Note: This article discusses the launch of fourth Yarmook Class Corvette for Pakistan Navy as well as its specifications.
The steel-cutting ceremony of Batch-II of Damen (Netherlands) Corvettes for the Pakistan Navy was held at Constanta Port in Romania, attended by the Chief of Naval Staff of the Pakistan Navy, Admiral Amjad Khan Niazi, the Pakistani ambassador, and Pakistan Navy officials. The Pakistan Navy’s Directorate General of Procurement and the Ministry of Defense Production signed deals for a further two Damen corvettes in 2020, after the commissioning of two Yarmook class ships, PNS Yarmook (271) and Tabuk (272). The ships are built by the Dutch defense contractor Damen, at their Galati shipyards in Romania.
The Yarmook program originally called for buying OPV 1900 ships from Damen and converting them to mil-spec corvettes with Pakistan Navy weapons systems and subsystems, for a total final tonnage of 2300 tonnes. The two new ships have a larger tonnage, at least 2600 tonnes. The increase in weight is to accommodate upgrades in the air defense aspect of the original Yarmook class corvettes, as the new ships will add the Gokdeniz CIWS anti-air missile systems, and a VLS cell for surface-to-air missiles (SAM).
The Gokdeniz is a Turkish made complete combat weapon system that automatically detects, evaluates, tracks, engages, and performs kill assessment against ASM and high-speed aircraft threats in an extended self-defense battle space envelope around the ship. The VLS cells on the ship appear to be 4-6 in number, armed with a yet unknown SAM, probably quad packed CAMM-ER missiles. The rest of the capabilities are same as the smaller Yarmook.
The warships are littoral multipurpose corvettes and will be fitted with a SMART-S MK2 AESA radar, remote weapon station for a main naval cannon (Aselsan STAMP), two tri-cell cruise missile launchers (Harbah dual-use AShCM/LACM, 750 km range) and two triple cell torpedo launchers. The corvettes also feature advanced LPI radars, a modern EW suit, CMS, ELINT/ESM, and a close-range acoustic weapon. The corvette also has a helicopter deck and hangar, as well as two RHIBs.
Official Press Release by Pakistan Navy
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