The construction activities of MILGEM corvettes exported by Turkey to Pakistan continue at full speed. BABUR, the first ship of the PN MILGEM project which is initiated for the Pakistani Navy, is preparing to be launched.
Serdar Ümit Tezeren, Head of Naval Platforms Warfare Systems at ASFAT Military Factory and Shipyard Operation Company, shared on the official Linkedin account on the subject made this statement:
“The first ship of the Pakistan MILGEM program, BABUR, will meet the seas very soon. The MILGEM project, which started with the determination of a handful of beautiful people and brave hearts, turned into many completed and ongoing platform projects and eventually an export success with PN MILGEM. Thankfully, we have been fortunate enough to put a drop in this sea of success. With the awareness that the days when we will work hard await us until the delivery day, after which we will wave goodbye, our excitement has increased even more. My fellow travellers, I will work together until the day we send this beautiful girl to their own seas.”
Within the scope of the project, which is the biggest export breakthrough of the domestic defence industry, two of the 4 MILGEM corvettes, the main contractor of which is ASFAT under the Ministry of National Defense, are under construction at the Istanbul Shipyard Command and the other two at the Karaçi Shipyard.
The first two corvettes to enter the inventory in 2023
Under the agreement signed in September 2018, Pakistan will procure four ships. Two of the ships will be built at the Istanbul Shipyard Command and the other two will be built in Karachi, Pakistan. A corvette to be built in Istanbul and Karachi at the first stage will join the Pakistan Navy inventory in 2023. The other 2 ships will enter the inventory in 2024. 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.
To refer to the numbering of the MILGEM class corvettes in the aforementioned project; The 1st and 2nd ships in the project will be built in Turkey, respectively, and the 3rd and 4th ships will be built in Pakistan. However, the order of construction of the ships is different. According to the order of construction, the ships to be built in Turkey are numbered as the 1st and 3rd ships, respectively. The two ships to be built in Pakistan are the 2nd and 4th ships in the order of construction.
