MILGEM project
By developing the MILGEM project, Turkey aimed to build a warship using local resources to the maximum extent possible, improve national military shipbuilding capacity and skills.
[2] MILGEM project office focused on building a modern littoral combat ship with authentic anti-submarine warfare and high-seas patrol capability, extensively employing low-observable superstructure and intelligence sensors.
[6] Sonar dome has been developed by STM's subcontractor ONUK-BG Defence Systems, extensively employing nano-enhanced fiber reinforced polymer.
Developed as a variant of the MİLGEM-class corvettes, the Hisar class patrol ships has been redesigned with a different main propulsion system and a different structural and general layout concept, allowing it to be built in a shorter time and at a lower cost.
The Hisar-class patrol ships is being built using the "fitted for but not with" concept, which allows for the integration of newly developed indigenous weapon and sensor systems.
The OPV, which can accommodate a total of 104 people, will have a range of 4,500 nautical miles (8,300 km; 5,200 mi) with its CODELOD (COmbined Diesel-eLectric Or Diesel) main propulsion system.
[11] According to a CNN Türk news report on September 27, 2008, the navies of Canada, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Ukraine and a number of South American countries have expressed interest in acquiring MILGEM project warships.
On 5 July 2018, Pakistani military's ISPR announced that a Turkish firm has won the tender to build four MILGEM corvettes for the Pakistan Navy.
Turkish defence minister, Nurettin Canikli, described the deal as “the largest defense export of Turkey in one agreement.”[14] By September 2018, some details have emerged that corvettes for Pakistan Navy will have CODAD propulsion system instead of CODAG, thus increasing the sea endurance from 10 to 15 days.
[20] In December 2020, the Ukrainian Navy signed a deal with Turkey's Presidency of Defense Industries for the production of Ada-class corvettes in the Okean shipyard at Mykolaiv, Ukraine.
