With the participation of President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, the sheet metal cutting ceremony of the three national frigates to be built in partnership with STM-TAİS was held and the construction process began. Sheet metal cutting ceremony of three national frigates (TCG İZMİR, TCG İÇEL and TCG İZMİT) to be built in the STM-TAİS OG Joint Venture as part of the MİLGEM Stack (I) Class Frigate Project and the delivery ceremony of the TCG ANADOLU to the Naval Forces Command, 10 April 2023 It was carried out in Istanbul Sedef Shipyard. The ceremony was attended by President Erdoğan, Minister of National Defense Hulusi Akar, TAF Command, Head of Defense Industry Prof. Dr. İsmail Demir, STM General Manager Özgür Güleryüz and related guests attended.
After the commissioning ceremony of the ANADOLU Ship, the sheet metal cutting of the 6th, 7th and 8th frigates of the MİLGEM I Class was made by President Erdoğan. The contract ceremony of the MİLGEM I Class was signed on 6 April 2023 at the Presidency of Defense Industries. Four days after signing, the first sheet metal cut was made.
Erdogan: No Example in the World
In his speech at the ceremony, President Erdoğan said that the construction of the MİLGEM stowage class frigates had begun by making the haircuts of the six, seventh and eighth ships. Underlining that the targeting of constructing three ships simultaneously in a private shipyard and delivering them to the Naval Forces in a period of approximately 36 months is a unique project in the world, President Erdoğan said, “All of the weapon and sensor systems that will be placed on our frigates have been developed with domestic and national means.” .
36 frigates in 3 months
In the project, which will be carried out in partnership with STM - TAİS, each of the Anadolu, Sedef, and Sefine shipyards is planned to simultaneously construct an I-class frigate in 36 months. İSTİF Class Frigates, whose entire sensor and weapon systems have been developed nationally, will also be equipped with national air defense capabilities. In addition, nationalization activities will continue in many areas such as the Head Cannon, Helicopter Capture System and various components of the Main Propulsion System.
National solutions such as the close air defense system Gökdeniz, the three-dimensional search radar Cenk-S, the fire control radar Scorpion, the illumination radar, the torpedo tube, the National Vertical Launch System MIDLAS, Hisar-D will take place on all three ships. Thus, the rate of locality in the systems and sub-systems to be included in the ships will also increase.
STM is the main contractor and designer of TCG ISTANBUL, the first ship of the İ-Class and Turkey's first national frigate. The ISTANBUL Frigate, which is under construction at the Istanbul Shipyard Command, will be delivered to the Turkish Naval Forces in 100, the 2023th anniversary of the Republic of Turkey.
MİLGEM Stacker Class Frigate Features
The MİLGEM İ-Class Frigate Project, which has different features from ADA class corvettes in terms of its structure, is of critical importance for the Turkish defense industry, since the weapon electronic systems it will carry are mostly domestic production. The I-Class Frigates stand out with their anti-submarine, surface and air defense warfare capabilities, the execution of outpost activities, reconnaissance, surveillance, target detection, identification, recognition and early warning features. The first national frigates, which were extended by 10 meters due to equipment changes and additions made in the weapon systems according to the ADA class, have a displacement of 3100 tons, a length of 113 meters and a width of 14,4 meters. MİLGEM İ class Frigate differs from ADA class corvettes with its ability to have air defense guided missiles.