Navy to buy seven submarines

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Navy is in discussions with China and France to acquire seven latest conventional submarines, negotiations with Germany to purchase three U-214 is also on cards.

Pakistan is in discussions with China and France to acquire seven latest conventional submarines. — File Photo

Chinese version offers economical price of around $230 million for each boat.

To negotiate with French DCN Company for Marline Submarines, a high level naval delegation will visit France on April 27.

Reliable sources from Pakistan Navy told DawnNews that after three years of continuous negotiations with Germany PN has decided to avail some other options as well for acquiring next-generation submarines.

Sources maintained that Islamabad is deeply interested in acquiring four Chinese Yuan and Song Class and three French Marlin class latest diesel electric conventional versions in a bid to meet any challenge from the rapidly expanding Indian navy.

Pakistan navy test fires missiles Video

source BBC

Irregularities in submarine deal

The National Accountability Bureau (NAB) has refuted the US$2.81 million claim of the AGOSTA-90 submarine negotiator who, via a plea bargain in 2002, facilitated the recovery of kickbacks worth US$7.5 million from former naval chief Mansurul Haq.

The NAB statement has been filed in the Sindh High Court’s (SHC) petition of Ahmed Jamil Ansari, a consultant for the French government defence supplier, SOFMA, who negotiated in 1994 with the Pakistan Navy for purchase of three AGOSTA-90 submarines, as well as SM-39 missiles and mine hunkerships.

The petitioner, who claimed to have received a 25 per cent commission in the submarines and naval equipment purchase deal, sought the recovery of US$2.81 million from NAB — money that was obtained by him during former prime minster Nawaz Sharif and president Pervez Musharaf’s regime.

He submitted that US$2.468 million were obtained from him in 1998 under duress by then-Ehtesab Bureau chief, Saifur Rehman, while the NAB also obtained US$800,000 from him while dealing with an asset matter in the Isle of Jersey, UK. He submitted that NAB authorities assured him that his amount will be returned to him but the promise was not honoured despite several assurances.

Ansari, who also facilitated NAB for the recovery of kickbacks and commissions from former naval chief Mansur Haq, denied that any kickback was received in the submarine and naval equipment deal and contended that he had earned a commission from the French company from his fair negotiating deal. The former naval chief had returned US$7.5 million to the government by entering a plea bargain with NAB in connection with submarine corruption reference before the Accountability Court. The petitioner, however, claimed the recovery of his commission as per the Supreme Court judgment in the Amir Lodhi case.

Pak gets two upgraded P-3C Orion aircraft from US

ISLAMABAD (BNS): Pakistan Navy has recently received two upgraded P-3C Orion maritime surveillance aircraft from the US.

Lockheed Martin, which has developed and refurbished the aircraft, had delivered the first P-3C to Pakistan in October, 2009. The second aircraft was delivered on January 7 this year, the company announced on Thursday. It is upgrading a total of seven such aircraft for Pakistan.

The upgraded maritime patrol aircraft are to be supplied to the country as per a 2006 contract with the US Government under its Foreign Military Sales programme.

The aircraft are equipped with enhanced communications, electro-optic and infrared systems, data management, controls and displays, mission computers and acoustic processing, Mike Fralen, director for Lockheed Martin Mission Systems and Sensors' maritime surveillance programmes, said.

The P-3C Orion aircraft. Lockheed Martin Photo

PICTURES: Pakistan's navy receives second refurbished P-3 Orion

Lockheed Martin has delivered its second of seven refurbished P-3C maritime patrol and surveillance aircraft to the Pakistan navy.

Handed over at the US Navy's NAS Jacksonville site in Florida on 7 January and subsequently flown to Pakistan, the aircraft follows an earlier refurbished example that was delivered in October 2009.

Carrying the service registration 87, the latest aircraft is drawn from a 2006 contract placed via the US government's Foreign Military Sales framework. This covers the conversion of ex-USN Orions, with Lockheed upgrading their mission equipment and providing maintenance work.

 

Photo:flightglobal

"The aircraft support anti-ship and anti-submarine warfare missions and will enhance Pakistan's ability to conduct maritime surveillance in littoral and deep-water environments," Lockheed says. (sourceflightglobal)

AEW&C systems

The technology is inferior to the American Awacs long denied to Pakistan.— Photo from AP/File 

THE induction of the first ‘high-tech’ aerial surveillance system into the Pakistan Air Force has been hailed as a great leap forward for the country’s defences. But we are circumspect. Here’s why. First, the Airborne Early Warning & Control (AEW&C) system purchased from Sweden is actually a mid-range technology, better than the rival French technology currently in use by the Pakistan Navy but inferior to the much-sought-after-but-denied American Awacs. Second, it is not clear yet to what purpose the new Swedish systems will be put. Handing the first over to the air force suggests that the war planners have an eye on India’s ‘cold start’ doctrine, which would theoretically make possible quick, surgical strikes inside Pakistan. But the fact is, the Swedish technology acquired can be equally useful over water, where the Pakistan Navy could use it to keep an eye on India’s submarines, particularly now that India is testing its first indigenously built nuclear submarine (though it is not yet clear if the Indian craft is merely a nuclear-powered submarine or a nuclear-missile-armed submarine).

Arms sale to Pak justified as India buys from US: Chinese official

The third of Pakistan's new Agosta 90B submarines, PNS Hamza. Photo: DCN.

A senior Chinese defense official has justified Beijing's sale of warships and submarines to Pakistan on the ground that India was indicated that China was conscious India might be worried about the sales.

"The initiative may invite concerns from its neighboring countries. But the doubts are unnecessary," Zhai Dequan, deputy director of China Arms Control and Disarmament Association, was quoted as saying in the official media.

The statement came in the midst of efforts by Norman Bashir, chief of Pakistan's naval staff, to persuade Beijing to sell higher capacity ships as compared to the F22P frigates that China begun delivering last June.

Zhai said Pakistan’s desire for high capacity systems is normal for an independent nation seeking to bolster its security. India has also entered into large deals for military hardware from the US and Russia, he said.