Determined to maintain its qualitative superiority in undersea warfare over its
Indian counterpart, the Pakistan Navy (PN) has embarked on an ambitious force
modernisation programme in partnership with DCNS of France and the China State
Shipbuilding Industrial Corp (CSIC). Presently, the Karachi-based state-owned
Pakistan Navy Dockyard, with DCNS’ assistance, is cutting open the pressure hull
of the PN’s first of two double-hulled Agosta 90B diesel-electric submarines
(SSK) — the 2,083-tonne PNS Khalid — so that it can accommodate a module
containing the DCNS-supplied Module d’Energie Sous-Marine Autonome (MESMA)
air-independent propulsion (AIP) system. Installation work is due for completion
by the year’s end, following which the PN’s second Agosta 90B SSK-PNS Saad, will
be subjected to an identical refit next year. The PNS Khalid was commissioned
into service on 21 December, 1999, while PNS Saad — the first Agosta 90B SSK to
be licence-assembled at the Pakistan Navy Dockyard under a Transfer of
Technology (ToT) agreement with DCNS, was commissioned on December 13, 2003. The
third Agosta 90B SSK — PNS Hamza — was commissioned on 26 September, 2008 and it
was fitted from the outset with a MESMA module, thereby becoming the first SSK
in South Asia to be equipped with an operational AIP system.
With CSIC, the PN early last month inked a contract under which the CSIC’s
Wuhan-based Wuchang Shipyard will supply six Type 041A Improved Yuan-class SSKs,
all of which will be equipped with a Stirling-cycle AIP system. The
double-hulled Type 041A SSK, with a submerged displacement close to 3,600
tonnes, bears a close resemblance to the Russian Type 636M SSK, and features
hull-retractable foreplanes and hydrodynamically streamlined sail. The first
such SSK was launched at Wuhan Shipyard on September 9 last year, and a total of
three such SSKs are on order from China’s PLA Navy.
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