Pakistan Navy Plans Modernization, Indigenization

Feb 13, 2025

Admiral Naveed Ashraf, Pakistan Navy Chief, spoke of his vision for "indigenization and modernization" of his branch of the Pakistani military on the eve of multinational AMAN 2025 naval exercises. Biennial AMAN Exercise and Dialogue this year attracted 60 nations from Australia to Zimbabwe (A to Z). China, the United States, Turkey and Japan were among the countries which participated in it.

Some of the AMAN 2025 Participants in Karachi, Pakistan

Pakistan has a 1,000 kilometers long coastline on the Arabian Sea with maritime sovereignty over 200 nautical miles deep Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) and 150 nautical miles of Continental Shelf. This adds 290,000 square kilometers of sea or about 36% of the country's land area open for tapping vast resources in it. Pakistan's "Blue Economy" in this extended economic zone includes seafood and energy resources as well as international trade connectivity with the rest of the world. It offers opportunities for water sports, recreation and tourism in the coastal areas of Pakistan.

Over the next 10 years, Pakistan has plans to build a modern well-equipped naval force with 50 ships ranging from frigates and submarines to corvettes and offshore patrol vessels. Recently, Pakistan Navy has inducted Type 054 A/P frigates from China, Offshore Patrol Vessels Batch-I and Batch-II from Romania and MILGEM-class corvette from Türkiye. "These platforms with the latest weapons and sensors will be a significant addition to the Pakistan Navy’s existing capabilities to effectively deal with today’s complex multi-threat environment", Ashraf told John Hill of "Naval Technology" publication. "The Jinnah-class frigate marks a significant advancement for my Navy as our first indigenously designed and produced large warship", he added.

As part of its modernization and indigenization effort, Pakistan is building its domestic defense industry to reduce dependence on imports. The Pakistani Navy Chief explained: "Currently, our industrial base is developing and gearing up for this initiative and we anticipate that our technological capabilities will grow throughout the program. This growth will be facilitated through partnerships with experienced defense partners from friendly countries". China and Turkey are Pakistan's closest partners in this effort. Pakistan’s defense acquisition budget is forecast to register a compound annual growth rate of 11.4% over the next four years: it is projected to reach $3.1 billion in 2029 from $2 billion in 2025, according to GlobalData intelligence.

In terms of military diplomacy, Pakistan is working with a much larger group of nations represented at the AMAN Exercises and Dialogue 2025. The list includes Australia, Azerbaijan, Bahrain, Bangladesh, Belarus, Brazil, Brunei, Burundi, Cambodia, Canada, China, Comoros, Czech, Djibouti, Egypt, Fiji, France, Germany, Indonesia, Iran, Iraq, Italy, Japan, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Kenya, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), Kuwait, Libya, Malaysia, Maldives, Morocco, Myanmar, Netherland, Nigeria, Oman, Pakistan, Palestine, Philippines, Qatar, Romania, Russia, Seychelles, South Africa, South Korea, Spain, Sri Lanka, Switzerland, Tajikistan, Tanzania, Thailand, Timor-Leste, Tunisia, Türkiye, UAE, Uganda, UK, USA and Zimbabwe.

Over two dozen ships from twelve navies participated in an international fleet review off the coast of Pakistan – the grand finale to multinational naval exercise AMAN 2025 that saw a record 60 nations participate, according to media reports.

Here's an Aljazeera video of AMAN 2025:

https://youtu.be/ghuOerEfNFs?si=o3N_a4IUsQ52ez5R

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Riaz Haq

Türkiye Delivers Second MILGEM Corvette to Pakistan Navy

https://caspianpost.com/regions/turkiye-delivers-second-milgem-corv...

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has announced that the second of four MILGEM corvettes were handed over to Pakistan under a 2018 defense contract.

Erdoğan noted that under the agreement, the first two corvettes were to be built at the Istanbul Naval Shipyard, The Caspian Post reports via Turkish media.

“The first ship, PNS Babur, was delivered to Pakistan on May 24, 2024. Today we hand over PNS Hayber, which has successfully completed all trials. The third and fourth corvettes will be built at the Pakistani shipyard in Karachi. PNS Bedir is planned for June 2026, and PNS Tarik in Q1 2027,” Erdoğan said.

The contract was awarded in 2018 to the Turkish state defense company STM (Savunma Teknolojileri Mühendislik ve Ticaret), which is tasked with delivering four MILGEM-class corvettes to the Pakistan Navy. The contract signing ceremony took place the same day in Rawalpindi.

Dec 20, 2025
Riaz Haq

Tom Shugart
@tshugart3

Last week saw the release of the 2025 China Military Power Report (CMPR). For those not familiar, this is DoD’s Congressionally-mandated unclassified update on the Chinese military. It’s an annual feast of open-source data.

So, here are few thoughts (Part 1) on the report:

https://x.com/tshugart3/status/2005315617906401580?s=61&t=mgTxr...

