On September 23, 2023, a ceremony was held at the Turkish Naval Shipyard in Istanbul (Istanbul Naval Shipyard) to hand over to the Pakistani Navy the first F 280 Babur corvette built for them of the Turkish MILGEM project (PN MILGEM, Ada type), under a 2018 contract for the construction of four units. The ceremony was attended by Defense Ministers of Turkey Yasar Guler and Pakistan Anwar Ali Haider.
Commissioned by the Pakistan Navy, the lead corvette F 280 Babur of the Turkish MILGEM project (PN MILGEM, Ada type). Istanbul, 09/23/2023 (c) defence.pk
Recall that on July 5, 2018, the Pakistani Navy signed a contract with the Turkish state-owned design company Savunma Teknolojileri Mühendislik ve Ticaret (STM) to supply the Pakistani navy with four corvettes of the Turkish MILGEM project (Ada type), in the variant designated PN MILGEM. At that time, this agreement became the largest export contract of the Turkish defense industry. The contract value was not officially announced, but the Turkish media estimated more than $ 2 billion. The general contractor for the supply of corvettes from the Turkish side is ASFAT, a company established in 2018 under the Ministry of National Defense of Turkey as a state intermediary for the supply of defense products abroad. In September 2018, ASFAT signed an agreement with the Ministry of Defense Industry of Pakistan and the Pakistani state shipyard Karachi Shipyard & Engineering Works Ltd. (KSEW, Karachi) on the transfer of technology for the construction of two of the corvettes under this contract in Pakistan. Earlier in May 2017, STM and KSEW signed a preliminary agreement on the joint construction of these two corvettes in Karachi.
The MILGEM corvette (Millî Gemi - national ship) became the first large warship (total displacement 2,400 tons, maximum length 99.6 meters, width 14.4 meters) of the Turkish project. It is known that the project was developed for the Turkish Navy with the participation of the Mykolaiv State Research and Design Center for Shipbuilding (CPCC, Ukraine). The Turkish Navy planned to have 12 corvettes of this type, but in the end, the construction of only four ships was authorized, and for further construction under the MILGEM program, the construction of four larger frigates of the TF-100 project (type Istanbul) was approved. The construction of the lead corvette F 511 Heybeliada was carried out at the Turkish Naval Shipyard in Istanbul (Istanbul Naval Shipyard) 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.
According to the agreement signed with Pakistan, the first two corvettes for the Pakistani Navy are being built in Istanbul at the Istanbul Naval Shipyard, which led the construction of these ships for the Turkish Navy, with delivery in 2023, and the other two are being built with Turkish assistance at the Pakistani shipyard KSEW in Karachi with delivery in 2024-2025. The first ship was to be built in 54 months (eventually commissioned in 62 and a half months), and the rest were to be built in 60, 66 and 72 months, respectively.
The ceremony of the first steel cutting for the lead Pakistani corvette F 280 Babur took place in Istanbul at the Istanbul Naval Shipyard on September 29, 2019 in the presence of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. The ceremony of the official laying of the head corvette took place there on June 4, 2020, and the launching ceremony - on August 15, 2021, also in the presence of the President of Turkey.
The ceremony of the start of construction of the second Ada-type F 282 Khaibar corvette under construction in Turkey of the PN MILGEM project for the Pakistan Navy took place at the Istanbul Naval Shipyard on January 23, 2021 again in the presence of Turkish President Erdogan and was combined with the launching of the F 515 Istanbul national project TF-100 MILGEM program, which is being built there for the Turkish Navy. The official laying of the second Pakistani Khaibar corvette under construction in Istanbul was made on May 1, 2021, and the launch on November 25, 2022.
The ceremony of the first steel cutting for the start of construction of the first F 281 Badr corvette of the PN MILGEM project in Pakistan at the KSEW shipyard in Karachi took place on June 9, 2020, and the official laying ceremony was held on October 25, 2020, the ship was launched on May 20, 2022. The ceremony of the first steel cutting for the second F 283 Tariq corvette standing in Pakistan took place there on June 15, 2021, the official laying took place on November 20, 2021, and the launching on August 2, 2023.
