On 01 June, Pakistan’s Ministry of Defence Production (MoDP) signed a contract with China Shipbuilding Trading Co. Ltd. (CSTC) for two Type 054A frigates for the Pakistan Navy (PN). However, according to the MoDP and the PN (as reported by the state-owned Associated Press of Pakistan: APP)[1], this order is a follow-on to an earlier order, also for two Type 054As. The PN is to receive four Type 054As by 2021.[2]
News of Pakistan procuring the Type 054A began in October 2017 through statements from the previous Chief of Naval Staff (CNS), Admiral Muhammad Zakaullah. In his retirement speech, Zakaullah announced that the Pakistan Navy concluded a deal for new Chinese frigates.
In December 2017, the commanding officer of the F-22P frigate PNS Saif – i.e. Capt. Shahzad Iqbal – had told Shanghai TV that the PN would procure the Type 054A. Shortly after, Defense News confirmed from a Pakistan Navy official that a single Type 054A with an option for two more.[3]
According to Defense News, Pakistan’s forthcoming Type 054As will be configured with the same weapons and subsystems as their People’s Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) counterparts.[4] Notable subsystems in the PLAN Type 054A include the Type 366 over the horizon (OTH) radar and Type-382 3D air search radar.
However, if the PN’s frigates are configured differently, then CSIC has at least two export variants. First, a version centered on a four-panel active phased-array radar (APAR). Second, a variant using APAR coupled with an OTH radar, likely the China Educational Instrument and Equipment Corp (CEIEC) SLR-66.
In terms of munitions, the Type 054A would provide the PN with its first platform equipped with vertical-launch system (VLS) cells for surface-to-air missiles (SAM). Today, the PLAN deploys the HHQ-16 medium-range surface-to-air missile (MR-SAM) from the Type 054A’s VLS. The HHQ-16 has a range of 40 km.
The Type 054A is also armed with a dual-quad-cell (2×4) anti-ship missiles (AShM), dual-triple (2×3) anti-submarine warfare (ASW) torpedoes, one 76-mm main gun and Type 1130 close-in-weapons-system (CIWS). The aft helicopter hangar and deck can support a medium-weight ASW helicopter, notably the Harbin Z-9EC. CSIC’s export versions offer the FL-3000N point defence missile system (PDMS) instead.
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