A deep sea rivalry.

For the past centuries, oceans and seas have always been a place for contention, constant rivalry and confrontation to achieve dominance and the upper hand. From the seas of Mediterranean to Arabian, men fought to take over the reins. Pakistan's efforts of commissioning new Chinese submarines into it's Navel arsenal is exactly that. Pakistan Navy manifested quite a lot of interest in the Chinese indigenous Type 032A submarine. Very soon Pakistan entered into a contract with the Chinese developer and made a public announcement on the 31st of March 2015. Pakistan is expected to receive a total of 8 Type 032A (Yuan Class) diesel electric submarines. A further search for 4 more submarines from Europe is also under process making a total of 12 strenuous submarine arsenal of the Pakistani Navel fleet. If the deal accomplishes this will be the largest Sino-Pakistani contract in the defense department. Each submarine will cost $250 Million to $350 Million and the whole project has a estimated cost of $5 Billion.

The type 032A has a standard load of six torpedo tubes, able to fire up to 18 torpedos and missile canisters, which include the 533mm Yu-6 heavy torpedo, navel mine and 300 km range YJ-82 anti ship missile. Such capabilities can prove quite important in a conventional war scenario in the region. In addition to that Pakistan is also working to arm it's upcoming submarines with Babur cruise missile, which has an effective range of 750 to 1000km and is equipped for both conventional and nuclear attacks.

Such tremendous investment in the Navel sector by the Pakistani administration is due to two major reasons. The first being is to modernize and expand it's navel fleet. The Pakistani Navy currently operates five Agosta submarines, with two of it's Agosta 70s which are 40 year old and in need of replacement soon. The second reason is to encounter the Indian growing influence in the Arabian sea and it's drastically growing hold in the Indian ocean. There should be no denying that India has always overpowered Pakistan in Navel capabilities and due to the recent developments like the commissioning of second Aircraft Carrier 'Vikramaditya' to it's fleet with Mig 29k fighters on board greatly poses a threat to the Pakistani coasts, Islamabad finally has decided to counter this through a strong and agile Navel Submarine fleet.

The outcome of this pronounced Navel deal bring a number of advantage to the table for the Pakistani administration. Pakistan always faced a prodigious threat from it's Eastern neighbor and this deal proves to counter exactly that. Pakistan will now be considered as a strong Navel force in the area and will also help regain it's lost reputation. This will not only maintain the balance of Power in the region but also give Islamabad a chance to launch nuclear strikes from previously inaccessible areas like the Bay of Bengal. Thus An underwater Nuclear deterrent would finally give Islamabad a credible second strike capability.