Pakistan commissions first Chinese Hangor submarine, deepening defense ties

Pakistan has put its first Hangor-class submarine into service in Sanya, China, marking a major step in a Chinese-backed naval buildup that reaches well beyond a single vessel. President Asif Ali Zardari attended the commissioning of PNS/M Hangor as chief guest, alongside Admiral Naveed Ashraf, Pakistan’s chief of naval staff, as the navy moved the first boat of an eight-submarine program from construction into active service.

The Hangor program is structured as a split production line: four submarines will be built in China and four assembled in Pakistan under a transfer-of-technology arrangement at Karachi Shipyard & Engineering Works. The class is based on China’s Type 039A/039B Yuan-class design and is expected to bring air-independent propulsion, modern sensors and advanced weapons into Pakistan’s underwater fleet. Open-source reporting has placed the deal’s value at roughly $4 billion to $5 billion, making it one of the largest Chinese arms export packages ever reported and one of the most consequential for Pakistan’s domestic defense-industrial base.

That industrial piece matters as much as the hardware itself. By shifting part of the program to Karachi, Islamabad is seeking more than a new submarine force; it is trying to build local capacity for complex naval production and sustainment. The commissioning also signals that a long-delayed procurement launched in 2015 has now crossed into operational deployment, after supply-chain problems pushed back the timetable.

Strategically, the submarine deal deepens the China-Pakistan security relationship at sea just as it has already expanded in the air and on land. Pakistan has leaned more heavily on Chinese defense systems since its recent conflict with India, including Chinese-made J10-C fighter jets that Islamabad says performed well in combat. The submarine program adds another layer to that reliance, binding Pakistan’s maritime planning more closely to Chinese technology, training and industrial support.

For India, the implications are clear. The Indian Ocean and the Arabian Sea remain central arenas of competition, and a more capable Pakistani submarine arm strengthens sea-denial options that could complicate Indian naval planning in any crisis. With the first Hangor now commissioned, Pakistan has signaled that its underwater modernization is no longer theoretical; it is entering service and altering the regional balance one hull at a time.