Pakistan Navy Engaged a Drone During FM-90(N) ER Surface-to-Air Missile Naval Test.

The Pakistan Navy conducted a live firing of the FM-90N ER surface-to-air missile during a fleet exercise in the North Arabian Sea, successfully engaging highly maneuverable aerial targets. The test signals an effort to extend the defensive reach of older frontline frigates as regional maritime threats become more complex.

According to information published by the Pakistani Inter Services Public Relations, on December 15, 2025, the Pakistan Navy carried out a live weapon firing of the FM-90(N) ER surface-to-air missile in the North Arabian Sea, reporting that the ship successfully engaged highly manoeuvrable aerial targets under fleet-level supervision. The drill, witnessed by Commander Pakistan Fleet Rear Admiral Abdul Munib, was framed by the navy as a combat readiness event tied to seaward defense and the protection of national maritime interests. Radio Pakistan and other Pakistani outlets repeated the same core details, signaling this was an officially cleared message as much as a gunnery serial.
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Pakistan Navy fires the FM-90(N) ER air defense missile from Zulfiquar class frigate in the North Arabian Sea, validating upgraded protection against aircraft and sea-skimming missile threats (Picture source: Pakistani Navy).

While the service did not name the firing platform, defense reporting linked the event to a Zulfiquar-class F-22P frigate, the Pakistan Navy’s long-serving Chinese-designed multi-mission surface combatant fitted with an eight-cell trainable FM-90(N) launcher forward. The launcher silhouette and deck layout are consistent with the FM-90 family installation seen on F-22P ships. The frigate design emerged from Pakistan’s early 2000s effort to replace aging British-origin hulls quickly, culminating in a four-ship program built with China, with the first units delivered around 2009 and the final ship assembled in Pakistan under technology transfer.

The FM-90(N) traces its lineage to China’s HQ 7 series, itself derived from the French Crotale concept, optimized for short-range point defense against low altitude threats, including sea-skimming anti-ship missiles, cruise missiles, and aircraft. Open technical references describe a minimum engagement range of around 700 meters and a typical engagement envelope in the 15 km class for improved variants, with an altitude ceiling in the 6 km range. Reaction time is often quoted in single-digit seconds, a critical parameter at sea where a sea skimmer can compress the intercept timeline into moments. The system relies on ship sensors for cueing and uses dedicated fire control channels, typically combining radar illumination and an electro-optical backup, but its architecture also highlights a classic constraint of many older point defense systems: limited simultaneous engagement capacity compared with modern vertical launch, multi-channel solutions.

The ER label is the real story: Pakistan has operated baseline FM-90 family weapons for years, so publicly emphasizing an extended range naval variant suggests either a new missile round, an updated guidance and fire control package, or both. Defense analysts assess this as the first explicit appearance of the FM-90(N) ER designation in Pakistani service and tie it to a broader pattern of upgrading legacy hulls while newer combatants arrive. Tactically, any meaningful extension of range shifts the geometry of ship defense: it pushes the first shot farther out, buys time for a second engagement if the initial intercept fails, and helps the ship defend not only itself but also nearby auxiliaries and merchant traffic in a convoy screen.

Strategically, the test lands in a tense regional maritime environment where Pakistan’s sea lines of communication, energy imports, and key ports such as Karachi and Gwadar sit under the shadow of expanding strike and drone capabilities in the wider theater. Regional crises over the past year have demonstrated how quickly missile and unmanned systems can be introduced into confrontations, even when naval forces are not the initial focus. For Pakistan, proving a shipborne air defense layer is about keeping surface forces relevant in a contested air environment, complicating an adversary’s plan to use aircraft, stand-off weapons, or swarming unmanned systems to paralyze naval movement close to shore. In that sense, a successful FM-90(N) ER firing is less a single intercept and more a signal that Pakistan is tightening the protective bubble around its frontline ships while it builds toward a larger modernization mix that includes newer frigates and strike programs already being trialed at sea.