HANGOR Class Submarines and the Changing Maritime Deterrence Posture |
Maritime Pakistan has placed it at a crossroad of some of the most important sea lines of communication in the Indian Ocean Region (IOR). Opportunity and vulnerability exist here. Pakistan’s defence posture has been compelled to shift away from old systems amid growing strategic competition, technological disruption, and hybrid maritime threats. This modification is manifested in the induction of the HANGOR-class submarines. Not simply a platform of platforms, but an active support of a policy of sea denial and of plausible minimum deterrence.
Submarines have been used as an instrument of asymmetric advantage. Since the earliest naval trials, they have enabled states to compensate for traditional asymmetries with stealth and survivability. This reasoning was realised by the Pakistan Navy. Starting with the leasing of a submarine in the 1960s by the United States and then purchasing the Daphne and Agosta classes, Pakistan gradually constructed a submarine capability focused on deterrence over projection. The HANGOR-class programme is the follow-up of this development.
The HANGOR-class submarines represent a non-verbal but mighty shift in Pakistan’s naval position.
The HANGOR-class submarines represent a non-verbal but mighty shift in Pakistan’s naval position.
The programme is designed in partnership with China as part of a 2015 agreement with China Shipbuilding and Offshore International Company Ltd and consists of eight advanced submarines. Four........