ISLAMABAD – Pakistan’s all weather friend China is helping Pakistan withthe construction of 8 submarines.

According to sources, China’s shipbuilding industry is building thesubmarines under Project Hangor which will soon be given to Pakistan. Theacquisition of new submarines from China is a part of Pakistan’s effort toincrease its capabilities in underwater warfare. As of now, Pakistan hastotal of 10 submarines.

The submarines will be a great addition to Pakistan’s underwater warfareprogram. Not only these submarines, just a week ago, China has alreadysuccessfully launched two satelliteslinkPakistan which also have remote sensing abilities at a wider range.

The two satellites, one a (PRSS1), a dual purpose Earth observational andoptical satellite and the second test satellite is a PAK-TES-1A bothlaunched using a Chinese Long March 2C rocket. The PRSS1 can turn at wideangles to enable the cameras to cover a wider range. It has an informationsecurity design, and the data can be encrypted.

The satellites were transported to China as the country lacks theinfrastructure to launch objects into space. Chinese Long March-2C rocketsare mainly used to send satellites into low Earth or Sun-synchronousorbits. The launch of the two satellites is yet another space cooperationbetween China and Pakistan since the launch of communication satellitePAKSAT-1R back in August 2011.

Moreover, the $50 billion project China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) anetwork of infrastructure is also currently under construction throughoutPakistan that will connect China’s Xinjiang province with the Gwadar portin Pakistan’s Balochistan province, giving China a gateway to the ArabianSea.