Pakistan Reportedly Preparing to Arm Hangor-Class Submarines With China’s YJ-17 Hypersonic Missiles, Significantly Elevating the Threat to India’s Carrier Strike Capabilities
Pakistan’s Hangor-class submarines are set to become the first hypersonic-capable conventional submarines in South Asia, reshaping deterrence dynamics with China’s YJ-17 missile integration.
(DEFENCE SECURITY ASIA) – Pakistan’s naval modernisation has entered a decisive new phase, with local media reporting that the country is preparing to integrate China’s next-generation YJ-17 hypersonic missiles into its newly constructed Hangor-class submarines.
This landmark development, emerging from the deepening strategic relationship between Islamabad and Beijing, is set to convert Pakistan’s Hangor-class vessels into one of the most lethal and unconventional underwater strike platforms in the Indian Ocean Region.
The YJ-17, a dual-role anti-ship and land-attack hypersonic missile exceeding Mach 5, dramatically extends the submarines’ stand-off strike range, empowering Pakistani submarines with the capability to execute blisteringly fast, near-impossible-to-intercept attacks against adversary naval task forces and high-value coastal infrastructure.
This transformation arrives at a moment of heightened maritime friction across the Arabian Sea, the Persian Gulf access routes, and the wider Indian Ocean, where competition between major regional navies such as Pakistan, India, and Iran is intensifying under the influence of global great-power politics.
The acquisition of a submarine-launched hypersonic strike capability represents a profound shift in naval deterrence and significantly complicates any future Indian Navy operational planning in contested waters adjacent to Pakistan’s coastline.
With YJ-17 strike speeds exceeding Mach 5, manoeuvrability across the entire flight envelope, and the ability to glide unpredictably at near-space altitudes before diving onto targets, Pakistan’s Hangor-class submarines would be able to evade even the most advanced enemy interception systems, including radar-guided surface-to-air missile shields and shipborne Aegis-style defences.
In military-technical terms, this upgrade is nothing short of a generational leap in Pakistan’s maritime deterrence posture.
By introducing a hypersonic strike capability into its undersea fleet, Pakistan is effectively reshaping the strategic geometry of the Arabian Sea, forcing adversaries to invest heavily in advanced anti-submarine warfare and layered missile-defence architectures simply to maintain operational parity.
This shift also aligns Pakistan more closely with China’s broader Indo-Pacific security agenda, leveraging cutting-edge hypersonic technologies to contest maritime dominance and challenge traditional naval power structures in waters stretching from the Gulf of Oman to the Malacca chokepoint.
As Pakistan’s Hangor-class submarines evolve into platforms capable of launching high-velocity, precision-guided hypersonic weapons, the country enhances its ability to impose significant operational risk on enemy carrier strike groups, amphibious forces, and critical infrastructure, strengthening its position within the rapidly militarising Indian Ocean Region.
Hangor-Class: A New Backbone for Pakistan’s Underwater Warfare
The Hangor-class submarine program represents Pakistan’s most ambitious naval modernisation effort since the induction of its Agosta 90B fleet, marking a crucial step toward building a modern, resilient, and survivable underwater force.
The class is named after the legendary PNS Hangor, the submarine that entered global naval history in the 1971 Indo-Pakistani War by sinking the Indian frigate INS Khukri, a milestone that remains etched into Pakistan Navy heritage.
The Hangor program originates from a landmark 2015 agreement valued between USD 4–5 billion (approximately RM 19–24 billion), under which China agreed to supply Pakistan with eight Hangor-class diesel-electric attack submarines, four of which are being built in China and the remaining four locally at Karachi Shipyard & Engineering Works (KSEW) through an extensive transfer-of-technology arrangement.
The first four units under construction at Wuchang Shipbuilding in China are expected to begin deliveries as early as 2026, while the Pakistan-built submarines will roll out sequentially until 2028, giving Pakistan one of the youngest and most modern conventional submarine fleets in Asia.
This dual construction strategy strengthens Pakistan’s naval industrial ecosystem, enhances workforce expertise, and further entrenches China’s role as Islamabad’s primary defence partner in the Indo-Pacific.
The move fits squarely within China’s strategy of arming friendly states with systems that expand Beijing’s influence across strategic sea lines of communication (SLOCs), including the Arabian Sea, the Malacca chokepoint, and the Persian Gulf approaches.
Superior Stealth, Endurance, and Engineering
The Hangor-class is derived from China’s Type 039A/B Yuan-class submarine, a combat-proven platform renowned for its quiet acoustic signature and ability to thrive in littoral waters where detection is notoriously difficult.
With a displacement of approximately 2,800 tons, a 76-meter hull length, an 8.4-meter beam, and a 6.2-meter draught, the Hangor-class is engineered for high survivability with a double-hulled design and high-strength specialty steel (grades 921A and 980) that reduces vulnerability to pressure waves from depth charges and torpedo detonations.
