On Sept. 23, 2023, ASFAT Inc, a defence contractor affiliated with the Turkish Ministry of Defense, ceremonially handed over the first Babur-class corvette (PN MILGEM), PNS Babur (280), to the Pakistan Navy at the Istanbul Naval Shipyard. In addition, the first two Hisar-class OPVs for the Turkish Navy were launched during the same ceremony.
Turkish Defense Minister Yasar Güler and his Pakistani counterpart Anwar Ali Hayder attended the ceremony, along with other senior officers from the Turkish and Pakistani navies and representatives of Turkish defense companies.
Speaking at the ceremony, Defense Minister Yaşar Güler stressed that the simultaneous construction of four corvettes and two offshore patrol vessels in the Istanbul and Karachi shipyards as part of Pakistan’s MİLGEM project was a first in the history of the Turkish Republic and the defense industry.
Minister Güler pointed out that relations with Pakistan are improving day by day in all fields and said, “Our defense industry projects are one of the most important pillars of our cooperation.“
Given that cooperation and solidarity among friendly and allied countries has become more important than ever in this increasingly fragile global security environment, defense industry cooperation is also of great importance. The extremely important MILGEM projects implemented in this context are a great asset for Turkey and Pakistan, two countries active in their region and respected in the world.
PN MILGEM Program consists of 4 ships, 2 ships are being built in Istanbul Shipyard Command and another 2 are being built in KS&EW. Turkish Ministry of Defence owned ASFAT Inc. is the primary contractor of the project. The program started on 11 March 2019. The deliveries of the ships, which will be able to perform all kinds of military duties from air defense to submarine defense, are expected to be made at six-month intervals starting from August 2023.
The exact configuration of the PN MILGEM-class ships has not been made public yet. During the Aman Naval Exercise held in February 2019, Admiral Abbasi said that Pakistan ships will be fitted with a 16-Cell VLS behind the main gun. It is expected that the Babur-class corvettes will be armed with MBDA’s Albatros NG air defence system and Harbah Anti-ship and land attack missiles.
The propulsion system for all the MILGEM ships consist of one LM2500 gas turbine in a combined diesel and gas turbine configuration with two diesel engines; total propulsion power is 31,600 kilowatts.
September 23, 2023
source: Naval News