Name PNS Saad Identification S138 Launched 24 August 2002 | Commissioned 13 December 2003 Class and type Khalid-class submarine | |
Builder Karachi Shipyard and Engineering Works | ||
PNS Saad (S139) is an Air-independent and long range Khalid-class submarine of the Pakistan Navy. The Khalid class is an indigenously built submarine built by Karachi Shipyard and Engineering Works and Pakistan Naval Engineering Branch, with full assistance provided by French naval engineers. She is based on the Agosta 90B design, which is an improved version of the original Agosta class, in service in the Pakistan Navy as the Hashmat class.
Saad is unique among her class because she was partially built in France and completed in Karachi. Sister ship and class leader Khalid was built entirely in France, while the third submarine of the class, Hamza was built entirely in Pakistan. Current plans call for a further three submarines of the class to all be built entirely in Pakistan.
Saad was launched on 24 August 2002, and after over 1,200 hours of sea trials, was commissioned on 12 December 2003. Prior to the launch of Saad, 11 of the 80 French technicians in Pakistan to supervise the completion of Saad were killed when their minibus was struck by a car filled with explosives. Contemporary news accounts reported that the French armed forces chief of staff, General Jean-Pierre Kelche, blamed the Al-Qaeda network for the May 2002 attack.