Construction of Pakistan Navy’s first MILGEM Corvette begins in Turkey
The construction of the first of four MILGEM Ada-class corvettes to be built by Turkey for Pakistan Navy (PN) was held at Istanbul Naval Shipyard (INSY), Turkey, PN said.
Senior defense and military officials of the two countries, including Pakistan’s Chief Naval Overseas Commodore Syed Rizwan Khalid as well as representatives of ASFAT, Istanbul Naval Shipyard and Turkish Lloy attended the ceremony.
Commodore Khalid said the project is the manifestation of strong relations between Pakistan and Turkey.
Pakistan signed the contract for four corvettes with ASFAT (Turkish state-owned defense firm) in 2018 which includes “Transfer of Technology”. The first two warships will be built at Istanbul Naval Shipyard while the other two will be constructed at Karachi shipyard & Engineering Works (KS&EW).
The fourth warship will be the first indigenously designed and constructed Frigate in which Pakistan’s Maritime Technologies Complex (MTC) will also collaborate.
According to ASFAT, “MILGEM Corvette is designed to perform the duties of anti-surface, anti-air and anti-submarine warfare, surveillance and reconnaissance, asymmetric warfare.”
“The MILGEM Class Corvettes will be state-of-the-art Surface platform equipped with modern surface, subsurface and anti-air weapons, sensors and Combat Management System” Pakistan Navy statement reads.
These warships will be among the most technologically advanced platforms of Pakistan Navy and will significantly contribute in maintaining peace, stability and balance of power in the Indian Ocean Region, the official statement said.
In October 2019, Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan along with Pakistan Navy Chief Admiral Zafar Mahmood Abbasi had cut the first metal plate of the first MILGEM Ada class corvette in Istanbul.
Turkey is one of the 10 countries worldwide able to indigenously build, design, and maintain warships.