Pakistan Government to Purchase French 3 Agosta 90B Submarines

[Major Shaitan Singh]

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The Pakistan Government had decided to purchase French Agosta submarines against the recommendation of the Pakistan Navy, the then Naval Chief Admiral (retired) Saeed Muhammad Khan, during whose tenure the controversial deal was struck, has revealed.

In a defamation suit filed against a television channel in the court of district judge, Islamabad, through his counsel, Admiral Khan said that the Pakistan Navy had recommended to the then government in

1994-95 to go for five or six UK-manufactured Upholder submarines, but the then regime, using its discretion, had decided to purchase three Agosta 90 B class of submarines.

“The plaintiff (Admiral Saeed) in his capacity as Chief of Naval Staff did not recommend the French Agosta 90 B Class submarines for acquisition by the Government of Pakistan and had in fact

recommended, based on the technical and other investigations carried out by Pakistan Navy prior to 1994, the UK manufactured Upholder submarines,” The News quoted Admiral Khan, as saying in his lawsuit.

“The reason for the recommendation was based primarily on the fact that the UK submarines were readily available and had been tested at sea whereas the French Agosta 90 B Class of submarines were yet

to be manufactured being prototypes and would have taken years to be delivered. Furthermore, the Pakistan Navy had been offered five and possibly 6 UK Upholder submarines compared to three Agosta 90 B class of submarines for a lesser price,” he added.

He disclosed that the recommendation of the Pakistan Navy was rejected by the Ministry of Defence, Government of Pakistan, who decided at their own discretion to purchase the Agosta 90 B class of submarines.

He made it clear that the decision to acquire the French Agosta submarines was that of the Defence Ministry, not the Pakistan Navy, which was only required to evaluate the offered submarines and make their recommendations.

Admiral Khan insisted that he was not involved in the controversial Agosta deal in any manner.

Last year, Admiral Abdul Aziz Mirza had told the newspaper that the then Naval Chief Admiral Saeed Khan had revealed that former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto’s Defence Minister Aftab Shaban

Mirani had clearly indicated to the Pakistan Navy’s high command the government’s preference for the induction of the French submarines. Admiral Mirza led the Pakistan from October 1999 to October 2002.

Pakistan Government to Purchase French Agosta Submarines >> Naval Today

[fatman17]

old news mate!

[DANGER-ZONE]

^ whats this non sense ... ban this guy

[usama waqas]

i think that is in today's paper. as some corruption cases are reopened

[nomi007]

old news
every 1 knows who is the behind this corruption

[ANG]

Hi, there is no comparison between the Upholder class and Agosta90B class. The Upholder class subs were retired early from the Royal Navy and were bought by the Canadian Navy. They have been nothing but trouble for the Canadian Navy ever since.

If you do a simply google search on this topic, you will see the Upholder class Canadian boats have been plagued with issues, like batteries dying, a fire in the engine room that killed an officer, and forced the boat to be towed back from its Atlantic crossing, and numerous electrical wiring problems.

The Agosta 90Bs were much more modern and also had AIP back in the 90s, which was not available on any other boat back then. Yes, there was corruption involved in the purchase of the Agosta 90B, but it does not mean the submarine itself was bad.

The other two candidates for the PN back in the 90s were Swedish subs built by Kockums, and Chinese subs. Personally I would be hesistant buying a submarine optimized for sub-artic conditions, and from a peace loving tree-head nation like Sweden, which would slap sanctions on you in a heartbeat or onset of any hostilities. The Chinese subs back then were not as advanced as Chinese subs right now, so that was not really a viable choice.

Remember we are talking of something that happened 16+ years ago. Kindly please let it go...

[hasnain0099]

Hi, there is no comparison between the Upholder class and Agosta90B class. The Upholder class subs were retired early from the Royal Navy and were bought by the Canadian Navy. They have been nothing but trouble for the Canadian Navy ever since.

If you do a simply google search on this topic, you will see the Upholder class Canadian boats have been plagued with issues, like batteries dying, a fire in the engine room that killed an officer, and forced the boat to be towed back from its Atlantic crossing, and numerous electrical wiring problems.

The Agosta 90Bs were much more modern and also had AIP back in the 90s, which was not available on any other boat back then. Yes, there was corruption involved in the purchase of the Agosta 90B, but it does not mean the submarine itself was bad.

The other two candidates for the PN back in the 90s were Swedish subs built by Kockums, and Chinese subs. Personally I would be hesistant buying a submarine optimized for sub-artic conditions, and from a peace loving tree-head nation like Sweden, which would slap sanctions on you in a heartbeat or onset of any hostilities. The Chinese subs back then were not as advanced as Chinese subs right now, so that was not really a viable choice.

Remember we are talking of something that happened 16+ years ago. Kindly please let it go...

AIP was installed way after the purchase was made, the third sub was equipped with AIP while the first two were later retrofitted with the same. The reasons sighted by PN are also plausable as PN would not like to risk their strategic acquisition being on drawing board. Something IN has been suffering by going with Merlin Class.

[AZADPAKISTAN2009]

Shaitan must be reading old newspaper , I guess news is always late in hell perks of being in true hell

[Major Shaitan Singh]

Yaar Bas bhi Karo..... I am bashed from all side.....

It came in yesterday's news. Khabhi Link mae bhi date check kar lo

Pakistan Government to Purchase French Agosta Submarines
Posted on Oct 12th, 2011

[Donatello]

Please close this thread.

[jbgt90]

^ whats this non sense ... ban this guy

why ban him . it came in the paper on the 12 of this month . is he stating any thing thats wrong?

[AZADPAKISTAN2009]

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Well seems like Shaitan bahi , did find a link with October 2011 date ... seems like a honest error