On August 18, 2023, in Turkey, at the RMK Marine shipyard in Tuzla (the southern outskirts of the Asian part of Istanbul), the official laying ceremony of the second Ada (MILGEM) Turkish corvette under construction for the Ukrainian Navy took place. This is the second ship ordered by Ukraine under a contract dated December 2020. The ceremony of the first steel cutting for the second Ukrainian corvette was performed at RMK Marine on October 2, 2022, simultaneously with the launching of the F 211 "Hetman Ivan Mazepa" corvette under construction for the Ukrainian Navy at this shipyard. The general contractor for the construction of Ada-type corvettes for Ukraine is the Turkish state design and consulting company Savunma Teknolojileri Mühendislik ve Ticaret A.Ş. (STM).
The ceremony of the official laying of the second Ada (MILGEM) Turkish type corvette under construction for the Ukrainian Navy at the RMK Marine Turkish shipyard. Tuzla (Istanbul), 18.08.2023 (c) Ukrainian Navy
The ceremony of laying the second corvette was attended by the Chief of Staff of the Ukrainian Navy, Vice Admiral Andrei Tarasov and Deputy Minister of Defense of Ukraine Vladimir Gavrilov. Officially, the name of the ship has not yet been assigned, but earlier the captain of the 2nd rank of the Ukrainian Navy, Vladimir Uglinsky, appointed commander of the corvette "Hetman Ivan Mazepa" under construction in Turkey for the Ukrainian fleet, said in an interview with the Ukrainian TV channel 2 + 2 that the second corvette will be named "Hetman Pavlo Skoropadsky" in honor of Hetman Pavel Skoropadsky - the heads of the Ukrainian State in 1918.
Recall that on December 14, 2020, in Kiev, the head of the Turkish Defense Industry Department (SSB), Ismail Demir, signed an agreement with the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine on the construction of two corvettes of the Turkish MILGEM project (type Ada) for the Ukrainian Navy. The main contractor for their construction is STM, and both corvettes are to be built in Turkey under contract at the RMK Marine shipyard in Tuzla. The cost of the lead ship for Ukraine for 2020 was estimated at about 8 billion hryvnia (about 265 million euros at the then exchange rate) - apparently without taking into account the cost of weapons.
According to the agreement, two more corvettes were to be built under license and with the assistance of STM in Ukraine at the Okean plant, which also signed a corresponding agreement with SSB in December 2020. According to Turkish sources, the total framework value of the contract with Ukraine was more than $ 1 billion.
The actual construction of the Ada-type lead corvette for Ukraine was started at the RMK Marine shipyard on April 28, 2021, the official laying ceremony of the lead corvette took place there on September 7, 2021. By decree of the President of Ukraine Vladimir Zelensky on August 18, 2022, the lead corvette was given the name "Hetman Ivan Mazepa". The launch of the lead ship was carried out on October 2, 2022, and at the same time the ceremony of the first steel cutting for the second ship was performed. Now the second corvette for the Ukrainian Navy has been officially laid down.
According to the terms of the contract, the lead corvette was to be transferred to Ukraine for completion and completion at the end of 2022, these works were to be carried out at the Okean plant in Nikolev, while it was planned to begin factory sea trials by the end of 2023 and hand over the ship to the Ukrainian Navy in 2024. Similarly, the second corvette was to be completed and completed in Ukraine. However, due to the current circumstances of wartime, the implementation of these conditions has become impossible and both ships will be fully completed and handed over to the Ukrainian fleet in Turkey.
According to previously published data, it was planned that the MILGEM project corvettes (Ada type) ordered in Turkey for the Ukrainian Navy would be equipped with the Boeing Harpoon Block 2 anti-ship missile system (eight missiles), the MBDA VL MICA short-range anti-aircraft missile system with 16 vertical launchers, the 76 mm Leonardo Super Rapid, 35-mm anti-aircraft artillery complex (originally it was assumed that Rheinmetall Oerlikon Millennium, but the Turkish Aselsan Gokdeniz was shown on the ship model demonstrated at the launch ceremony of the lead corvette), two 12.7 mm remotely controlled Aselsan STAMP machine gun launchers and 324 mm torpedo tubes with MU90 anti-submarine torpedoes. The ship must carry a permanent-based helicopter.
As can be judged, the lead corvette "Hetman Ivan Mazepa" should receive part of the weapons and equipment ordered at one time in the West for the ill-fated first corvette of the national Ukrainian construction "Volodimir the Great" project 58250, laid down in 2011 in Nikolaev, but remained unfinished . According to known data, Ukraine managed to get a 76-mm Leonardo Super Rapid artillery system and a 35-mm Rheinmetall Oerlikon Millennium anti-aircraft artillery system for him back in 2013-2014. Ukrainian Ambassador to Turkey Vasyl Bodnar said in an interview with Naval News at the IDEF-2023 exhibition in Istanbul in July 2023 that the composition of the armament of the second ship can be changed.
The MILGEM corvette became the first large warship (total displacement 2,400 tons, length 99.6 meters) of the Turkish project. In fact, the project was developed for the Turkish Navy at one time with the participation of the Mykolaiv State Research and Design Center for Shipbuilding (CPCC, Ukraine). In total, the Turkish Navy planned to have 12 corvettes of this type, but in the end, only four ships were authorized and built. The construction of the lead corvette F 511 Heybeliada was carried out at the Turkish Naval shipyard Istanbul Naval Shipyard in Istanbul since January 2007 and the ship was commissioned into the Turkish Navy in September 2011. The second corvette F 512 Büyükada was handed over to the Turkish Navy in September 2013, the third corvette F 513 Burgazada - in November 2018, and the fourth corvette F 514 Kınalıada - in September 2019.
In July 2018, the Pakistani Navy signed a contract worth more than $ 2 billion with the Turkish company STM for the supply of four MILGEM corvettes to the Pakistani navy. According to the agreement, the first two corvettes for Pakistan are being built in Istanbul at Istanbul Naval Shipyard with delivery in 2023, and the other two - with Turkish assistance at the Pakistani state shipyard Karachi Shipyard & Engineering Works Ltd. (KSEW) in Karachi with delivery in 2024-2025. The first ship for Pakistan, F 280 Babur, was officially laid down in Istanbul on June 4, 2020 (the first steel cutting ceremony took place there on September 29, 2019), and launched on August 15, 2021, and the second corvette F 282 Khaibar was launched on November 25, 2022. The delivery of both of these ships was scheduled for 2023. The ceremony of the first steel cutting for the start of construction of the first F 281 Badr corvette of the MILGEM project in Pakistan at the KSEW shipyard in Karachi took place on June 9, 2020, and the launch on May 20, 2022. The second F 283 Tariq corvette under construction in Pakistan was launched in Karachi on August 2, 2023.
The ceremony of the official laying of the second Turkish Ada (MILGEM) corvette under construction for the Ukrainian Navy at the RMK Marine Turkish shipyard. Tuzla (Istanbul), 18.08.2023 (c) Ukrainian Navy
The lead corvette F 211 "Hetman Ivan Mazepa" of the Turkish Ada type (MILGEM) is being completed at the RMK Marine Turkish shipyard for the Ukrainian Navy. Tuzla (Istanbul), 06/28/2023 (c) Enes Balcı
