China delivered the first of four F22P frigates ordered by Pakistan on Thursday, China's Huanqiu.com reported.

F22P frigate [Huanqiu.com]

Pakistan ordered the F22P frigates from China in 2005 and the first one began sea trials last year.

"[The] F22P Frigate project is the manifestation of everlasting strategic partnership between Pakistan and China," said Admiral Noman Bashir, Pakistan's chief of naval staff, who attended the delivering ceremony held at Shanghai's Hudong Zhonghua Shipyard.

The other three ships are at different stages of construction, but all the four will be delivered before the end of 2013, according to Huanqiu.com's report.

The report also said F22P frigates are equipped with "state-of-the-art weaponry and sensors" and would also carry the Z9EC helicopter.

According an earlier story on the website of the People's Daily, Pakistan ordered four more F22P frigates in 2007, which means there will eventually be eight such worships in Pakistani Navy.

Admiral Bashir said Tuesday in a press conference in Beijing that his country would "look beyond the F-22P", as it deepens its cooperation with China, whose military industry he described as being of "high quality".

India launched its first home-made nuclear-powered attack submarine INS Arihant (Destroyer of Enemies) on Sunday. It is powered by an 85-megawatt nuclear reactor and can reach 44 kilometers an hour (24 knots).

Bashir called the move "a matter of concern" but didn't consider the neighboring country's military leap forward as a major security threat for Islamabad's own navy, an earlier China Daily report said.

(Chinadaily.com.cn July 31, 2009)