On 01 June 2018, the Pakistan Navy (PN) and Pakistan Ministry of Defence Production (MoDP) announced that they concluded a deal with China Shipbuilding Trading Co. Ltd. (CSTC) for two Type 054A frigates. This is a follow-on to an order – ostensibly for two other Type 054As – made in 2017. Through the Associated Press of Pakistan (APP), the PN stated that it will have four Type 054A frigates by 2021.[1]
“[The] Pakistan Navy will now have a total of 4 x Type 054 A ships in its Fleet by 2021. The induction of these ships will substantially enhance Pakistan navy’s war fighting capabilities, while effectively contributing towards Maritime Security Operations in the region.”[2]
The Type 054A joins a series of Pakistani naval procurement orders from China:
In 2006, Pakistan ordered four F-22P (an upgraded variant of the Type 053H3) for $750 million US.[3] These have been delivered and commissioned into service in 2008-2013 as the PNS Zulfiqar, PNS Shamsheer, PNS Saif and PNS Aslat. The final ship, PNS Aslat, was constructed in Pakistan by Karachi Shipyard and Engineering Works (KSEW) under a transfer-of-technology (ToT) agreement.
In 2012, the PN inducted its first of four Azmat-class fast attack craft (FAC) ordered from China Shipbuilding and Offshore Company Limited (CSOC) for reportedly $50 million US per ship.[4] Thus far, the PN has inducted the PNS Azmat, PNS Dehshat and PNS Himmat – the fourth and final ship is currently being constructed at KSEW. The PNS Himmat and its forthcoming sister ship also sport 2×3 anti-ship missile (AShM) launchers instead of the 2×4 AShM configuration of the previous two ships (for the C-802A AShM). In January 2018, the PN revealed that the revised launcher was for the new Harba dual-AShM and land-attack cruise missile (LACM).
In 2015, Pakistan inked its largest single big-ticket purchase from China to-date in the form of eight new air-independent propulsion (AIP)-equipped submarines (SSP). The model and price of the submarines were not disclosed, but they are reportedly slotted for delivery to the PN from 2022 to 2028.[5] The strategic importance of these submarines is well-established: they will enable the PN to field the Babur submarine-launched cruise missile (SLCM); strengthen the PN’s anti-ship warfare (AShW) and anti-submarine warfare (ASW) capabilities, especially within littoral waters; and serve as a deterrence to enemy naval activity in Pakistan’s exclusive economic zone (EEZ).
In 2017 and 2018, the PN has committed to four Type 054A frigates. Interestingly, the slated 2021 induction date indicates that the frigates are being sought on an expedited basis – this is likely to immediately supplant the ex-Royal Navy Type 21 frigates bought in the early 1990s (but in use by the UK since the 1970s). In addition to being new-built ships, the Type 054As are superior to the Type 21s in their respective subsystem, sensor and weapon suites. Thus, the Type 054A purchase effectively closes the chapter on the PN’s pursuit to replace the Type 21s.
Like the SSP deal, the pricing of the Type 054A contract has not yet been disclosed. However, The Diplomat estimated the unit-cost to be $348 million US per ship.[6] In 2013, China reportedly offered the Royal Thai Navy three Type 054 frigates for a price under Bangkok’s $1 billion US budget.[7] Though the pricing is not officially known, there are two key factors that will help keep the cost of each Type 054A low, at least in comparison to Western European ship designs. First, China’s generally lower material and production costs. Second, the economies-of-scale the PLAN has provided to the Type 054A through its procurement of a staggering 29 ships (with additional ships in the pipeline).
The PN’s Journey of Replacing the Type 21
The PN began its search for replacing the Type 21s in earnest in the mid-to-late 2000s. In 2008, then Chief of Naval Staff (CNS) Admiral Afzal Tahir had outlined that efforts were made to pursue various surplus and second-hand frigates, namely: two Elli-class frigates from Greece, three Type 23 frigates from the UK, two Wielingen-class frigates from Belgium or six FFG-7/Oliver Hazard Perry-class frigates from the US.[8] The PN had intended to deploy these second-hand frigates in place for the Type 21s for a five-to-ten-year period, ostensibly until a new-generation design could be secured.[9]
Evidently, none of those plans came to fruition. Granted, there appeared to have been promise in FFG-7s when the US approved the transfer of the ex-USS McInerney in 2008, but the PN was unable to secure the additional five FFG-7s it had intended to acquire. Rather, in 2014 Congress blocked the transfer of further FFG-7 ships to Pakistan on account of conditioning military aid to Pakistan.[10] Thus, the PN had to endure with its heavily-aged Type 21s until it could basically secure a viable next-generation replacement.
The Type 054A – i.e. the Jiangkai II-class – has a length of 134 m and displacement of 4,000 tons full-load. It has a ferry range of 8,000 nautical miles at 15 knots and a top-speed of 27 knots. It is armed with a dual quad-cell (2×4) AShMs (C-802A), a single 76-mm main gun, two-triple (2×3) torpedo tubes and 32 vertical-launch system (VLS) cells for the HHQ-16 medium-range surface-to-air missile (MR-SAM).[11] The Type 054A also has an aft helicopter hangar and deck for a medium-weight ASW helicopter, notably the Z-9EC.[12]
Selecting the Type 054A
In retrospect, the Type 054A was the most plausible new-build, next-generation frigate outcome for the PN. Granted, there had been reports of the PN exercising an option to build another four – and apparently ‘improved’ – F-22P frigates;[13] but doing so likely made limited sense in the end. First, although CSIC offers a variety of frigate platforms, including those derived from the Type 053H3 (like the F-22P and C28A), the Chinese shipbuilding industry at this stage has extensive experience manufacturing the Type 054A. In fact, because of the PLAN’s orders of nearly 30 ships, considerable expertise, tooling and refinement has been in place and developed since 2005 for the Type 054-series. Thus, it is a mature and scale-driven product.
It would not be surprising if an ‘improved F-22P’ was ultimately deemed to be a less optimal expenditure, e.g. its decisive lack of capabilities compared to the Type 054A – e.g. in anti-air warfare (AAW) and sensor load-out – did not reflect in a low-enough price point. In other words, signing onto the Type 054A could have been an issue of paying a marginally higher premium for substantially superior capabilities. Granted, one could argue that the Type 054A (or a close analogue) had always been on the roadmap. However, the PN’s procurement approach (until now) had not underlined the need for substantive AAW, especially via a vertical launch system (VLS) suite. This was essentially skipped in the F-22P and (likely) the MILGEM.
Prior to activating its procurement roadmap, it appeared that the PN was basically using its surface fleet to primarily police its EEZ, support coalition efforts (e.g. CTF-150/151) in suppressing terrorist and criminal activity at sea and other non-conventional warfare tasks. Thus, it seemed that the mainstay of Pakistan’s conventional warfare (especially offensive) tasks would be executed by the burgeoning SSP fleet (which is to reach 11 ships by 2028). In fact, the order of two 1,900-ton offshore patrol vessels (OPV) from Damen Shipyards, pursuit of four MILGEM Ada corvettes from Turkey, and hopes for two (plus an option for two more) Swift Corvette OPVs from Swiftships in the US had all alluded to a continuation of this approach.
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