On 07 October 2020, the Pakistan Navy (PN) appointed Admiral Muhammad Amjad Khan Niazi as its new Chief of Naval Staff (CNS). Admiral Niazi will succeed Admiral Zafar Mahmoud Abbasi as CNS.
In his change-of-command speech, the outgoing CNS outlined the service’s modernization plans for 2030 across its surface, sub-surface, and aviation domains. Overall, Admiral Abbasi emphasized that the PN will aggressively expand its deployment capabilities, and, in parallel, its in-house development capacities.
The PN has already taken a number of organizational steps to absorb these upcoming changes.
First, the PN reformed its traditional destroyer and patrol craft squadrons into three Surface Task Groups (STG). The PN stationed STG 1, STG 2, and STG 3 at Gwadar, Ormara, and Karachi, respectively.
Second, the PN activated naval air stations in Pakistan’s west coast for day and night aviation operations.
Third, the PN revised its creeks area defence strategy to focus on offensive operations through integrated strike groups comprising of both Marines and Special Operations Forces (SOF) units.
Having set these foundations, Admiral Abbasi announced that the PN is working on the following goals.
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