KARACHI, Dec 19 An F-22P frigate was inducted into the Pakistan Navy at a ceremony in Shanghai on Saturday, according to a press release by the Inter-Services Public Relations. The vessel has been named PNS Shamsheer.

Speaking at the ceremony, Chief of the Naval Staff Admiral Noman Bashir said the commissioning of PNS Shamsheer had served to considerably improve the resources at the command of Pakistan Navy.

PNS Shamsheer and the Chinese frigate commissioned earlier — the PNS Zulfiqar — would be the mainstay of the navy's “surface assets”, he said. The frigates were equipped to carry Z9EC helicopters.

Admiral Bashir said the project under which four F-22P frigates were to be inducted into the navy was continuing apace, with two vessels commissioned so far. All the objectives were being achieved within the stipulated timeframe.

He said that one of the four vessels to be manufactured was being built at the Karachi Shipyard under transfer of technology arrangements with the Chinese government.