Two More Type 054A Frigates from China for Pakistan Navy.

A contract for the acquisition of two additional Type 054A Frigates for Pakistan Navy was signed with M/s China Shipbuilding Trading Company Ltd (CSTC), at Ministry of Defence Production, Rawalpindi. Pakistan's deputy Chief of Naval Staff (Operations), Rear Admiral Faisal Rasul Lodhi was present on the occasion.

Two Type 054A Frigates of the East Sea Fleet in a Naval Exercise

With the conclusion of this contract, Pakistan Navy will have a total of 4 x Type 054A ships in its Fleet by 2021. The induction of these Ships will substantially enhance Pakistan navy’s war fighting capabilities while effectively contributing towards Maritime Security Operations in the region.

The contract value of the four Type 054As for the Pakistan Navy is unknown, but Pakistan paid about US $ 200 million (per ship) for the older, smaller F-22Ps. The Chinese Navy is acquiring Type 054A at a unit price of US $ 218 million.

For China, the increasing endowment of Chinese military equipment by Pakistan will continue to deepen the political-military relationship between the two countries, and will further consolidate the Chinese position in this crucial part for its maritime silk route.

Video: Signing of the contract

About Type 054A Frigates
With information from our colleagues at Eastpendulum.com

Designed by the CSIC's 701 Institute, the Type 054A frigate primary mission is "fleet anti-submarine warfare" as mentioned in the specifications of the Chinese Navy HQ. The 3,600-ton (standard) vessel is therefore equipped with a number of weapon systems for this function, such as Type 183 acoustic warfare system, Type 562 anti-torpedo system, Type 307 hull mounted sonar and Type 206 towed array (updated to Type 311 later), Yu-7 torpedo launcher, WHH-003A anti-submarine rocket, and Yu-8 anti-submarine missiles.

The vessel is also equipped with eight YJ-83J anti-ship missiles, one H/PJ-26 76mm main gun, two H/PJ-12 CIWS (updated to H/PJ-11 from the 17th vessel of series), as well as a 32x VLS cells capable of launching both the HQ-16 surface to air missile and the Yu-8 ASROC.

Since the commissioning of the 1st vessel in January 2008, 10 years ago, a total of 26 Type 054A frigates have already joined the Chinese fleet and they are actively conducting patrol missions from the Bohai Bay to the Gulf of Aden, passing through the western Pacific Ocean, the South China Sea and the Indian Ocean. Today 4 hulls are still under construction or fitting out at the Hudong shipyard in Shanghai and Huangpu shipyard in Guangzhou. A successor, the Type 054B featuring electric propulsion, will soon enter production.

Regarding the equipment for the Pakistan Navy variant, it is almost certain that all the systems used by the Chinese Navy will be replaced by exportable, modified versions. Thus, the HQ-16 or HQ-16C could leave their place to the LN-80, the H/PJ-11 to the Type 730B, the Yu-8 to the ET80 ... etc, not to mention the combat systems and sensors.

Despite this, the four new Type 054As are expected to be the most potent surface combatants of Pakistan's surface fleets, and could work alongside future S20 submarines of Chinese origin for various missions as well.