In an interview with journalist Hakan Çelik, Defence Industry President İsmail Demir said that a country from Europe is interested in MILGEM corvettes.
Journalist Hakan Çelik had an interview with the President of the Presidency Defence Industry Prof. Dr. İsmail Demir on 23 March 2021. In the interview held at Roketsan facilities, Demir answered journalist Hakan Çelik’s questions about the activities in the field of defence. Ismail Demir, has also made statements in the interview on Turkey’s position in the world in ship development.
Pointing out the MILGEM ships, Defence Industry President İsmail Demir stated that the first four ships are currently in service, regarding the Hakan Çelik’s question of “Where are we in ship development works?”. Noting that the construction of the 5th ship is still continuing, Demir said that the number of countries that design and manufacture a ship in this class will not exceed 5 to 6 worldwide. Referring to the ship sale to Pakistan, İsmail Demir stated that a country from Europe is also interested in the ship in question.
Ukraine will supply the Ada class corvettes from Turkey. According to the 2021 budget program of the Ministry of Defence of Ukraine, 137 million dollars were allocated for the first corvette to be received. According to the plans in the production of Ada class corvettes, the first corvette to be built was thought to be built completely in Turkey. But with the initiative of Ukraine, only the body part has been decided to be built in Turkey. The remaining parts will be completed in Ukraine. With the change, all other corvettes will be built at Ukrainian facilities and with more domestic components and units. Construction of the corvettes will take place at the Ocean factory in Nikolaev.
As it will be recalled, the first resource of the 3rd MILGEM Corvette of the Pakistan Navy was laid in the launching ceremony of the F 515 TCG ISTANBUL, which is the first ship in the Class I Frigate Project, in January 2021. Pakistan Ambassador Muhammad Syrus Sajjad Qazi attended the ceremony with President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan. While addressing the guests at the ceremony, President Erdogan said that Pakistan is our brotherly country and that he is enjoying the excellent relations with Turkey. He also stated that defence cooperation in the construction of MILGEM project warships is a milestone for the defence ties between Turkey and Pakistan.
On the sale of 4 units of MILGEM Corvette between Pakistan and Turkey
It is known that Pakistan will supply four ships under the agreement signed in September 2018. For the four ships, two of which are planned to be built in Istanbul Shipyard Command and two in Karachi, Pakistan, one for each corvette to be built in Istanbul and Karachi is expected to be included in the Pakistan Navy inventory in 2023. In addition to the information that the remaining two ships will enter the inventory in 2024, it is stated that the production process will take 54 months for the first ship, 60 months for the second ship, 66 months for the third ship, and 72 months for the last ship.
