Maintenance Nightmare: How After-Sales Failures Are Crippling the Pakistan Navy's Combat Readiness

The Pakistan Navy, once seen as a critical maritime deterrent in the Indian Ocean, is now grappling with a severe maintenance and after-sales support crisis that threatens its operational effectiveness.

Despite possessing a mix of Western and Chinese-origin naval platforms, the Pakistan Navy's combat readiness is increasingly compromised due to chronic shortages of spare parts, inadequate technical infrastructure, and poor lifecycle support.

This is how the failure to maintain these platforms has led to an operational and strategic vulnerability, undermining Pakistan's maritime security.

The Roots of the After-Sales Crisis

Pakistan's naval procurement strategy, historically driven by opportunistic diplomacy and cost considerations, has resulted in a diverse yet incompatible fleet. From American-origin P-3C Orions and British-built Type-21 frigates to Chinese-made F-22P frigates and Z-9EC helicopters, the fleet lacks standardisation. This multiplicity of platforms, while offering temporary tactical gains, has created a logistical nightmare for long-term support and maintenance.

With the imposition of sanctions by the US and diplomatic tensions with Western suppliers, Pakistan has struggled to procure critical spare parts and upgrades for its Western-origin vessels. Simultaneously, despite the availability of Chinese platforms at lower acquisition costs, the after-sales support from Beijing has been marred by delays, poor-quality replacements, and a lack of transparency in technical documentation.

Operational Consequences: Ships Afloat, Systems Dead

This lack of a robust maintenance ecosystem has rendered several frontline assets inoperable or significantly degraded in capability.

The P-3C Orion Fleet: Originally acquired from the United States for long-range maritime patrol and anti-submarine warfare, these aircraft have suffered from attrition, accidents, and spare part shortages. With Washington enforcing tighter export controls, the fleet is now largely grounded or operating with degraded sensors and outdated mission software.

F-22P Frigates (Zulfiqar-class): Despite being touted as modern multi-role vessels, these Chinese-built frigates face chronic issues in sustaining radar systems, propulsion components, and missile launch mechanisms. The lack of local repair capabilities means extended downtime and dependence on Chinese technicians, who are not always available during crises.

Z-9EC Naval Helicopters: A cornerstone of anti-submarine warfare for the Pakistan Navy, these helicopters suffer from what analysts call "sensor blindness." Their core dipping sonar and onboard radar systems regularly fail due to humidity-induced electronics decay and lack of proper servicing kits. Poor documentation and low reliability have made these platforms a liability in high-intensity operations.

Poor Infrastructure and Indigenous Limitations

Another dimension of the after-sales debacle is Pakistan's limited indigenous maintenance capacity. The Karachi Shipyard & Engineering Works (KSEW), while capable of limited mid-life upgrades and hull work, lacks the sophisticated tools and trained personnel required for modern warship sustainment, especially electronics, sensors, and propulsion systems.

Moreover, there is no comprehensive Naval Logistics and Supply Chain Command that can effectively monitor and manage inventory, spares acquisition, and fleet-wide maintenance cycles. As a result, cannibalisation, that is, removing parts from one vessel to service another, has become standard practice, further weakening fleet availability.

Strategic Implications: Weakening Maritime Deterrence

The after-sales crisis has far-reaching implications beyond technical setbacks. In the context of regional tensions and India's growing naval assertiveness, the inability of Pakistan to maintain a high state of operational readiness puts its sea lanes, economic interests, and coastal infrastructure at risk.

Operation Sindoor, for example, highlighted the contrast between the Indian Navy's rapid deployment and force projection capabilities and Pakistan's sluggish maritime response. Technical failures in warships and helicopters left the Pakistan Navy reactive, rather than proactive. Surveillance gaps, sonar blind zones, and low combat sortie rates all stemmed from poor upkeep, directly impacting national security.

Furthermore, Pakistan's ability to participate in multilateral maritime operations and anti-piracy patrols has declined due to its unreliable platforms. This undermines its strategic ambitions of being a credible blue-water force.

The China Conundrum: Dependence Without Control

While China remains Pakistan's largest defence partner, the after-sales experience has exposed the drawbacks of overdependence. Unlike NATO suppliers, Chinese companies rarely follow global best practices in support agreements. Contracts often lack detailed service-level agreements (SLAs), and warranty enforcement is lax.

More critically, Pakistan has limited bargaining power to demand better service because of its limited foreign policy leverage and economic fragility. This results in prolonged downtimes for major equipment and substandard repair kits being accepted as the norm.

In modern naval warfare, combat power is as much about sustainable readiness as it is about the number of ships. The Pakistan Navy's current trajectory, hampered by a broken after-sales ecosystem and poor infrastructure, renders its platforms unreliable in times of crisis.

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