Insider: Pakistan's Navy
WPR: What is the current state of Pakistan's navy?
Vijay Sakhuja: Pakistan's naval planners have been proactive in attempting to achieve parity and at times superiority over the Indian navy. They have consistently endeavored to introduce newer and more-advanced platforms to the subcontinent, including submarines capable of launching missiles, long-range maritime patrol aircraft, helicopters fitted with anti-ship missiles and more recently the air independent propulsion system for submarines. To that extent, Pakistan is a modern and credible naval power. However, the rapid growth of the Indian navy -- currently employing aircraft carriers, nuclear submarines and modern surface combatants -- poses a new challenge for Pakistan, which is now attempting to bridge the force imbalance. Given that it has only a rudimentary indigenous naval shipbuilding capacity, Pakistan is seeking Chinese assistance to address the naval capability gap, by acquiring and jointly building submarines and surface platforms.
WPR: Who are Pakistan's main international naval suppliers?
Sakhuja: In the early stages, Pakistan's navy relied on the U.S., but the 1965 and 1971 India-Pakistan wars resulted in a U.S. embargo on military sales. The embargo was short-lived, and the U.S. went on to supply a variety of destroyers, frigates, P-3 Orion maritime patrol aircraft and Harpoon and other missiles. Pakistan also explored alternate sources for its naval requirements, such as France and China. French naval hardware -- submarines, patrol aircraft and minesweepers -- is popular because the sales were spurred mainly by commercial interests and not by politico-strategic considerations. Meanwhile, China has recently emerged as the primary source of naval hardware, including frigates and missile craft, with submarines possibly soon to follow. China is also augmenting Pakistan's naval shipbuilding infrastructure to enable it to construct advanced naval platforms. Germany, too, has made inroads into Pakistan's naval inventory through Type 214 submarines.
WPR: How will the submarine acquisition affect the Pakistani navy's capabilities?
Sakhuja: Pakistani naval strategists have repeatedly argued that submarines are well-suited for smaller navies, like Pakistan's, to support an offensive sea-denial strategy. Accordingly, the primacy of submarines in Pakistani naval thought is visible through Islamabad's constant attempts to acquire these vessels from various sources. Following the acquisition of PNS Ghazi on lease from the U.S. in 1964, Pakistan acquired Daphne- and Agosta-class submarines from France. During the 1971 India-Pakistan war, one of these was able to sink an Indian frigate. Although Pakistan subsequently lost the Ghazi, submarines continued to gain primacy in Pakistani naval thinking. Perhaps what merits attention now is that Pakistani naval planners are seeking a nuclear role for themselves by either leasing a nuclear-powered submarine or modifying the existing inventory of cruise missiles to carry submarine-launched nuclear warheads. This thinking is motivated by the Indian navy's acquisition of nuclear submarines.
Trend Lines | Global Insider: Pakistan's Navy
..so what we gonna do if India attacks us???
...get good whipping and get captured like they did take over Kashmir, Hyderabad and some other states by force...maybe they might capture whole of our country then...
