Pakistan guided missile frigate heading to Colombo

by Staff Writer 09-08-2022 | 10:21 AM

COLOMBO (News 1st); Sri Lanka has allowed permission to the Chinese built-Pakistani guided missile frigate PNS Taimur to make a port call at Colombo while on its way to join the Pakistan Navy in Karachi.

Build by Hudong-Zhonghua shipyard in Shanghai, the warship is on its maiden voyage to Pakistan while exercising en-route with Cambodian and Malaysian navies. The ship is expected to be at Colombo port from August 12-15, 2022.

Pakistan Navy Ship (PNS) Taimur visited Malaysia and participated in a bilateral exercise called MAL-PAK IV.

While Sri Lanka gave permission to the Pakistani guided missile frigate to make a port call at Colombo, it is understood that the ship was denied a permission to make a port call at Chattogram port by the Sheikh Hasina government from August 7-10 after making a port call at Lumut port in Malaysia.

According to diplomatic sources, India’s close ally Bangladesh denied permission to PNS Taimur as August is a month of mourning for Sheikh Hasina as her father, Sheikh Mujib-ur-Rehman also fondly called Bangabandhu, was assassinated by Pakistan instigated and Jamait-e-Islami inspired radical Islamist forces on August 15, 1975.

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina is scheduled to make a trip to India in the first week of September and along with PM Modi will launch the jointly developed 1320 Mega Watt Maitree Super Thermal Power Project at Rampal in Khulna sub-division.

PNS Taimur, the second of the four Type 054 A/P frigates build in China, was commissioned on June 23, 2022. The lead ship of this class is PMNS Tughril and was commissioned on January 24, 2022.

China is also building eight Yuan class -041 diesel attack submarines for Pakistan by 2028 with the objective to militarily flank India on high seas.

The Tughril-class frigates, formally classified as the Type 054A/P frigates, are a series of modified guided-missile frigates currently being built by Hudong–Zhonghua Shipbuilding (HDZH), for the Pakistan Navy.

The Type 054A/P is a modified derivative of the Type 054A frigate and was specifically customized to meet the operational requirements of the Pakistan Navy; the class features several capabilities - including anti-surface warfare (ASuW), anti-aircraft warfare (AAW), anti-submarine warfare (ASW) and low radar observability.

The frigates are poised to form the mainstay of the Pakistan Navy's active naval fleet. The class is also set to supplant Pakistan's obsolete Tariq-class destroyers.

They have a length of 134 m (439 ft 8 in), a beam of 16 m (52 ft 6 in), and a displacement of 4,200 tons (4100 long tons). The ships can reach a top speed of 27 knots (50 km/h; 31 mph).

As part of its aviation facilities, the frigates are equipped with the Harbin Z-9EC naval helicopter - the Pakistani-specific anti-submarine (ASW) variant of the Harbin Z-9C, operated by the People's Liberation Army Naval Air Force; the Z-9EC will also be equipped with the CM-501GA land-attack missiles - with a reported range of 40 km.

The frigates are equipped with a flight deck and an enclosed aviation hangar, capable of accommodating a single Z-9 or the Kamov Ka-27 medium-lift helicopter, or unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV).