Navy gets Agosta 90-B Saad Today (Pakistani Navy)

Daily Times (Pakistan) ^ | 8/22/04 | staff writer

[mondoman]

Navy gets Agosta 90-B Saad today (8/22/04)

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s first indigenously built submarine, Agosta 90-B Saad will be inducted into the naval fleet today.

The submarine has been built with the technical assistance of France and it is the latest in the Agosta class. Pakistan was transferred technology to completely manufacture three submarines in the country under an agreement with France. The first submarine, Khalid, manufactured with French assistance was commissioned in the Pakistan Navy in September 1999 while the third submarine, Hamza, presently under construction in the naval dockyard, will be commissioned in year 2005.

Sources said Agostas have been fitted with the most modern command and control system and weapons. These submarines are capable of launching anti-ship missiles and various types of torpedoes.

Agosta 90-B submarine is equipped with a 200KW MESMA Air Independent Propulsion system, which will significantly increase the submerged endurance of the submarine. The Navy has achieved the capability of indigenously constructing sophisticated submarines after building the second Agosta 90-B in its dockyard. —PPI

[mondoman]

The third, Hamza, which is being constructed and assembled in Karachi, is scheduled to commission in 2004. Work on the vessel was halted following a terrorist attack in May 2002, which killed 11 French engineers in Karachi, but has since restarted. (This is the submarine being inducted today, 8/22/04)

Pakistan, home of the only confirmed Muslim Nukes, is now building and deploying a First Line Attack Submarine. Don't let the diesel-electric propulsion system fool, this is extremely quiet and hard to track. This new version of the Agosta incorporates an improved propultion system "The MESMA air-independent propulsion system, being fitted to the Agosta 90B submarines for Pakistan, allows the submarine to remain submerged three times longer."

Say what you will about French politics, but the France's Exocet Missile Technology is very effective. Ask the British and their experience in the Falklands. And BTW, torpedos can be nuclear tipped. Can you imagine the impact upon a Carrier Task Force of a nuclear tipped torpedo?

As long as Pakistan remains an ally in the WOT, no problems. However, if Musharef should be overthrown by a Islamist Fundamentalist Revolution, this would be a potent weapons system against our naval assets in the Indian Ocean and Persian Gulf.

mm

[Lokibob]

I maintain that any sub made from dried mud will eventually sink.

[genefromjersey]

D'accord,M.Mondoman !

It does ease the mind,however,to learn it was built with French technology: Presumably,in event of war,it will return to port and (How you say ?)surrendair

[sukhoi-30mki]

The French may be greedy,but they are also downright smart when it comes to arms sales.They have pretty much stopped all new armssales to the Pakis (the Agostas are more of a continuation of contractual obligations) as they see India as a far more lucrative market.They are already India's 3rd largest supplier(after Russia & Israel) & are negotiating to sell 120 Mirage200-5 fighter bombers & 6 Scorpene attack subs(the next generation variant of the Agostas the Pakis have) & also cooperating on building surface ships & carriers in India.

About the Pakis being able to miniaturise a warhead to fit into a torpedo or cruise missile,i don't think they have the expertise to do that(though they could ask the Chinese & North Koreans to help out).The Pakis made the French add a clause in their 94' contract which will allow the PN to export the sub to other countries ,if the French agree.It was infact shown to the Egyptians,though they seem to have agreed on a US built Dutch design,the Moray class-so if & when Saudi Arabia decides to have a sub fleet,u know who's going to get the contract.I must add that Pakistan's earlier Daphne class subs are equipped with the Harpoon missile-the 1st nation in Asia to have acquired that capability about 20yrs ago & with the US planning to sell more Harpoons to them,it would be expected that the Agostas can fire those.

[sukhoi-30mki]

The French may be greedy,but they are also downright smart when it comes to arms sales.They have pretty much stopped all new armssales to the Pakis (the Agostas are more of a continuation of contractual obligations) as they see India as a far more lucrative market.They are already India's 3rd largest supplier(after Russia & Israel) & are negotiating to sell 120 Mirage200-5 fighter bombers & 6 Scorpene attack subs(the next generation variant of the Agostas the Pakis have) & also cooperating on building surface ships & carriers in India.

About the Pakis being able to miniaturise a warhead to fit into a torpedo or cruise missile,i don't think they have the expertise to do that(though they could ask the Chinese & North Koreans to help out).The Pakis made the French add a clause in their 94' contract which will allow the PN to export the sub to other countries ,if the French agree.It was infact shown to the Egyptians,though they seem to have agreed on a US built Dutch design,the Moray class-so if & when Saudi Arabia decides to have a sub fleet,u know who's going to get the contract.I must add that Pakistan's earlier Daphne class subs are equipped with the Harpoon missile-the 1st nation in Asia to have acquired that capability about 20yrs ago & with the US planning to sell more Harpoons to them,it would be expected that the Agostas can fire those.

