Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Sunday participated in a ceremony at the Istanbul Naval Shipyard to cut steel for the first of four MILGEM corvettes for the Pakistan Navy. The cutting of steel marks the formal start of construction of a ship.
Corvettes are medium-sized warships that can carry out routine patrol and offensive operations against ships and submarines. The MILGEM corvette is Turkey's first major warship project that was designed and built indigenously. The ship is 99 metres long and displaces approximately 2,000 tonnes of water. The Turkish Navy has taken delivery of fourth MILGEM corvettes and is projected to have a total fleet of eight such vessels. Before the launch of the first ship for Pakistan, Erdogan had commissioned the Turkish Navy's fourth MILGEM corvette.
Turkey's state-run defence company STM, which managed the MILGEM programme, claims the design makes “extensive use of the principles of stealth technology”, which makes it more difficult to detect by radar or infra-red sensors.
Turkey and Pakistan had signed an agreement in July 2018 for the sale of four MILGEM corvettes to the Pakistan Navy. The then Turkish defence minister, Nurettin Canikli, had described the Pakistan deal as Turkey's “biggest single” military export order. Turkish media reports then had estimated the MILGEM deal to be worth about $1 billion in value. The deal includes transfer of technology to Pakistan.
While the Istanbul Naval Shipyard would build the first two MILGEM ships, the third and fourth vessels would be built in Karachi. Turkish newspaper Daily Sabah reported “the first pair of the corvettes are expected to join the inventory of Pakistan's naval forces in 2023, while the remaining two will be handed over in 2024.”
The MILGEM ships in the Turkish Navy currently use American-built Harpoon anti-ship missiles and short-range air-defence missiles. A Pakistan government press release in July last year had claimed the ships would come with an “indigenously developed missile system”, indicating the Pakistan Navy would fit its own anti-ship missiles on board.
The MILGEM is third major naval arms deal between Pakistan and Turkey in recent years. In 2016, STM was selected to modernise the Pakistan Navy's fleet of French-built Agosta 90B submarines in a $350 million deal. Interestingly, the Turkish company was chosen over Naval Group, the French company that had designed and built the submarines. STM is upgrading two of Pakistan's three Agosta 90B submarines with new sonars, radars, periscopes and other electronic systems.
In October 2018, the Pakistan Navy commissioned a 17,000 replenishment tanker, which was designed by STM. The vessel is the largest ship in the Pakistan Navy and was built in Karachi.
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The MILGEM corvette programme is one of two major surface ship projects being undertaken by the Pakistan Navy. The other is the construction of four frigates, which displace over 4,000 tonnes, by a Chinese shipyard. The Chinese-built 'Type-054AP' frigates are larger and more heavily armed and have greater endurance than the MILGEM corvettes.
Interestingly, Turkish defence contractors have also ventured into the Indian market. In June, a consortium of Turkish shipyards was selected by Hindustan Shipyard to provide design assistance to build five fleet support ships (FSS). Hindustan Shipyard has yet to sign a formal contract with the Turkish consortium. The fleet support ships will be tasked to provide fuel, equipment and other supplies to ships deployed at sea. The ships will displace around 45,000 tonnes each and the total worth of the project is estimated to be $2.3 billion.
