Turkey President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Sunday attended a dual ceremony inducing a new Turkish naval ship while starting construction of another warship for Pakistan Navy.
Turkey is among 10 countries of the world able to manufacture, design, and maintain warships using its own national capabilities, President Erdogan told the ceremony for the procurement of TCG Kinaliada in the Turkish Navy fleet, and a MILGEM (Turkish national warship program)-class ship being built for Pakistan.
In his speech, Erdogan said he hopes the Kinaliad, an Ada-class corvette, will sustain the security of Turkish nation and maneuverability of its sailors and further hopes Pakistan, a friendly sibling nation to Turkey, will also benefit from the ship whose construction started today.
In July 2018, Pakistan Navy signed a contract for the purchase of four MILGEM-class ships from Turkey.
“Our navy, rich with glorious victories, is carrying this legacy into the future by further strengthening it,” said Erdogan. It’s prestigious “equipment, discipline, qualified personnel and all the accomplishments it undertakes” make Turkey proud, he added.
The Ada class (also known as the MILGEM project), is a Turkish national warship program, the objective of which is to build a modern combat ship with the capability of anti-submarine warfare and high-seas maneuver capabilities, using the principles of stealth technology in its design with a high degree.
Three Ada-class corvettes have already been commissioned by the Turkish Navy and more are scheduled to induce into operation in due course.
By introducing the MİLGEM project, Turkey wants to build a warship using domestic resources to the maximum extent possible, improve national sovereignty and enhance home-based military shipbuilding capacity and skills. The purpose of the Ada class is to boost the littoral warfare capabilities and to fulfill the operational needs of the Turkish Naval fleet.
