The Pakistan Navy aims to grow its relationship with the South African Navy, from continued staff talks to regular ship visits, as Pakistan promotes regional stability through maritime cooperation.
In an interview with defenceWeb ahead of the multinational Exercise Aman in February next year, the Chief of Naval Staff (CNS) of the Pakistan Navy, Admiral Admiral Naveed Ashraf, delved into Pakistan’s naval relations with Africa and maritime security issues in the Indian Ocean and adjacent regions.
He explained that friendly relations with South Africa are not limited to port calls as both navies have established Expert Level Staff Talks (ELSTs). A round of talks was held in October this year in Cape Town, and Ashraf hopes to hold these talks on a yearly basis in both Pakistan and South Africa, covering bilateral naval issues and exploring areas of common interest and cooperation, amongst others.
“In training, officers from South Africa attend naval staff courses in Pakistan and we also avail such courses from South Africa. Additionally, at junior officers and ratings’ level we do have training courses for each other,” Ashraf said, adding that “our bilateral relations will continue to strengthen in the future as well.”
Pakistan Navy vessels have in the past visited South Africa – for example PNS Aslat and PNS Moawin visited Simon’s Town in January 2020 – and future visits are expected. “We have a methodical deployment programme and South Africa figures out very prominently on it, and our ships as per their duty cycle will be visiting South Africa in the future,” Ashraf said.
African maritime relations
The Pakistan Navy’s CNS affirmed friendly relationships not just with South Africa but with many nations in Africa. “I can say this with a great deal of satisfaction that ours was the only Navy that has deployed its ships on three occasions in recent years to go around Africa, starting from 2019. PNS Moawin, PNS Aslat, PNS Nasr and PNS Alamgir circumnavigated the African continent and visited several ports of call, rendered essential food supplies, established medical camps and helped build good relations between Pakistan and many African nations.”
Overseas deployments, including to South Africa, tie in with the Pakistan Navy’s Regional Maritime Security Patrols (RMSPs), launched in 2018 as part of its strategy to enhance stability at sea. This aims to maintain a threat-free environment in Pakistan’s immediate and distant neighbourhood, so that economic and scientific activities at sea continue unhindered.
“RMSP has three components: RMSP East (towards Maldives and Sri Lanka etc.), RMSP West (Gulf of Aden and Africa’s east coast) and RMSP North (Gulf of Oman, Persian Gulf and North Arabian Sea). African nations, particularly those on the Africa’s east coast, can join the initiative by becoming a permanent member or through what Robert Kaplan calls, ‘plug and play’ security contribution, also called ‘coordinated patrols’,” Ashraf said.
Collaborative maritime security
“The Pakistan Navy has a long and successful tradition in cooperating with international partners. We believe that the magnitude and diversity of threats and challenges in our region is such that no country has the wherewithal to tackle them alone. Therefore, collaborative maritime security has become an imperative for ensuring maritime security in the region. Our key principle is to keep the maritime environment safe against non-traditional threats and effectively contribute towards safety and security of vital sea lanes in the Arabian Sea, to our best abilities despite being a modest Navy,” Ashraf explained.
“There is no second opinion on the fact that intensifying naval cooperation with other navies will help ensure maritime security in the Arabian Sea and adjacent regions. The Pakistan Navy contributions in Combined Task Force (CTF)-150, CTF-151, conduct of Regional Maritime Security Patrols and regular participation in bi/tri-lateral events, Exercise Aman, Aman Dialogue, all point in the same direction.
“The Pakistan Navy joined what was then known as the Coalition Maritime Campaign Plan (CMCP) in 2004, and since then it remained one of the major contributors towards maritime security in the region through Combined Maritime Forces (CMF),” Ashraf said. The CMCP is the maritime component of the US-led Operation Enduring Freedom. It was later placed under the command of Combined Maritime Forces based in Bahrain. Subsequently, several mission-oriented task forces appeared as constituents of CMF, e.g. CTF-151 (counter-piracy), and CTF-152 (Persian Gulf security). Pakistan joined CTF-150 and CTF-151. Senior Pakistan naval officers have commanded the CTF-150 and 151 several times since 2004 and 2009, respectively.
“We have commanded CTF-150 and CTF-151 for numerous times and contributed through our ships and aircraft immensely. Pakistan Navy is currently leading CTF-150. In recent months, you may have witnessed capture/disruption of substantial drug smugglers in the Arabian Sea,” Ashraf said. In October 2024, the Pakistan Navy seized $145 million worth of drugs in the Arabian Sea, and 1.3 tons of hashish worth $26 million, for example.
Indian Ocean threats
CMF and other maritime security initiatives are addressing a number of threats in the Indian Ocean that impact Pakistan – an “ominous hybrid mix of traditional and non-traditional threats”. As Ashraf explained, “Pakistan finds itself in the midst of a complex geopolitical and geo-economic competition prevailing in the region. Pakistan’s maritime security is intertwined with the maritime environment in the Indian Ocean, which is rapidly transforming. In our immediate neighbourhood, long drawn instability in Afghanistan simmers and continues to impinge upon regional security, with its consequent impact on the maritime domain. On our eastern side, India is disturbing regional peace by blatantly provoking its neighbours. On our Western flank, Iran’s standoff with the US and Israel may manifest into a precarious situation for the shipping plying international sea routes.
