PAK IS CONSTRUCTING A VIRTUAL NAVY USING AI AND EDITING SOFTWARE

SMOKE AND MIRRORS

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siles striking moving vessels in cinematic sequences.

Others depicted manoeuvring projectiles diving onto what appeared to be Indian warships. Several included inconsistent lighting, artificial smoke trails, or impact frames resembling past tests. Many were traced by analysts to recycled or digitally altered footage.

These clips formed the backbone of what regional observers are now calling Pakistan's “AI Navy”—a parallel digital identity crafted through synthetic media, deepfakes, and stylised videos that bear little resemblance to the operational limitations of Pakistan's actual fleet. While the Pakistan Navy faces well-documented constraints in sea availability, maintenance and modernisation, its online portrayal suggests a far more robust capability—one sustained not through procurement but through production of a different kind.

Pakistan's naval modernisation has slowed over the past decade. The country’s surface fleet is limited in size and technologically uneven. Several of its major warships have faced readiness issues, including propulsion and systems challenges. Longstanding plans to expand the submarine arm through the Hangor-class programme have faced delays. The Navy's budget remains constrained by broader economic pressures that have reduced space for capital expenditure.

Against this backdrop, the sudden surge in long-range missile narratives appears incongruous. Independent defence databases describe Pakistan's P-282 “SMASH” missile—the system believed to have been tested—as a short-range anti-

ship ballistic missile with an estimated reach of between 290 and 350 kilometres. This aligns with the specifications of China's CM-401, a coastal anti-ship missile widely assessed as the system's technological foundation. No reputable de-fence source lists SMASH as hypersonic or long-range, and Pakistan's official communications have not made such claims.