China recently confirmed the sale of eight attack submarines to Pakistan, what is its biggest ever military deal estimated to be over $5 billion. The submarines are reportedly export variants of the People’s Libaration Army’s (PLA) Type 039A — also known as Type 41 — Yuan class submarines, with a depth of 300 metres. Their weaponry will be tailor-made suiting Pakistan’s naval requirements. The first four diesel-powered electric submarines will be delivered by 2023, and the rest by 2028. Four of the submarines are to be built at the Karachi shipyard, with the rest in China. According to Hu Wenming, Chairman of China Shipbuilding Heavy Industry, the export of these eight attack submarines is aimed at promoting China’s ‘One Belt, One Road’ initiative, launched by President Xi Jinping in 2013, in which Pakistan is the fulcrum. Hu added he hoped exports of submarines to Pakistan would take place in the future “on a regular basis” and that China’s “iron brother” plays a key strategic role in the neighbourhood.