“While India continues to portray itself as a net security provider/first responder in the Indian Ocean, we will continue to maintain our presence in the ocean. We are not in an arms race with India; however, we maintain adequate capacity to accomplish assigned tasks effectively.
“Ongoing Israeli conflicts with many countries have spilt over into the maritime domain. The Houthis’ strikes against merchant traffic and counter strikes on the Yemeni mainland by the US/West has created conditions for enhanced Extended Regional Framework (ERF) presence in the region by extra-regional powers. Access to shore-based missiles and remotely operated vehicles to the warring groups is a serious threat to sea lines of communication (SLOCs) transiting the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden. In the non-traditional domain maritime terrorism, piracy, drug trafficking, gun running and human smuggling are the main challenges being faced.
“I believe an answer to these challenges lie in dispute resolution through dialogue, as use of force will continue to degrade stability at sea. Moreover, I also feel that a region owned, region-led maritime security construct will be much more effective in countering the threats we face these days,” the CNS said.
Countering traditional and non-traditional threats
Further elaborating on geopolitical challenges, Ashraf said, “the geopolitical environment of our region is changing rapidly especially due to ongoing Israeli aggression. The already volatile maritime security environment coupled with a diverse range of traditional and non-traditional maritime threats necessitates a robust, adaptive and technologically advanced Navy with well trained human resources. My job is to keep the Navy combat-ready through optimal utilisation of resources and completion of ongoing projects under financial constraints in order to boost the Pakistan Navy’s prowess in increasingly complex maritime security environment in the region. The Navy’s role is to counter both traditional and non-traditional threats being posed to us. This will be crucial so that the Pakistan Navy performs 24/7 while ensuring security and stability in the Arabian Sea.”
To this end, the Pakistan Navy has been focussing on the acquisitions of modern platforms and force multipliers, as well as locally manufacturing and maintaining equipment to reduce foreign dependency. “Recently, we have inducted Type 054 frigates from China, offshore patrol vessels from Romania and MILGEM class corvettes from Turkiye. These platforms with the latest weapons and sensors will be a significant addition to existing Pakistan Navy capabilities to effectively deal with today’s complex multi-threat environment. We are in the process of inducting remaining MILGEM class ships as two of these ships are being constructed indigenously at Karachi Shipyard & Engineering Works. Based on experience gained during construction of the MILGEM class of ships, the Pakistan Navy is planning to build JINNAH class frigates, which will be our first ever indigenously designed and built frigate-sized warship.
“We’ve made significant strides in developing and inducting autonomous unmanned aerial systems in the Navy and also embedding them with naval operations. We are currently operating CASC Rainbow CH-4 UAVs from China, Boeing MQ-27 ScanEagle UAVs from the Untied States, and the Rheinmetall Luna NG from Germany. These UAVs are primarily employed for surveillance purposes, significantly enhancing our capabilities in maritime domain awareness.
“Operationally, we believe in a hybrid approach that combines manned and unmanned systems for naval operations. This strategy enables us to leverage the strengths of both types of platforms, optimising operational flexibility and effectiveness. By integrating unmanned technologies with traditional manned systems, what I have observed is that operational gaps have been duly addressed, especially with regards to surveillance while substantially cutting repair/maintenance and operating costs,” Ashraf said.
Exercise Aman 2025
From 7 to 11 February 2025, the Pakistan Navy will host the Aman 2025 naval exercise, one of the largest and most prominent maritime exercises in the region, bringing together nations to strengthen ties, share expertise, and develop coordinated responses to evolving maritime security challenges. Pakistan has invited over 100 countries to take part, up from the 50 nations that participated in the previous edition in February 2023. Some 30 African nations have been invited to the 2025 event.
“The message of Aman 25 is to foster regional and extra-regional cooperation for the maintenance of good order at sea, enhance interoperability to act as a bridge between regions, share experiences, understand each other and exhibit united resolve against terrorism and crimes in the maritime domain. Moreover, we are also looking forward for a healthy participation of chiefs of the navies, coast guards or defence forces during the Aman Dialogue,” Ashraf said.
The Aman Dialogue is a new addition to the exercise, and is a platform designed to complement the operational aspects of the exercise with strategic discussions on shared challenges and solutions. “The Aman exercise used to have an International Maritime Conference (IMC) as an adjunct event for intellectual discourse on the issues related to maritime security, cooperation and maritime economy. In this event academics and experts would usually share their points of view. Now we have decided to transition to ‘dialogue’ where we seek to hear more from practitioners/professionals about their views and experience on issues surrounding the security and stability of seas, use of emerging technology and role of the navies in harnessing the potential of the blue economy,” Ashraf concluded.
