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Modernizing Navy Boosts Pakistan's Maritime Firms
By Usman Ansari
Published: 20 October 2008
ISLAMABAD - Indigenous naval system development, especially display consoles and towed array sonar, is slowly improving the Pakistan Navy.
Plans call for a substantial increase in the size of the Navy, a force that historically has been chronically short of platforms and behind its sister services in weapon development. New destroyers, frigates and corvettes are planned or on order. Capt. Asif Majeed Butt, the Navy's director of public relations, said the submarine arm itself is hoped to grow to 12 to 14 boats from the current three Agosta 90Bs and two Agosta 70s.
The expansion is in response to the huge buildup of the Indian Navy.
Such investment in Pakistan's Navy has increased indigenous system development. These systems include mainly display consoles and programmable training aids developed by Maritime Systems Ltd. (MSL) and the Maritime Technology Complex (MTC).
Due to the desire to establish a solid domestic knowledge and technological base, officials decided to incrementally expand the range, nature and complexity of products rather than hastily build something beyond local industry's means.
Two basic types of console were displayed at the IDEAS2006 defense exhibition in Karachi, though MSL has the capacity to modify the designs per customer requirement. The Naval Training Simulator is a stand-alone, programmable multimode unit, with a C3I training system. It has been developed to simulate any maritime sensor or weapon system, (airborne, surface or subsurface), under any operational sea or weather conditions.
The purpose was to reduce the strain on active platforms that had previously been diverted for training purposes.
As with other systems of their type, they are robust enough to withstand the vigors of life at sea, and display information from a range of sensors and weapons. They have been fitted to the later Jalalat-class fast attack craft, and will be fitted to future surface combatants.
However, it is the MSL Advanced Towed Array Sonar (ATAS) that is the most technologically advanced system publicly revealed thus far. It has been designed for the demanding Arabian Sea environment, with its complex thermal conditions, varying salinity and coastal acoustic clutter.
Previous systems operated by the Navy were badly dated, overly complicated, bulky and heavy. By the 1990s, they were also in need of a new array. Therefore, officials decided that an indigenous unit should be designed. The result was a system deemed superior to similar types available to Pakistan on the market, and efforts are being made to export it to friendly navies in the Arabian Gulf region.
Development was undertaken with possible export sales in mind, and therefore support issues were factored into the program. The ATAS is expected to be retrofitted to existing submarines as a stand-alone unit on the Agosta-70s, and integrated into the SUBTICS combat management system on the Agosta-90Bs. It will also be fitted to the next-generation submarine, currently expected to be the HDW Type-214, for which negotiations are at an advanced stage, and the future corvette, for which the Turkish Milgem corvette is the likely candidate.
New systems developed in conjunction by MTC and MSL will be revealed at Pakistan's biannual defense show, IDEAS2008, on Nov. 24-28. According to Commodore S. Sarfraz, an MTC spokesman and head of the ATAS program, the latest system to be revealed at IDEAS will be an electronic warfare system. Though further details were not forthcoming, the EW system is the first of a family of such systems. These will initially be shore-based but are being developed for shipborne applications at a later date.
Pakistan's indigenous maritime systems industry is therefore making steady progress in terms of its product range and complexity, and should benefit handsomely from the current naval expansion program. ■
Modernizing Navy Boosts Pakistan's Maritime Firms - Defense News
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Few things I got out of this:
PN wants to expand current submarine force 5 to 12-14...if we factor in the eventual retirement of the Agosta-70s - the desired number is 10-12 SSKs.
The U214 and MILGEM are likely choices for the AIP-SSK and corvette requirements, respectively.
The PN has publically acknowledged that not only frigates and corvettes, but also destroyers are beng sought. I will give credit to the member waz for taking notice of this much earlier.
Modernization will go hand in hand with local industrial and R&D expansion...Pakistani Sonar, Sensors, EW/ECM, etc, will all factor into the above platforms.
From 2010 to 2019 the PN will probably focus on starting up the SSK and corvette production lines...from 2020-2030 we should see focus on FFGs and DDG (large FFGs).