A key technological highlight is the Stirling-engine Air Independent Propulsion (AIP) system powered by China’s CHD620 engines, which replaced earlier German MTU units after Berlin imposed export restrictions.
This AIP allows the submarine to remain submerged for up to 20 days or travel 768 nautical miles underwater without surfacing, significantly reducing exposure to anti-submarine warfare (ASW) aircraft and Indian Navy P-8I Neptune patrol planes.
The boats achieve 17 knots submerged and 20 knots surfaced, making them highly manoeuvrable underwater predators capable of executing anti-access/area-denial (A2/AD) operations against larger adversary fleets.
Crewing arrangements accommodate 38 personnel alongside eight special forces operatives, reflecting Pakistan’s interest in submarine-launched special operations in contested littoral zones or island chains.
Construction has advanced steadily, with PNS Hangor launched in April 2024, PNS Shushuk in March 2025, and PNS Mangro in August 2025, followed by the Pakistan-built PNS Tasnim—whose steel was cut in 2021 and keel laid in 2022—representing Pakistan’s rising shipbuilding maturity.
The phasing of production ensures that each subsequent submarine can incorporate continuous improvements, including possible system upgrades following live operational evaluation.
Expanding Strike Power: Torpedoes, Cruise Missiles, and Nuclear Options
The Hangor-class features six 533mm torpedo tubes, allowing the deployment of heavyweight torpedoes, anti-ship missiles, and land-attack cruise missiles (LACMs), making the platform a true multi-role underwater strike asset.
Pakistan already fields the YJ-82 anti-ship missile and the indigenous Babur LACM, which offers a 450km strike range for attacking land targets with high accuracy.
There is ongoing speculation within regional defence circles that Pakistan may eventually integrate the nuclear-capable Babur-III submarine-launched cruise missile (SLCM), giving Islamabad a credible sea-based second-strike nuclear capability and reinforcing Pakistan’s strategic triad.
This would help mitigate vulnerabilities created by India’s nuclear-capable Arihant-class ballistic missile submarines (SSBNs), which are central to New Delhi’s nuclear deterrence structure.
However, the true disruptor in Pakistan’s future arsenal is the reported integration of China’s YJ-17 hypersonic missile, which could elevate Hangor-class submarines from conventional hunters to some of the world’s first hypersonic-equipped diesel-electric submarines.
The move would place Pakistan among the few nations—alongside China, Russia, and potentially the United States—studying or deploying hypersonic weapons from underwater platforms.
This in itself represents a historic technological leap.
YJ-17 Hypersonic Missile: The Heart of Pakistan’s New Underwater Strike Doctrine
China’s YJ-17 hypersonic missile is the crown jewel of the country’s next-generation anti-ship and land-attack missile program, forming part of the Eagle Strike missile family that includes the YJ-15, YJ-19, and YJ-20 unveiled publicly in September 2025.
The YJ-17 employs a boost-glide Hypersonic Glide Vehicle (HGV) riding atop an aeroballistic missile body, enabling the missile to climb to high altitudes before gliding downward at hypersonic velocity while executing unpredictable manoeuvres designed to defeat shipborne missile defence radars.
The missile’s blistering speed—estimated between Mach 5 and Mach 8, or more than 6,000 km/h—combined with a range of 400–746 km, allows it to strike distant naval task groups while compressing enemy reaction times to mere seconds.
At approximately 6.7 meters in length, the YJ-17 is compact enough to be air-launched from fighter aircraft such as the J-15 yet also adaptable for submarine launch via either torpedo tubes or emerging vertical launch system (VLS) configurations.
The missile carries a high-explosive or armour-piercing warhead capable of destroying heavily defended naval vessels, radar stations, hardened infrastructure, and aircraft carrier decks.
In naval terminology, its characteristics place it firmly in the class of “carrier killers.”
The missile’s ability to fly at low altitudes during sea-skimming approaches or terrain-following profiles in land-attack mode significantly increases its survivability against modern interceptor missiles such as the American SM-6, the Indian Barak-8 ER, or even the Russian S-400 Triumf.
In a hypersonic attack scenario, these air-defence systems have extremely limited time to track, classify, and fire upon an incoming target.
Such characteristics fundamentally change naval warfare dynamics.
STRATEGIC IMPACT ON THE INDIAN OCEAN BALANCE OF POWER
Integrating YJ-17 missiles into Hangor submarines forces India to reassess its maritime posture in the Arabian Sea and surrounding chokepoints, where its carrier strike groups and naval assets have traditionally operated with relative freedom.
The presence of a single Hangor-class submarine carrying hypersonic missiles would compel the Indian Navy to allocate significant ASW assets—P-8I patrol aircraft, MH-60R helicopters, ASW corvettes, and towed-array sonar frigates—to track a platform that is significantly quieter and more elusive than older Pakistani submarines.
The expanded strike radius could place high-value Indian assets, including ports such as Mumbai, Okha, and Kochi, within potential reach of hypersonic strikes launched from undetectable underwater positions.