Pakistani corvettes have a maximum length increased to 108.2 m and a width of up to 14.8 m, and a total displacement of 2,926 tons. As weapons, Pakistani corvettes receive a 16-charge vertical launcher of the MBDA Albatros NG medium-range anti-aircraft missile system with CAMM-ER missiles (Pakistan became the launch customer of the Albatros NG SAM), six launchers of long-range anti-ship missiles of Pakistani production Harbah (to be installed already in Pakistan), a 76-mm Leonardo Super universal artillery installation Rapid, two 25-mm remote-controlled artillery Aselsan STOR, and 324-mm torpedo tubes. The issue of the anti-aircraft artillery self-defense complex remains unclear. Previously, Pakistani corvettes were depicted on renderings with the new Turkish 35-mm ship-mounted twin anti-aircraft artillery complex Aselsan Gökdeniz, however, they are not installed on both ships built in Turkey, and, according to a number of reports, it is possible that the corvettes will receive American 20-mm Phalanx Mk 15 anti-aircraft artillery systems, which will be rearranged from the currently being withdrawn from the Navy Pakistan frigates of the British type 21.
It is worth noting that in December 2020, an agreement was also signed on the construction of two Turkish-type Ada corvettes of the MILGEM program for the Ukrainian Navy. The main contractor for their construction is STM. The lead corvette for Ukraine F 211 "Hetman Ivan Mazepa" was started construction at the Turkish shipyard RMK Marine in Tuzla (southern outskirts of the Asian part of Istanbul) on April 28, 2021, the ceremony of its official laying took place on September 7, 2021. The launch of the lead corvette for Ukraine was carried out on October 2, 2022, simultaneously with its launch, the ceremony of the first steel cutting for the second ship took place, which was then officially laid down on August 18, 2023.
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 by the end of 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 the 2020 agreement, two more corvettes were to be built under license and with the assistance of STM in Ukraine at the Okean plant, which signed the corresponding agreement in December 2020, but now this part of the agreements has become irrelevant.
The ceremony of handing over the Babur lead corvette to the Pakistani Navy was combined with the launching of the first two patrol ships P 1220 Akhisar and P 1221 Koçhisar of the new Hisar type being built for the Turkish Navy at the Istanbul Naval Shipyard. Ordered for the Turkish Navy in the amount of 10 units, patrol ships of the Hisar type are actually a simplified and cheaper version of the Ada-type corvettes of the MILGEM program on the same hull. Patrol ships have a purely diesel power plant (instead of a diesel-gas turbine on corvettes) and a reduced speed. At the same time, Hisar-type ships will receive very powerful weapons, including Turkish ATMACA anti-ship missiles, an eight-shot vertical launcher of the Turkish short-range anti-aircraft missile system (apparently Hisar family), a light missile launcher (ATGM) L-UMTAS, 35-mm Gökdeniz anti-aircraft artillery system, 76-mm Leonardo Super Rapid universal artillery system, two small-caliber remotely controlled artillery units, and 324-mm torpedo tubes.
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Commissioned by the Pakistan Navy, the lead corvette F 280 Babur of the Turkish MILGEM project (PN MILGEM, Ada type). In the last picture, the lead frigate F 515 Istanbul of the Turkish national TF-100 project of the MILGEM program is being tested in the background. Istanbul, 09/23/2023 (c) Cem Dogut and defence.pk
Ships at the Turkish Naval Shipyard in Istanbul (Istanbul Naval Shipyard). From right to left: the first two launched Turkish patrol ships 1220 Akhisar and P 1221 Koçhisar of the new Hisar type; the lead corvette F 280 Babur of the MILGEM project (PN MILGEM, Ada type) transferred to the Pakistani Navy; the lead Turkish frigate F 515 Istanbul of the TF-100 MILGEM project; the lead Turkish corvette F 511 Heybeliada of the MILGEM project (Ada type); the second corvette F 282 Khaibar of the MILGEM project (PN MILGEM, Ada type) being completed for the Pakistan Navy, 09/23/2023 (c) defence.pk
Image of the new Turkish patrol ship of the type Hisar (c) ASFAT
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