Pakistan (Washington Insider Magazine) -On November 8, Pakistan commissioned its first Type 054A/P frigate, the Tughril, at a ceremony held in Shanghai, China. Three sister ships are currently being produced for the Pakistani Navy at Hudong Zhonghua Shipbuilding yard. Once complete, these four ships will be Pakistan’s most powerful surface vessels, intended as a means of catching up with India’s more advanced military.
According to Pakistan’s ambassador to China, Moin Ul-Haq, these frigates are the first step in the country’s naval modernization program. He noted that they would empower their military to continue responding to maritime challenges and ensure a sustainable balance of power in the region.
Ul-Haq went on to offer high praise to the China State Shipbuilding Corporation, the China Shipbuilding Trading Company, the Hudong Zhonghua Shipbuilders, the China Ship Development and Design Center, and the Chinese People’s Liberation Army Navy. He thanked them for being committed to the delivery of the frigate even while the COVID-19 pandemic was raging.
With the delilvery of the ship, Pakistan becomes the Chinese-designed vessel’s first foreign owner under a deal inked in 2017. These are China’s most powerful exported warships to date. They include Type 517/SUR17B air-surveillance radars as well as a ballistic missile known as P282.
India’s more lucrative market has drawn US, European, and Russian manufacturers away from Pakistan, leaving China to be its sole major arms supplier.
Richard Fisher, a senior fellow at the International Assessment and Strategy Center, commented on the missile, noting, “Imagery revealed during the commissioning of Tughril confirms that the ‘P282′ is the China Aerospace Science and Industry Corporation (CASIC) CM-401 hypersonic-speed capable anti-ship ballistic missile.” This is a short-range ballistic missile that has the capability to travel at Mach 6 and make preventative maneuvers.
Fisher went on to discuss the fact that the Tughril is the first “Chinese export warship to feature a 32-cell vertical launch system that can be armed with an array of anti-aircraft missiles, ship and land-attack cruise missiles and anti-submarine missiles, as they are on PLA Navy Type 054A frigates.”
These frigates will close the capability gap that Pakistan has suffered from ever since its lease ran out with the United States in 1994. Before that time, the US had supplied Pakistan with several American Brooke-class frigates.
According to experts, these ships will be a considerable improvement over any Pakistani warships from the past. In particular, this advance will give them anti-submarine capabilities that they have never had.
Nevertheless, experts believe India’s Navy still maintains a significant edge against Pakistan’s in terms of numbers and sheer capability. This is a gap Pakistan seems intent on closing as it pursues submarines with the capacity to launch nuclear-capable cruise missiles. Ultimately, that will be the defining feature of a dominant Pakistani military.