In recent years, the Pakistan Navy has been facing the pressure brought about by the rapid development of the Indian Navy, its old enemy, and has actively sought to upgrade its equipment and build new types of warships; on the one hand, it has bought capital ships from foreign countries to enhance the combat effectiveness and technical level of the fleet, and on the other hand, it has actively cultivated and developed its own naval industry through technology transfer and cooperation and the mode of producing ships in its own country after purchasing them, so that it has a certain degree of independent production capacity. While being able to repair large and medium-sized surface main combat ships on their own, it is possible to build a number of small ships. Among them, the more prominent achievement is the FAC (M)-4 fast attack missile boat designed and built by Pakistan itself.
The FAC (M)-4 missile boat has a steel hull and an aluminum superstructure, which takes into account both structural robustness and maneuverability indicators. The FAC (M)-4 missile boat is 63 meters long, has a displacement of more than 560 tons, uses the CODAD diesel-diesel combined propulsion mode, has a maximum speed of 30 knots, 4 diesel engines, 4 axles and 4 propellers, and has a range of 1000 nautical miles. The main ** is 2 3-mounted domestic anti-ship missile launch systems, in addition to the 25 mm naval gun as the main gun, and the CIWS close defense ** system is also installed, including the matching search and tracking and fire control radar system.
The FAC (M)-4 missile boat also used domestic components on a large scale to replace it, and used domestic ** and sensor systems. It is speculated that the domestically produced anti-ship missile installed on it is likely to be the Harba anti-ship cruise missile developed by Pakistan on the basis of the C-802, which was successfully modified and test-fired on the Pns Himmat, the third boat of the "Azmat" class, in 2018.
The Azmat-class missile boat project originated in 2010 as a joint development and procurement agreement signed between China and Pakistan. China undertook the design work and provided technology transfer to Pakistan. The first vessel was built at Tianjin Xingang Shipyard and joined the Pakistan Navy in June 2012. In addition to sea assaults, they also undertake patrols, fishing protection and other tasks. At present, 3 ships have been put into service, which have been widely acclaimed. Through the cooperation between China and Pakistan, Pakistan has obtained a full set of construction technology transfer and learned advanced design concepts. On the latest FAC-4 missile boat, Pakistan fully adopts domestic parts and equipment, equipped with self-developed and self-produced sensors and first-class systems. The Pakistani side thus proudly called it "the first missile boat built by Pakistan itself." This cooperation not only strengthens the navies of the two countries, but also promotes the development of military technology in Pakistan.
Pakistan has a strong subjective initiative in equipment, which is much stronger than India. This is also an important reason why Pakistan has been able to maintain a strategic balance with India for so many years and has not been completely crushed.