Pakistani President General Pervez Musharraf said on Thursday Pakistan has no offensive designs against anyone, saying the country is following policy of a defensive deterrence.
“When we talk of a defensive deterrence, we mean an offensive defensive deterrence,” the President said at the launching ceremony of indigenously built Agosta 90-B submarine.
The Submarine today has given an offensive punch to the Navy, General Musharraf said.
“We have been following a policy of indigenization and self reliance and this project is a physical manifestation of such a strategy. We have met a great success in all the three services.” He referred to the indigenously-built main battle tanks Al-Khalid and Al-Zarrar and said they are the physical manifestation of highest quality of indigenized product besides many other projects.
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan has acquired the capability of developing its own nuclear submarine. Pakistani scientists and the engineers have developed indigenous technology for building the nuclear submarines at the existing facilities. This capability will strengthen the naval defence of the country. President Gen Pervez Musharraf will discuss this matter with the Chinese President during his visit to Islamabad in November this year.
Pakistan started exploring alternative sources and strategies to bridge the wide gap with India in conventional and strategic weapons/forces to sustain its independence and sovereignty. The gap was widening due to the United State’s tilt towards India as compared to Pakistan. According to a military comparison, Indo-Pak conventional and strategic asymmetries until now are not primarily in favour of Pakistan.
Armaris Offers Pakistan Licensed Production of 3 Subs
By PIERRE TRAN, PARIS
French naval export company Armaris, in a bold commercial move, has proposed a license deal that would permit Pakistan to build all three Marlin submarines the company offered in its bid for Islamabad’s diesel-electric submarine program, a French industry official said.
“This is one deal we have to win,” the official said. The sale is worth around $1 billion.
Germany’s HDW has made a rival bid with its 214 sub, he said.
The building of all three Marlin boats locally would mark a departure from previous French submarine sales.
In the 1994 sale of three Agosta 90B Khalid submarines to Islmabad, France’s DCN built the first in series and transferred production of the other two boats to Pakistan. The French sale of six Scorpene subs to India earlier this year followed the same industrial model.
Armaris on Aug. 26 submitted its Marlin offer to Pakistan. The offer was for the submarine only, without SM39 Exocet anti-ship missiles, as Pakistan has said it wants to arm the boats with Boeing Harpoon missiles. The boats would be fitted for, but not with, the Harpoons, the official said. The cost of integration of the U.S.-built missiles would be in Pakistan’s charge.