[mondoman]

Loki,

Please don't take this as a flame: Your reply smacks of racism and ignorance. I will assume you meant this "tongue in cheek".

Pakistan has had one of the most highly educated populations in the world, let alone the Muslim or 3rd World. Unlike North Korea (who are doing it with US technology sold by the Clintons), the Pakistanis developed and tested their own bomb. In our own country, and throughout the British Commonwealth, the Pakistani community is replete with highly educated, highly motivated people.

This is significant news, and will most likely be overlooked and under analyzed in out domestic media.

[mondoman]

Nous pouvons seulement espérer.

[mylife]

Agosta 90

[Cacique]

For later read

[sukhoi-30mki]

Err while I have no doubt on the intellectual abilities of Pakistanis,it is a proven fact the Pakis had significant Chinese help on their nuke programme(to tie down India) & early missile programme(which was later taken over by North Korea)-this programme recieved initial funding from Saudi Arabia & Libya at the time of the Iranian revolution.

[corkoman]

Nous pouvons seulement espérer

Sacre Bleu!! (thats frog talk for "Jheez Louise!)

[mondoman]

About the Pakis being able to miniaturise a warhead to fit into a torpedo or cruise missile,i don't think they have the expertise to do that(though they could ask the Chinese & North Koreans to help out)

And no one really thought 19 motivated individuals could successfully turn 4 commercial airliners into missles under our noses on September 10, 2001.

[Eric in the Ozarks]

$10 says the US Navy has the sonar signature of every other sub in the world, as well as the captain's name and his home town.

[sukhoi-30mki]

& those 19 motivated beasts would have probably been unheard of if the US hadn't got into bed with the animals in Pakistan & Saudi Arabia.

Besides-the Pakistanis can easily get anything they want from North Korea & China-how would you explain the presence of North Korean missile scientists at several Pakistani missile tests & the fact that every "indegnious" weapons system in Pakistan has a Chinese pedigree

[mondoman]

When I read this article today, I was reminded of an excellent and very credible novel by Patrick Robinson: Nimitz Class

"The unthinkable has happened. The nuclear-powered Nimitz Class Aircraft Carrier Thomas Jefferson, the most powerful warship in the world, home to a crew of 6,000 sailors and navy fliers, has been vaporized at sea in what appears to be a nuclear accident. [nuclear tipped torpedo] The loss of life is devastating. It is the greatest peacetime disaster in U.S. history, and the shockwaves reverberate around the world. Yet even as America grieves, Lt. Commander Bill Baldridge of Naval Intelligence, brother of one of the victims, begins to piece together reports that suggest something sinister lurks beneath the surface of this tragedy. A rogue submarine armed with a nuclear torpedo is on the loose, no one knows who commands it, who is on board or how it managed to reach striking range of the Thomas Jefferson. Worse yet, no one knows where it is now. Will it strike again? Baldridge will not rest until he brings his brother's killers to justice, and as one clue leads to another, the deadly chase is on. Every technical detail in "Nimitz Class" has been authenticated by Admiral Sir John Woodward, the senior British task group commander in the Falklands War, to ensure that every naval maneuver, every harrowing plot twist could really happen. Chilling, compelling, completely authentic and supplemented with detailed maps and technical illustrations, this white-knuckle, read-through-the-night thriller heralds the astonishing debut of a new master of suspense."

[mondoman]

we can only hope

[mondoman]

Yes, we can hope they do.

Oh yeah, where did the CIA/DIA/NSA say the WMD's are in Iraq?

No one is infallible. The terrorist only have to be lucky once. We have to be lucky 100% of the time.

[mondoman]

& those 19 motivated beasts would have probably been unheard of if the US hadn't got into bed with the animals in Pakistan & Saudi Arabia.

It's called REALPOLITIK; It's called OIL; It is what it is.

I do like your listing of the coalition aligned against our interests. It is prescient: North Korea, China, Pakistan (read the last IslamoFacists). War makes for strange bedfellows. Ask Hitler, Stalin, Roosevelt and Churchill.

[sukhoi-30mki]

Ever heard about Gwadar port on Pakistan's Makran coast(near Iran) as a naval & commercial facility??

It is being developed with heavy Chinese cooperation.The Pakis say it will help unclog their Karachi port(Which is near to India & was attacked with Styx missiles in 1971),while China says it's a friendly venture & will allow them to trade with the Middle East.This facility could easily base China's new Type 93 class nuclear attack subs & its Kilo class D/E subs -both of which are armed with anti-ship cruise missiles & torpedoes & conceivably threaten American & Indian shipping.

Gwadar Port

http://www.pakistaneconomist.com/database1/cover/c2004-4.asp

[greasepaint]

Air independent,,, is,
liquid oxygen, or hydrogen peroxide, or what?