Contracts have been signed for the delivery of three new frigates under the İSTİF (I) Class Frigates Program, which is extension of the “MİLGEM” Program being governed by the SSB for the Turkish Naval Forces. Three İSTİF (I) Class Frigates will be built concurrently within 36 months in three different private shipyards and delivered to Naval Forces Command.
A ceremony was held in Ankara to mark the signing of the contract for the construction of three new frigates within the scope of the İSTİF-Class Frigates Program, which forms a part of the MİLGEM Program being governed by the Presidency of Defence Industry (SSB) for Naval Forces Command. The ceremony, held at the SSB headquarters, was attended by SSB President İsmail Demir, STM General Manager Özgür Güleryüz, Chairman of the Executive Board of Sedef Shipyard, Metin Kalkavan, Chairman of Board of TAIS, Süalp Ömer ÜRKMEZ, Chairman of Board of Anadolu Shipyard, and Demir Koloğlu, Chairman of Board of Sefine Shipyard, along with other key representatives of the defence sector.
Demir: “3 Ships will be Built Simultaneously within 36 Months”
Speaking at the ceremony, SSB President Demir said:
“As a result of our country’s efforts to develop critical state-of-the-art technologies for our ships nationally, these indegeniosly-developedsystems now account for 75 percent of the total. Aside from the domestically developed sensor and weapon systems to be integrated into our İSTİF-Class Frigates, we will a be equipping them with national air defence capabilities as well. Our efforts to manufacture systems within the country will not be limited to this, as we shall be continuing our efforts to develop many other systems, such as the main gun, the helicopter Helicopter Securing and Transfer system, and various components of the Main Propulsion System. I wish success to all companies that will take part in the construction of these frigates, which will be launched concurrently in three different shipyards and be completed in 36 months.
Under the leadership of our President, we are committed to reaching our goal of establishing a fully independent defence industry. I would like to express my firm belief that any kind of restriction imposed on our country or our Presidency, either overtly or covertly, will rather make us even stronger and that our domestic production rates will increase even further.”
Güleryüz: We will Deliver Modern and National Frigates to the Turkish Navy
STM General Manager Özgür Güleryüz reminded the participants of STM’s efforts to provide hi-tech engineering solutions for military platforms in the fields of design, construction and modernization:
“Acting as the main subcontractor in MİLGEM Program for the first 4 corvettes – the first national corvette program of our country – STM has been successful in increasing the domestic content of the ships built in the country to 70 percent, establishing also our national ecosystem. As our MİLGEM Corvettes continue to carry out successful missions in the Blue Homeland, we have been selected as prime contractor in the MİLGEM İSTİF (İ)-Class Frigate program for the construction of TCG İSTANBUL, our country’s first national frigate.
We have managed to increase the national content of TCG İSTANBUL to 80 percent, equipping it with national weapon and electronic systems to the maximum level possible, exceeding our original target of 75 percent. We will deliver the ship, the construction of which is underway at İstanbul Shipyard Command, in the last quarter of 2023, on the 100th anniversary of our Republic.
🇹🇷⚓️| Milli Gemi (MİLGEM) Programı: pic.twitter.com/EH6aQmwGNr
— SavunmaSanayiST.com (@SavunmaSanayiST) April 6, 2023
With the contract signed today, TCG İZMİR, TCG İÇEL and TCG İZMİT, the sister vessels of TCG İSTANBUL, will be built by STM-TAİS JV, through which we will transfer the military shipbuilding experience and technologies learned during the construction of the MİLGEM ADA-Class Corvette, the first ship in the MİLGEM İSTİF-Class Frigate Project, the Ukrainian Corvette Project, and our projects in Pakistan, to the 6th,7th and 8th ships in the program. We will concurrently equip our ships with the most modern national systems at three shipyards (Anadolu, Sedef, Sefine) according to the schedule, and deliver them to the Turkish Navy.
STM, heavily involved in the first 5 MİLGEM Ship program, will also be taking part in the rest of the frigates’ construction program. Based on the skills and experience acquired by every stake holder involved in MİLGEM Program throughout the years, STM-TAIS OG Business Partnership will deliver the frigates in 36 months.”
3 frigates in 36 months
The Anadolu, Sedef and Sefine shipyards will each build one İSTİF-Class Frigate within 36 months as part of the project being carried out by the STM-TAİS JV. The İSTİF-Class Frigates, the sensor and weapon systems of which have been developed domestically, will also be equipped with national air defence capabilities. In addition, we will be continuing our domestic production efforts for other systems, such as the bow gun, the helicopter haul-down and rapid securing device, and various components of the Main Propulsion System.
The three ships will be equipped with national solutions such as Gökdeniz, a close-in air defence system; Cenk-S, a three-dimensional search radar; Scorpion, a fire control radar, illuminating radar, torpedo tube; MIDLAS, a National Vertical Launch System; and national solutions such as Hisar-D. Accordingly, the rate of domestically manufactured systems and subsystems to be installed on the ships will increase even further.
MİLGEM İSTİF-Class Frigates
The MİLGEM İSTİF-Class Frigate, which has many features that differ from the ADA-Class corvettes in terms of structure- and configuration, is of critical importance for the Turkish defence sector, as most of its weapon electronic systems will be domestically designed and manufactured. The İSTİF-Class Frigates stand out for their capabilities in underwater,surface warfare roles and in air defence, but also in outpost, reconnaissance, surveillance, target detection, identification, recognition and early warning missions.
The first national frigates, the length of which have been extended by 10 meters due to changes in the configuration and additions to the weapon systems employed in the ADA-Class ships, have a displacement of 3,100 tons, a length of 113 meters and a beam of 14.4 meters. MİLGEM İSTİF-Class Frigates especially differ from ADA-Class corvettes in terms of their guided air-defence and surface–to-surface missile payloads along with complex sensors and EW Systems (RF and IR). STM is the main contractor of TCG İSTANBUL – the first İSTİF-Class ship, and Türkiye’s first national frigate. TCG İSTANBUL will be delivered in the last quarter of 2023.
Source: TurkishDefenceNews