October 15, 2008	Wednesday	Shawwal 15, 1429

KARACHI, Oct 14: Chief of Staff of Pakistan Navy Vice-Admiral Asif Humayun has said that navy is fully capable of deploying strategic weapons on the sea, if and when the government takes such a decision.

Speaking at a workshop for the media here on Tuesday, he said that so far the government had not decided to deploy strategic weapons on the sea.

He said that in the context of the evolving strategic environment in the region because of the changing complexion of the war on terror, the navy had to do more in order to ensure a secure environment.The navy’s role in multilateral force in the region was discussed in the context of capability and determination to protect territorial integrity and keep the sea lane safe from terrorists and non-state actors in the region.

The vice-admiral called for providing more battle ships and submarines to the PN for augmenting the country’s defence capabilities and meeting regional maritime needs.

He said the PN’s annual budget of Rs27.5 billion was the lowest of the three services. The budgets of Pakistan Air Force and Pakistan Army are Rs71 billion and Rs141 billion, respectively.

Chief Staff Officer of Commander Pakistan Fleet Commodore Tahseenullah Khan said the Pakistan Navy had formally communicated to the government its requirements and specifications for acquiring new submarines and now it was up to the government to select a country for finalising a deal for undersea platform. The deal for new submarines would include transfer of technology, similar to the deal for Agosta class French submarines.

The participants of the workshop were informed that the navy was trying to acquire LRMP and UAVs as alternative to Atlantic reconnaissance aircraft while it was acquiring seven P3C aircraft from the US. Pakistan Navy was also acquiring the collaborative design capability for building corvettes.

Operational deployment of the PN in the Sir Creek area was also mentioned while reviewing the PN’s roles in defending Pakistan’s Exclusive Economic Zone.