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On 24 July, Karachi Shipyards & Engineering Works (KSEW) launched the PNS Sahiwal, the first of a series of new gun boats for the Pakistan Navy (PN).
PNS Sahiwal will now undergo sea trials, with the PN aiming to induct the vessel in December 2025.
The gun boat was jointly developed by the PN’s Platform Design Wing (PDW) and Swiftships, an American shipbuilder based in Morgan City, Louisiana. Swiftships says that the “complete production design cycle” was carried out within 24 months.
According to Swiftships, this was its first “successful co-production and program management of defence vessel within an allied partner’s shipyard.” Moreover, the gunboat program was implemented under the U.S. State Department’s Manufacturing License Agreement (MLA).
KSEW cut the steel of the first gun boat in October 2022. With 38.8 m design will be armed with a 25 mm Aselsan STOP remote-operated weapons station (RWS) and an Aselsan STAMP RWS.
With the goal of inducting up to 20 of these gun/patrol boats, the PN is working to modernize its general maritime security capabilities.
In this vein, the PN has also inducted four new offshore patrol vessels (OPV) from Damen Group in the Netherlands – two OPV 1900s (PNS Yarmouk and PNS Tabuk) and two OPV 2600s (PNS Hunain and PNS Yamama) – with plans for a four more OPVs in the coming years.
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