Pakistan's New Chinese Frigate: Everything You Should Know About It

On Monday (8 November), China handed over a Type 054A/P frigate to the Pakistan Navy during a ceremony at the Hudong-Zhonghua Shipyard of the China State Shipbuilding Corporation in Shanghai.

Christened PNS Tughril, the warship is first of the four Type 054A/P frigates that Pakistan has ordered in two batches.

Type 054A/P in an export variant of China's Type 054 frigate that has been in service with China's People’s Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) for over a decade now. In 2020, the US Office of Naval Intelligence said that around 30 of the type have entered service with the PLAN since 2008.

Pakistan had signed a contract with China for two Type 054A/P frigates in 2017. Next year, the two countries signed a new deal for two additional Type 054A/P frigates for the Pakistan Navy.

“With the conclusion of this contract, Pakistan Navy will have a total of four Type 054A ships in its fleet by 2021,” the Pakistan Navy had said in its statement after the signing of the second deal.

The frigate programme is running behind schedule. Given that the keel laying for the third of the four Type 054A/P frigates ordered by Pakistan took place on 1 May this year, the delivery of the warships to the Pakistan Navy will be significantly delayed.

Pakistan's Type 054A/P frigate comes with a Russian-made AK-630 fully automatic naval close-in weapon system and a Chinese variant of the Soviet-origin AK-176 76-millimetre naval gun.

Powered by four French SEMT Pielstick engines, the frigate is capable of achieving top speeds of 27 knots. Reports say that the warship has a range of around 7,000 kilometres at a speed of 18 knots, and a maximum un-refuelled radius of 12,000 kilometres.

China State Shipbuilding Corporation Limited, the designer of the warship, says that Type 054A/P is the largest and most advanced warship China has ever exported, the Global Times has reported.

Although China and Pakistan have not revealed the per-unit cost of the warships, it is believed that each 4,000-tonne Type 054A/P will cost the Pakistan Navy between $300 million and $350 million.

Apart from four Type 054A/P frigates, Pakistan has also signed a deal with China for eight Type-039B 'Hangor-class' diesel-electric submarines, a derivative of China's Type-039A Yuan-class boats. While four of these will be built in China, Pakistan wants to build the other four in Karachi.

Satellite images show that the infrastructure needed for the construction of the boats at Karachi Shipyard & Engineering Works is being built. A new construction hall and a dry dock are coming up in Karachi, most likely for the Hangor-class submarine project.