Keel laying of fast attack craft vessel in Karachi
Multi-mission missile vessel equipped with indigenous weapons, sensors
APP
August 11, 2015
KARACHI – The keel laying ceremony of fast attack craft (missile) – being built for the Pakistan Navy – was held at the Karachi Shipyard and Engineering Works here on Tuesday.
Vice Chief of Naval Staff Vice Admiral Hasham Bin Saddique was the chief guest on the occasion. The ceremony was attended by guests from China, Turkey and high-ranking officials from the government, Pakistan Navy and the Karachi Shipyard.
The fast attack craft (missile) is a state-of-the-art, multi mission vessel with steel hull and aluminum super structure. It has length and breadth of 63 and 8.8 meters respectively, displacement of 560 tons, speed of 30 knots and range of 1000 nautical miles. The ship is equipped with indigenous weapons and sensors.
Addressing the ceremony, the vice admiral appreciated the timely achievement of an important construction milestone of this vessel and showed confidence that the Karachi Shipyard and the navy would continue to play a vital role in achieving the national goal of self-reliance in shipbuilding industry.
He said that the Karachi Shipyard has not only faced the challenge of advancement of technology in modern shipbuilding with confidence but was continuously making improvement in its infrastructure and quality standards are a testimony to this fact. He said that the Karachi Shipyard’s development during recent years could only be possible due to untiring efforts of its workforce.
In his welcome address, Karachi Shipyard MD Rear Admiral Syed Hasan Nasir Shah said that this project was third of its kind and being constructed in collaboration with the help of time-tested friend China. He gave a brief outlook of ongoing projects which includes 17,000 tons PN fleet tanker, 02 x LCMs for the navy and 22 bridge erections boats for the Pakistan Army.
He also announced the most recent award of contract to the Karachi Shipyard i.e. construction of 02x ships for the Pakistan Maritime Security Agency. He said that the management was also vigorously pursuing few more worthwhile orders of KPT and PQA which are under negotiations and likely to be materialised in near future.