Jagannath Panda was quoted in the South China Morning Post on Pakistan’s navy being set to acquire Chinese submarines in 2026 and what this means for India
November 14, 2025: Jagannath Panda, Head of the Stockholm Center for South Asian and Indo-Pacific Affairs, was quoted in the South China Morning Post on Pakistan’s navy being set to acquire Chinese submarines in 2026 and what this means for India.
He said a completed Hangor-class submarine fleet would “thicken” Pakistan’s sea-denial posture in the northern Arabian Sea.
Panda said this would complicate Indian carrier and surface operations, imposing higher anti-submarine warfare costs on sea lines from the Strait of Hormuz to the western Indian coast.
He added that while the development would not cause a “decisive tilt”, Pakistani submarines would bring a “meaningful, sustained increase” in Islamabad’s undersea leverage and China’s operational familiarity in the waters west of Malacca.
The programme “tightens China-Pakistan defence interdependence training”, giving Beijing a deeper, routine presence in the northern Indian Ocean region that “dovetails with China’s energy sea-route interests towards the Middle East”, Panda said.