Turkey launches tender for four domestic corvettes

The SSM has set a Nov. 30 deadline for the patrol and anti-submarine warfare ships that will be locally designed and constructed.

The MİLGEM project was initiated in 2000. In January 2013, RMK Marine of Koç Holding signed a contract to build six vessels as part of the program.

However, in September 2013, the government’s executive committee that oversees defense procurement scrapped a $2 billion deal with RMK and started a new competition.

The Prototype Ship TCG-Heybeliada and the Second Ship TCG-Büyükada have gone into service under the auspices of the Turkish Navy.

Construction activities of the third ship, Burgazada, are ongoing at the Istanbul Navy Shipyard, while the construction of a fourth ship, Kınalıada, is scheduled to start later this year. 

The ships, which are named after the Prince Islands off Istanbul, are armed with a 76-millimeter gun, missiles and torpedoes and carry a Seahawk helicopter.      

The ships have a displacement of 2,400 tons, a maximum speed of more than 29 knots (33 miles an hour) and a range of 3,500 nautical miles.      

Speaking at the launch of the TCG Burgazada at the Istanbul Naval Shipyard on June 18, President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said Turkey would soon “be in a position to make our own aircraft carriers.”