————

While the 2024 report's exec summary says the driver of China's national strategy is to achieve China's "great rejuvenation" by 2049, the 2025 report sees China overall goal as the displacement of the U.S. as the world's most powerful nation.

https://x.com/tshugart3/status/2005315631655338220?s=61&t=mgTxr...

———-

The new report's exec summary makes a pretty strong statement: the PLA is making progress specifically toward its goal to be able to achieve victory over Taiwan and balance against the U.S. - that China expects to be able to "fight and win a war on Taiwan by the end of 2027".

https://x.com/tshugart3/status/2005315635921010802?s=61&t=mgTxr...

———-

The new report also states that China has been practicing components of all of its options to force Taiwan unification, including strikes on U.S. forces in the Pacific that could "seriously challenge and disrupt" them out to 1500-2000 nm.

https://x.com/tshugart3/status/2005315642363367634?s=61&t=mgTxr...

————-
In the section on PLA Navy modernization (which lacks some data like total hull count predictions as in previous reports), we see a statement that's been making some headlines: that the PLAN aims to produce six MORE aircraft carriers over the next decade.

https://x.com/tshugart3/status/2005315675242598408?s=61&t=mgTxr...

———-

On the topic of PLA modernization, we see confirmation China's been testing 6th-gen aircraft, with an operational timeline of 2035.

We're also told China's KJ-3000 AEW aircraft will probably be the first to use digital radar, though I don't know why the E-2D & E-7 don't count?

https://x.com/tshugart3/status/2005315671698313705?s=61&t=mgTxr...

—————+

This is the first time I can recall seeing a PRC carrier force size prediction from DoD, and tbh I find it somewhat astonishing.

This means that in addition to the 2 ski-jump carriers, and Fujian which is on sea trials now, and the purported CVN (not confirmed here by DoD)...

https://x.com/tshugart3/status/2005315678409261370?s=61&t=mgTxr...

————-

...DoD expects the PLA to at least launch five MORE carriers in the next 10 years?

For perspective, the USN will be buying its next five carriers over more than twice that timeline so...given that U.S. carriers are deployed globally, they will end up outnumbered in the Pacific.

https://x.com/tshugart3/status/2005315682020528161?s=61&t=mgTxr...

Dec 29, 2025
Riaz Haq

Bilal Khan
@bilal_quwa
Quite interesting that the #PakistanNavy tested a SAM, a USV, and a loitering munition on the same day -- i.e., 3 key weapon systems that have risen in importance since the Russia-Ukraine War. I think they were testing or validating a maneuver centered on these 3 types of systems: https://quwa.org/pakistan-navy-news/pakistan-navy-tests-unidentifie...

https://x.com/bilal_quwa/status/2010577508538724713?s=20

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Pakistan Navy Tests New USV & Loitering Munition From Private Sector

https://quwa.org/pakistan-navy-news/pakistan-navy-tests-unidentifie...

On 10 January, the Pakistan Navy (PN) announced it had successfully tested a new unmanned surface vehicle (USV) and a loitering munition. In addition, a PN Tughril-class (Type 054A/P) frigate also carried out a successful live firing of a LY-80(N) surface-to-air missile (SAM).

The loitering munition was confirmed to be a Mudamir LR, produced by the private company Sysverve Aerospace based in Rawalpindi. The Mudamir LR is from a growing portfolio of Shahed-style munitions being developed and produced in Pakistan.

Regarding the USV, the design does not match any of Pakistan’s known USV platforms, including an unnamed platform developed by the National Engineering and Scientific Commission (NESCOM) and others by Stingray Technologies (also developed by NESCOM), Beyond Koncept, and Woot-Tech.

It is possible that the newly tested USV is a technology demonstrator, possibly developed by NESCOM (but not confirmed), which appears to be managing at least two such platforms (one revealed in 2024 and a newer, stealthier strike platform via Stingray Technologies in 2025).

The newly tested USV was equipped with a mast-mounted, stabilized electro-optical and infrared (EO/IR) camera turret mounted aft of the hull. This was likely a remote driving camera used to provide the operator with a visual feed and, potentially, basic surveillance and/or targeting capabilities.

In addition, there is a white vertical element near the bow, which could be a communications and/or GNSS antenna within a radome structure. This would likely be the line-of-sight (LoS) control link for the operator to remotely control the USV.

Overall, there are no indications that this USV is configurable for munitions or warheads, so it is probably intended as a simpler system for testing and validation. Thus, the intent of the tests likely had less to do with the hull design and was instead focused on validating the integrated subsystems, such as the datalink and the EO/IR turret, which would be configured into the actual service-ready products.

A Hint at the PN’s Future Defensive Posture
In one day, the PN tested a USV, a SAM, and a loitering munition – i.e., arguably the three core pieces of a scale-driven anti-access and area-denial (A2/AD) posture…

yesterday

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Pakistan Navy Plans Modernization, Indigenization

Riaz Haq

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