Pakistan Navy has taken delivery of its first Offshore Patrol Vessel (OPV) 2600, named PNS Hunain, at Constanta Port in Romania. The Hunain is the third OPV in the Navy’s arsenal, but the first of the 2600 class.
Pakistan’s Chief of the Naval Staff Admiral Naveed Ashraf graced the occasion as the Chief Guest while Chief of the Defence Staff of Romania General Gheorghita Vlad and Chief of Romanian Navy Vice Admiral Mihai Panait also attended as guests of honor.
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 Pakistan Navy 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-à-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.
PNS Hunain
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 defense systems, according to Pakistan Navy. 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 several missions while safeguarding the Maritime interests of Pakistan.
The Offshore Patrol Vessel (OPV) 2600 is the largest member of four new second-generation offshore patrol vessels designed by Damen Shipyards in Romania.
Displacing 2600 tons, it has been designed to be multi-mission capable, rather than a specialist vessel. In the Pakistan Navy, it will support missions including border surveillance, counterpiracy, and anti-smuggling operations, as well as an ongoing campaign against drug and weapons trafficking.
