MILGEM is one of the most important project of Turkish Armed Forces. The word of “MILGEM” is a combination of the words “national” and “ship”. Namely, in Turkish it means “national ship”. This project attracts the world’s attention and it is quite important for Turkish Republic because the corvette-type warships constructed within the scope of this project are the first national warships of Turkey.
Development Process of MILGEM Project
- Officially started in 2000 with the decision of Defense Industry Executive Committee.
- Construction of the first warships started in 2005.
- The first ship of the project (TCG Heybeliada – F-511) was delivered to the navy and put into service in the 470th anniversary of Preveza Maritime Warfare and the day of Naval Forces in 2011.
- In total, between 2011 and 2019, four (4) ADA-Type MILGEM-Class Warships came into service.
- As the continuation of the project, ISTIF- Class Frigates are going to be built in the upcoming years.
ADA-Type MILGEM-Class Warships
- TCG Heybeliada (F-511)
- TCG Büyükada (F-512)
- TCG Burgazada (F-513)
- TCG Kınalıada (F-514)
The Features of the Corvette-Type Warships
- Length / Width / Draft: 99,5 / 14,4 / 3,9 m.
- Personnel: 93 crew members as commissioned and non-commissioned officers, specialized sergeants and enlisted men.
- Displacement Tonnage: 2300 tones.
MILGEM Project is highly important for Turkish Republic for many reasons. Yet the first and the most important reason is that this project will reduce foreign dependency on shipbuilding, boat building and system integration of Turkish government. Additionally, thanks to this project, new job/business opportunities showed up not only for individuals but also companies and especially, the export rate of Turkey has increased with the exportation of four MILGEM-class warships to Pakistan. Shortly, it made contributions to the economic development of Turkey.
With the realization of the MILGEM projects, Turkey achieved to produce corvette-type warship with the high standards and today’s technology for the first time in its history with the support of domestic industries for its design and integration. This is a great accomplishment and source of pride for Turkey since 70% of domestic industry was used in its construction and production process. For this project, it was carried on work with hundreds of domestic industries and this provided and supported economic development in our country. For example, in the Kınalıada (F-514) corvette, together with Savunma Teknolojileri Mühendislik ve Ticaret Inc. (STM) for platform system and design services, ASELSAN for weapons and censor systems, HAVELSAN for combat management system more than 50 subcontractor firm got involved in the project.
The Biggest Defense Export in the History of Turkey
Perhaps, the most significant detail in this issue is the exportation of MILGEM-class warships to Pakistan since Turkey has put signature to the biggest defense export in its history with 5 million dollars. With the signed agreement between the two countries in 2018, four corvette-type warships are sold to Islamic Republic of Pakistan. Two of the corvette warships will be built in Turkey by İstanbul Naval Shipyard Command, the rest in Pakistan by Karachi Shipyard and Engineering Works Limited. It is believed that this project will carry the economic and political relations between two countries onward. In addition to that it will contribute the economic developments of the two countries. Related with this remarkable development, Hulusi Akar who is Minister of Defense of Turkey said that “This development which will bring together the knowledge of Turkish engineers with seas of the world, is a historic moment in terms of Turkish Defense Industry.”
