Pakistan to equip OPV-2600 patrol ships with lightweight missiles

Two Pakistani navy’s OPV-2600 ships will be armed with lightweight RIM-116 surface-to-air missiles.

For now, the information remains officially unconfirmed, Bulgarianmilitary.com reports, citing the Twitter page of the Conflict Watch PSF.

The RIM-116 missiles are of US-German production. Raytheon and Diehl BGT Defense are the companies involved in producing the missiles. The RIM-116 has been an obsolete design since the mid-1970s, but has been continuously upgraded and remains in service in countries such as the US, Germany, Japan, Greece, Türkiye, South Korea, Saudi Arabia, Mexico, the United Arab Emirates, Egypt.

The RIM-116 uses a blast fragmentation warhead. The missile is powered by the Hercules/Bermite Mk. 36 solid-fuel rockets. The operational range of the RIM-116 is up to 10 km, and the maximum flight speed is Mach 2. This missile is famous for its exceptional precision. According to official data, her hit accuracy is 95 per cent.

What missile guidance system the Pakistani navy will choose remains to be seen. But, in principle, RIM-116 can be targeted in three ways: passive radio frequency/infrared homing, infrared only, or through infrared dual-mode enabled [radio frequency and infrared homing].

At the end of last year, the construction of the two ships for the Pakistan Navy began. The executor of the order is Damen Shipyards. However, these are not the first OPV ships to be used by the Pakistan Navy. In its composition, it has OPV vessels manufactured by the Shipyard Group. It was good impressions of the ships' performance that prompted Islamabad to order the two ships from Damen shipyards.

OPV 2600 are second-generation ships. Their mission is to ensure the security of the coasts, and they can be used for both airborne and coastal missions, such as rescue, search, etc. These ships are often used against sea pirates and smuggling traffic.

Pakistan’s OPV 2600 will be 98 metres long. The power unit of these ships will be built by 4x 2350 kW diesel engines, which will guarantee a maximum speed of 24 knots. The vessel can operate at sea state 6 and is capable of surviving at sea state nine thanks to its active fin stabilizing system. It will be able to accommodate 60 people.

Apart from the alleged acquisition of RUM-116, the two Pakistani ships will be armed with a main gun of up to 76 mm on the ship’s bow deck and two 20 mm guns as secondary weapons. The ships will have fire control sensors as well as medium-range radars