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Pakistan
Navy
In 1994 the navy had some 22,000 personnel. The force included
a small Naval Air Arm and the approximately 2,000-member paramilitary
Maritime Security Agency, charged primarily with protecting Pakistan's
exclusive economic zone. The naval reserve consisted of about
5,000 personnel.
In 1994 the navy had four commands: COMPAK--the fleet; COMLOG--logistics;
COMFORNAV--naval installations in the north of Pakistan; and COMKAR--naval
headquarters and the only major base at Karachi. There were long-range
plans to build a new naval base at Ormara, 240 kilometers west
of Karachi, and to improve harbors at Gwadar and Pasni to help
alleviate overdependence on Karachi.
The navy's principal combatants in 1994 were six submarines of
French origin equipped with United States Harpoon missiles; negotiations
with the French for three additional submarines have been reported.
The navy had three active old destroyers (one of British and two
of United States origin), four United States-made guided missile
frigates, six other frigates (two from Britain and four from the
United States), and two United States-made and one French-made
mine warfare craft. One destroyer and four frigates carried Harpoon
missiles; the navy had acquired an unknown number of Mistral close-in
surface-to-air missiles from France. There were eight missile
craft, and thirteen coastal combatant and patrol craft, all of
Chinese origin. The Naval Air Arm had four combat aircraft flown
by air force personnel and armed with Exocet missiles and sixteen
armed helicopters. The delivery of three P-3C Orion long-range
reconnaissance aircraft from the United States had been suspended
since 1990 (see table 15, Appendix).
In 1991 a naval special warfare marine commando unit, with a
strength of between 150 and 200 men, was established. Its functions,
in addition to hull inspection and special operations, included
operating three midget submarines.
Although the navy clearly needed to grow, its immediate future
was threatened by a reduction in equipment brought about by the
Pressler Amendment imposed in 1990 (see The Armed Forces in a
New World Order , this ch.). The Pakistan Navy had to return four
Brooke (Badr)-class and four Garcia (Saif)-class frigates to the
United States at the end of their five-year lease. In addition,
one British-made destroyer, the Babur, was retired in
1994. At the same time, all three United States destroyers became
fully operational, and an additional six Amazon-class frigates
purchased from Britain were to be delivered in late 1994.
Data as of April 1994
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