The Pakistan Navy (PN) received indigenously designed multi-mission capable Azmat-class Fast Attack Craft (Missile)/ FAC(M) – 4 built by the Karachi Shipyard & Engineering Works Limited (KS&EW) on Wednesday, November 27, 2019. The ceremony was attended by a large number of high ranking officials and dignitaries from federal and provisional governments, Pakistan Navy and KS&EW. The ceremony was attended by a large number of high ranking officials and dignitaries from federal and provisional governments, Pakistan Navy and KS&EW.
Fast Attack Craft (Missile) is a state of the art, a multi-mission vessel with a steel hull and aluminium superstructure and equipped with indigenously developed weapons and sensors. It has a length of 63 meters with a displacement of over 560 tons. The ship is propelled by four diesel and can attain a maximum speed of 30 knots. It has 4 propulsion shafts ad fixed pitch propellers and a range of 1000 nautical miles. FAC(M)-4 relies on combined diesel-and-diesel (CODAD) for propulsion.
In addition to ASCMs (configured in a dual triple-cell system), the FAC(M)-4 will be equipped with a 25 mm gun, close-in-weapons-system (CIWS), and various sensors, including a surface, search and tracking radar. It has length of 63 meters with displacement of over 560 tons. The missile craft is equipped with indigenously developed Weapons and Sensors that makes it a potent platform of Pakistan Navy. The third vessel is an improved version compared to earlier vessels and will carry indigenous weapon systems. Though not officially stated, the shipbuilder is said to have received considerable technical help from Chinese shipyards.
Chief Guest Federal Minister for Defence Production Mohtarma Zobaida Jalal applauded the national goal of indigenization & self-reliance. Speaking on the occasion, Federal Minister for Defence Production Zubaida Jalal congratulated Pakistan Navy, MTC and KS&EW for the remarkable achievement towards the national goal of indigenisation and self-reliance. She said that KSEW is one of the few public sector industries which have made a remarkable turnaround in the last decade and transformed into a sustainable profit-generating entity of the Ministry of Defence Production (MoDP).