The Hangor-YJ-17 combination also extends Pakistan’s maritime influence toward strategic choke points such as the Strait of Hormuz and the Gulf of Oman, where 60 percent of the world’s oil shipping passes and where Pakistan maintains close defence ties with Gulf states.
Hypersonic submarine-launched missiles allow Pakistan to potentially disrupt or protect SLOCs (Sea Lines of Communication) depending on strategic needs.
This emerging capability mirrors elements of China’s own anti-intervention doctrine, where hypersonics are used to deter adversary naval presence, especially U.S. carrier groups, through layered A2/AD strategies.
Pakistan’s adoption of comparable techniques signifies Beijing’s influence on Islamabad’s defence calculus and potentially tightens the geostrategic bond between both nations.
CHALLENGES, COSTS, AND THE ROAD AHEAD
Despite promising transformative potential, integrating hypersonic missiles into conventional submarines introduces significant technical challenges for Pakistan.
The YJ-17 requires advanced fire-control systems, satellite-guided targeting, secure encrypted data links, and real-time intelligence fusion from airborne, surface, and space-based platforms.
Pakistan may lean heavily on Chinese systems, training, and satellite architecture such as the BeiDou Navigation Satellite System for initial operational capability.
Financially, the eight-submarine Hangor program already carries an estimated price tag of USD 5 billion (about RM 24 billion), and the additional integration of hypersonic platforms could raise sustainment, training, and maintenance costs.
Geopolitically, Pakistan’s acquisition of hypersonic technology may trigger diplomatic friction or sanctions pressure similar to historical restrictions faced during the Agosta and MTU engine episodes.
Moreover, emerging counter-technologies—such as directed-energy weapons, electromagnetic railguns, and AI-enabled ASW drones—may gradually challenge hypersonic platforms in future conflicts.
Nevertheless, the integration of YJ-17 missiles on the Hangor-class submarines positions Pakistan among the few states experimenting with hypersonic underwater warfare, placing Islamabad in a technologically advanced community of naval powers.
By 2030, once all eight Hangor submarines are fully operational, Pakistan will operate one of Asia’s youngest, quietest, and potentially most lethal submarine fleets.
Regional naval competition will likely intensify; India may accelerate its Project 75I submarine procurement, expand its ballistic missile defence shield, or fast-track its own BrahMos-II hypersonic program with Russia.
The Indo-Pacific is moving into an era where hypersonic weapons—once exclusive to superpowers—are reshaping power balances among medium-sized regional states.
A NEW ERA OF UNDERWATER STRATEGIC DETERRENCE
The potential integration of the YJ-17 hypersonic missile into Pakistan’s Hangor-class submarines marks a monumental shift in South Asian naval warfare, ushering in a new age where speed, stealth, and strike precision converge beneath the ocean’s surface.
This development positions Pakistan at the forefront of hypersonic submarine warfare among developing nations, enhances its maritime deterrence, and reshapes the operational calculus of the Indian Ocean region.
The Hangor-YJ-17 pairing promises to transform Pakistan’s Navy into a formidable underwater strike force, capable of launching high-speed, long-range, and highly survivable attacks against some of the region’s most heavily defended targets.
As the strategic environment evolves and maritime rivalries deepen, Pakistan’s pursuit of hypersonic deterrence underscores the growing importance of underwater capabilities in shaping future conflict dynamics and regional power stability.
And as new technologies emerge—from AI-enabled ASW to next-generation missile defence—the introduction of hypersonic submarine strike systems will continue to redefine the boundaries of naval warfare, compelling regional powers to rethink their doctrines, deployments, and defences in an increasingly contested Indo-Pacific theatre.
The integration of hypersonic missiles onto a diesel-electric submarine platform also signals a technological convergence that challenges traditional assumptions about which states can field next-generation weapons, elevating Pakistan’s role within the broader Indo-Pacific security architecture.
By combining Chinese defence technology with Pakistan’s expanding naval ambitions, the Hangor-class hypersonic capability enhances Islamabad’s position in critical chokepoints such as the Arabian Sea and the Gulf of Oman, regions central to global energy security and SLOC protection.
The strategic reach offered by YJ-17 missiles enables Pakistan to project influence across the wider Indian Ocean Basin, reinforcing its capacity to deter carrier strike groups and high-value naval assets that might operate near its maritime boundaries during crises.
This evolution in Pakistan’s naval doctrine also presents a complex challenge for India’s maritime planners, who must now account for a stealthy underwater platform armed with hypersonic strike weapons capable of overwhelming existing missile defence networks.
In strategic terms, the Hangor-class equipped with YJ-17 missiles represents a major step toward Pakistan establishing a credible, survivable second-strike capability at sea, strengthening its overall deterrence posture and contributing to a more contested and unpredictable security landscape in South Asia. — DEFENCE SECURITY ASIA
