Pakistan Navy press release
Chief of the Naval Staff, Admiral Naveed Ashraf graced the occasion as the Chief Guest. Chief of the Defence Staff of Romania General Gheorghita Vlad and Chief of Romanian Navy Vice Admiral Mihai Panait also attended as guests of honour.
While addressing the ceremony, the Chief of the Naval Staff emphasized the significance of the project and highlighted the additional set of capabilities added to the PN sphere of operations with the induction of PNS HUNAIN. He expressed his confidence that induction of these multipurpose and highly adaptive platforms; equipped with state-of-the-art weapons/ sensors suite, will further enhance PN forward presence and perpetual operational readiness vis-Ã -vis deployment on Regional Maritime Security Patrols (RMSP) in the Indian Ocean Region. Chief of the Naval Staff Admiral Naveed Ashraf commended the exceptional professionalism and dedication of DAMEN Shipyard and expressed confidence in the prospects of future cooperation in delivering cutting-edge technologies to the Pakistan Navy.
The newly commissioned, PNS HUNAIN is a multipurpose and highly agile platform of medium size tonnage. The ship is a state-of-the-art electronic warfare, anti-ship & anti-air warfare capable platform with modern self-protection and terminal defence systems. The ship is also capable of embarking multirole helicopters and can operate independently as well as part of a Task Force for enhanced duration to undertake a number of missions while safeguarding the Maritime interests of Pakistan.
The commissioning ceremony was attended by high-level dignitaries from Pakistan, Romania and the Netherlands, including the Pakistani community in Romania.
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About OPV 2600
The OPV 2600 is the largest member of four new second-generation offshore patrol vessels (other variants are OPV 1400, OPV 1800, and OPV 2400) designed by Damen Shipyards to support a variety of naval and Coast Guard missions, such as Border and EEZ surveillance, Counter piracy and smuggling, and Counter drugs- and weapons trafficking among others.
The 2600-ton vessel has a length of 98 meters, which is longer than the Yarmook-class OPVs Pakistan Navy currently operates. It has 4x 2350 kW diesel engines coupled to two CPPs that can deliver a top speed of 24 knots to the vessel. OPV 2600 will also be fitted with a bow thruster for close maneuvers.
The vessel can operate at sea state 6 and is capable of surviving at sea state 9 thanks to its active fin stabilizing system. It will be capable of accommodating 60 people.
The OPV 2600 will be armed with the main gun of up to 76 mm on the ship’s bow deck and two 20 mm guns as secondary weapons. The sensor suite includes a medium-range surveillance radar and an E/O fire control sensor. The ship will also be capable of helicopter missions with its helicopter deck and can house the helicopters in its hangar.
Under the aft deck there will be space for up to 5 containerized mission modules that can be loaded and unloaded using a crane.
Moreover, the OPV 2600 boasts the capacity for five additional mission modules, covering areas such as Anti-Submarine Warfare (ASW) with side-scan sonar, Mine Countermeasures (MCM), Unmanned Aerial Vehicle/Unmanned Surface Vehicle (UAV/USV), pollution control, hospital facilities, diving support, as well as energy and water-making facilities, among others.
Designed for sustained maritime patrols, search and rescue operations, law enforcement, humanitarian assistance, and disaster response missions, the scaled model crafted for the Pakistan Navy is also capable of Anti-Surface Warfare (ASuW) and Anti-Air Warfare (AAW).
