China to Build Submarines in Pakistan

By Aiswarya Lakshmi October 8, 2015

China will build in Karachi four of eight submarines that it is selling to Pakistan, Minister for Defence Production Rana Tanveer Hussain said, reports Dawn. The remaining four will be built in China.

China will transfer the technology to Pakistan for submarine construction and a training centre would be set up in Karachi for this purpose, said the Minister.

Furthermore, according to Hussain’s comments, construction on the submarines will begin simultaneously in both countries. The Pakistan minister did not indicate a time frame for the start of construction.

The minister did not say which type of submarines were being purchased from China. It is, however, speculated that the deal was for Yuan-class Type-041 diesel-electric submarines equipped with AIP systems.

Earlier this year, Pakistan and China concluded a deal for Islamabad to purchase eight modified Type 41 Yuan-class diesel-electric attack submarines from China (export designation is the S20, which excludes the air-independent propulsion system), said media reports.

The implementation of the agreement would augment the existing submarine related capacity.

One of the three Agosta 90-B submarines in Navy’s fleet — PNS Hamza commissioned in 2008 — was assembled at the Karachi Shipyard and Engineering Works.

The other two Agosta 90-B submarines — PNS Khalid and PNS Saad — were also indigenously overhauled and retrofitted with air-independent propulsion (AIP) systems in 2011.