By Usman Ansari
Published: 20 October 2008
ISLAMABAD - Indigenous naval system development, especially display consoles and towed array sonar, is slowly improving the Pakistan Navy.
Plans call for a substantial increase in the size of the Navy, a force that historically has been chronically short of platforms and behind its sister services in weapon development. New destroyers, frigates and corvettes are planned or on order. Capt. Asif Majeed Butt, the Navy's director of public relations, said the submarine arm itself is hoped to grow to 12 to 14 boats from the current three Agosta 90Bs and two Agosta 70s.
The expansion is in response to the huge buildup of the Indian Navy.
Such investment in Pakistan's Navy has increased indigenous system development. These systems include mainly display consoles and programmable training aids developed by Maritime Systems Ltd. (MSL) and the Maritime Technology Complex (MTC).
Due to the desire to establish a solid domestic knowledge and technological base, officials decided to incrementally expand the range, nature and complexity of products rather than hastily build something beyond local industry's means.
Two basic types of console were displayed at the IDEAS2006 defense exhibition in Karachi, though MSL has the capacity to modify the designs per customer requirement. The Naval Training Simulator is a stand-alone, programmable multimode unit, with a C3I training system. It has been developed to simulate any maritime sensor or weapon system, (airborne, surface or subsurface), under any operational sea or weather conditions.
The purpose was to reduce the strain on active platforms that had previously been diverted for training purposes.
As with other systems of their type, they are robust enough to withstand the vigors of life at sea, and display information from a range of sensors and weapons. They have been fitted to the later Jalalat-class fast attack craft, and will be fitted to future surface combatants.
However, it is the MSL Advanced Towed Array Sonar (ATAS) that is the most technologically advanced system publicly revealed thus far. It has been designed for the demanding Arabian Sea environment, with its complex thermal conditions, varying salinity and coastal acoustic clutter.
Previous systems operated by the Navy were badly dated, overly complicated, bulky and heavy. By the 1990s, they were also in need of a new array. Therefore, officials decided that an indigenous unit should be designed. The result was a system deemed superior to similar types available to Pakistan on the market, and efforts are being made to export it to friendly navies in the Arabian Gulf region.
Development was undertaken with possible export sales in mind, and therefore support issues were factored into the program. The ATAS is expected to be retrofitted to existing submarines as a stand-alone unit on the Agosta-70s, and integrated into the SUBTICS combat management system on the Agosta-90Bs. It will also be fitted to the next-generation submarine, currently expected to be the HDW Type-214, for which negotiations are at an advanced stage, and the future corvette, for which the Turkish Milgem corvette is the likely candidate.
New systems developed in conjunction by MTC and MSL will be revealed at Pakistan's biannual defense show, IDEAS2008, on Nov. 24-28. According to Commodore S. Sarfraz, an MTC spokesman and head of the ATAS program, the latest system to be revealed at IDEAS will be an electronic warfare system. Though further details were not forthcoming, the EW system is the first of a family of such systems. These will initially be shore-based but are being developed for shipborne applications at a later date.
Pakistan's indigenous maritime systems industry is therefore making steady progress in terms of its product range and complexity, and should benefit handsomely from the current naval expansion program. ■
Modernizing Navy Boosts Pakistan's Maritime Firms - Defense News
=======================================================
=======================================================
Few things I got out of this:
PN wants to expand current submarine force 5 to 12-14...if we factor in the eventual retirement of the Agosta-70s - the desired number is 10-12 SSKs.
The U214 and MILGEM are likely choices for the AIP-SSK and corvette requirements, respectively.
The PN has publically acknowledged that not only frigates and corvettes, but also destroyers are beng sought. I will give credit to the member waz for taking notice of this much earlier.
Modernization will go hand in hand with local industrial and R&D expansion...Pakistani Sonar, Sensors, EW/ECM, etc, will all factor into the above platforms.
From 2010 to 2019 the PN will probably focus on starting up the SSK and corvette production lines...from 2020-2030 we should see focus on FFGs and DDG (large FFGs).
plus i think the author is pretty much talking about 2019 program.
then after couple of months 
....
