KARACHI: The Pakistan Navy (PN) inducted its first marinised and upgraded ATR aircraft and Sea King helicopters (Ex Mod UK) into its fleet at an impressive ceremony held at PNS Mehran on Wednesday.

Chief of the Naval Staff Admiral Zafar Mahmood Abbasi also attended the ceremony.

The first marinised ATR aircraft, a modern and widely-operated turboprop platform, has been retrofitted with state-of-the-art weapons and sensors which will substantially enhance the fleet air arm’s operational capability commensurate with contemporary maritime warfare requirements.

The induction of the two Mk 3A/ Mk 4 Sea King helicopters acquired from UK into the PN’s existing fleet of Sea King helicopters will further enhance its operational capability, particularly of troops’ transfer. One of the helicopters is purpose built for search and rescue missions at sea and the other is optimised for troops-carrying role.

In order to ensure the quality training of aircrew, the Pakistan Navy also inducted a state of the art simulator of Z9EC anti-submarine warfare helicopter. This simulator will enable the aircrew to acquire training for anti-submarine and emergency handling in a cost-effective manner without endangering life and equipment.

Published in Dawn, December 13th, 2018