Pakistan Navy launches its 3rd Babur-class guided missile corvette

Asia-Pacific, News May 21, 2022 , by IRIA No Comments

Pakistan Navy launched its 3rd Babur Class Guided Missile Corvette, PNS Badr, at the Karachi Shipyard and Engineering Works on May 20.

The Babur Class corvettes are 3000-tonne multi-mission platforms, equipped with anti-ship, anti-air, and anti-submarine warfare weapons. The ships are also capable of carrying out anti-surface attacks through ATMACA anti-ship missiles.

All four Babur Class ships are equipped with two four-cell launchers. The ships also have one flight deck with an enclosed aviation hanger that can accommodate an anti-submarine helicopter. It is expected that the Babur Class corvettes would be paired with Pakistan Navy’s AgustaWestland AW159 Wildcat attack and rescue helicopters.

The Babur Class corvettes are 108 meters long and 14.8 meters wide at the beam with a displacement capacity of about 2900 tons. The ship can sail at the speed of 27 knots with an endurance of 15 days.

Each of the Babur Class corvettes is equipped with a Turkish-made Aselsan SeaEye-AHTAPOT Electro-Optical (EO) surveillance system, capable of tracking targets at a range of 250 km. In addition to that, the ships are also equipped with the Northrop Grumman LN-270 INS/GPS navigation system, for providing geopositioning and turret stabilization.

PNS Badar is the third of the Babur Class corvettes manufactured in Istanbul. Four Babur corvettes are being built through the joint cooperation of Pakistan and Turkey under the MILGEM project. Two of the four Babur Class ships, PNS Babur and PNS Badar, have been built in Istanbul while the other two, PNS Khaibar and PNS Tariq, are being built in Karachi with a total cost of $1.5 Billion.

*^{President of Pakistan Dr Arif Alvi performing steel cutting at the inauguration ceremony of Pakistan Navy’s first MILGEM class corvette. (Image Credit: Pakistan Navy/Gulf News)}*

Launching ceremony

Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif attended the launching ceremony at the docks of Karachi Shipyard and Engineering Works. While speaking about Pakistan and Turkey’s mutual economic cooperation and defense partnership, he stated that people from both countries have witnessed an improvement in bilateral cooperation for defense, transport, and public health. “We are standing at a point where we can take these relations to great heights,” he added.

Pakistani prime minister also called for turning the ongoing Belt and Road Initiative mega-project, China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), into a trilateral arrangement between China, Pakistan, and Turkey for uplifting the partnership between the three countries.

“Our trade can increase manifold following acceleration of financial and industrial activities. The China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) will translate our desire to expand connectivity and maximize trade,” he said.

*^{Pakistan Navy’s 3rd Babur Class Guided Missile Corvette, PNS Badr (Hull No. 281). (Image Credit: Twitter/@INTELPSF)}*

MILGEM Project

MILGEM project is a national warship program of Turkey, managed by the Navy. The project aims at developing multipurpose corvettes, frigates, and destroyers. The name of the project MILGEM emerged from the Turkish phrase ‘Mili Gemi’, which means ‘National Ship’.

Apart from manufacturing Babur Class corvettes for Pakistan Navy, the MILGEM project also oversees the production of Ada Class anti-submarine warfare corvettes, Istanbul Class multipurpose frigates, and TF2000 Class anti-air warfare destroyers for the Turkish Navy.