Pakistan Navy Inducts New Ships – PNS Babur and PNS Hunain

The PNS Babur is the lead ship of the PN MILGEM corvette program. It has a displacement of two,985 tons and a size of 108.2 m. 

The Babur-class corvette’s important armaments embody six anti-ship cruising missiles (ASCM) loaded in a twin triple-cell configuration. These ASCMs might be both the Harbah subsonic ASCM, CM-302 supersonic ASCM, or the P282 (which can be a ballistic missile). The anti-surface attain of the Babur-class corvette may span from 280 km (through the CM-302) to as excessive as 450 km to 750 km (through the Harbah, which can be derived from the Babur land-attack cruise missile). 

As well as, the Babur-class corvette can also be configured with a single 76 mm important gun, light-weight anti-submarine warfare (ASW) torpedoes through  twin triple-cell system, and a 12-cell vertical launch system (VLS).

The VLS will carry the MBDA Albatros-NG or Frequent Anti-Air Modular Missile (CAMM-ER) surface-to-air missile (SAM) system. The CAMM-ER provides a acknowledged vary of in extra of 40 km.

The corvette’s sensor suite facilities on a variant of the SMART-S Mk2 maritime surveillance and focusing on radar produced by Turkish defence electronics provider Aselsan. Havelsan equipped the corvette’s fight administration system (CMS) through its ADVENT suite. As well as, Aselsan additionally equipped its ARES-2NC digital help measures (ESM) suite. Lastly, the corvettes leverage the Naval Info Change System (NIXS), a domestically constructed data-link suite developed with help from Turkiye’s MilSoft. 

Pakistan ordered the 4 ships in July 2018 from Turkiye’s ASFAT A.Ş. (Navy Manufacturing facility and Shipyard Company). Below the $1.5 billion USD deal, the PN was to amass 4 corvettes in addition to an unique frigate design developed in collaboration with ASFAT A.Ş. 

Turkiye’s Istanbul Naval Shipyard and Pakistan’s Karachi Shipyards and Engineering Works (KSEW) every constructed two of the 4 corvettes. The final corvette of this system was launched for sea trials by KSEW – the PNS Tariq –  in August 2023. 

As soon as the Babur-class corvette program concludes, the PN will shift its focus in the direction of the Jinnah-class frigate, which it designed with help from ASFAT A.Ş. The Jinnah-class frigate can have a displacement of three,300 tons and a size of 119.45 m. The PN has but to reveal what number of Jinnah-class frigates it intends to amass, however experiences declare that Naval Headquarters (NHQ) might be planning for six frigates.