Turkey Military News, Reports, Data, etc.

The MILGEM project, from the Turkish words Milli Gemi (National Ship), is a Turkish national warship program with the aim to design and build locally a fleet of hi-tech stealth multipurpose corvettes and frigates that will replace older ships which are currently in service. Through this ambitious program, Turkey seeks to improve national military shipbuilding capacity and skills and ultimately to achieve independence from foreign weapon producers, designers and manufacturers. More than 50 local companies, including the largest Turkish defense firms such as Aselsan, Havelsan and RMK Marine, play a significant role in the MILGEM project, gaining invaluable experience in warship design and construction. The MILGEM Project Office of the Istanbul Naval Shipyard Command executes and coordinates the design, development and construction works of the MILGEM project since March 12, 2004. The programme initially included the construction of 12 ships in two batches (blocks, due to important differences among the batches). The first batch would have included eight (8) multipurpose corvettes the so-called MILGEM Block I (Ada; island in Turkish) class while the last four (4) would be of the TF-100 frigates equipped with vertical-launching system (VLS) for surface-to-air (SAM) missiles. This plan changed recently as the first batch will include only four corvettes of the Ada class, while all the rest ships will be designated as MILGEM Block II. In 2014, the head of naval projects for SSM, said that a request for proposals (RfP) for the Batch II (from ship 5) corvettes (also known as MILGEM -G) was expected to be issued by the end of the year. At the same time he said that work on the previously planned TF-100 project for a light frigate to replace some of Turkey's older MEKO 200 frigates had been stopped as "this role will now be covered by the Batch II MILGEM ". The new ships will have an increased length of about 10m and they will include in their equipment an Mk41 VLS for Evolved Sea Sparrow Missiles (ESSM), Phalanx CIWS instead of RAM (logically from the decommissioned Gabya-class frigates), two more quadruple SSM launchers, further combat system upgrades, new anti-torpedo system and diesel engines. The ships of the MILGEM Block I will replace gradually the six D'Estienne d'Orves-class/Burak class corvettes while the MILGEM Block II the non-modernized Gabya/O. H. Perry class frigates (4 in service) and the Yavuz (MEKO 200TN Track I) class frigates (4 in service). This year the designation name of the new Batch changed to I-class.

Till today (June, 2015) only two corvettes have been commissioned by the Turkish Navy and two more are in different phases of construction. The lead ship of the class, TCG Heybeliada (F-511) was launched at t the TNFC's Istanbul Naval Shipyard on September 27, 2008. The cost of the lead ship was around US$260 million. The ship entered in service on September 27, 2011. On the same day and at the same shipyard, the TCG Büyükada (F-512) was launched and exactly two years later, in 2013, she was commissioned into Turkish Navy. On the same day the keel for the third ship TCG Burgazada (F-513) was laid. However, the MILGEM programme encountered major setbacks in 2013 that cast doubt over the project's future. Under the original planning a nominated private Turkish shipyard was to work together with Istanbul Naval Shipyard on the third and fourth ships in Pendik in order to transfer the know-how required for the construction of subsequent ships in its own facility, and RMK Marine was selected in January 2013. However, contract negotiations were halted in mid-2013 when a complaint from SEDEF Shipyard sparked a probe. In August the prime minister's inspection office concluded that the tender for follow-on ships was not held in a competitive manner and should therefore be cancelled. The SSM's (Turkish Undersecretariat for Defence Industries) executive committee acknowledged the findings of the inspection office inquiry during a 26 September 2013 meeting and set out a revised procurement strategy in which it was decided that the fourth corvette would now also be built at Istanbul Naval Shipyard while a new tender was opened for the I-class ships. The experience and technological know-how gained with the MILGEM project will play an important role in determining the design characteristics and the development process of the anti-aircraft warfare TF-2000 class frigates.

The general characteristics of the class is a displacement of approximately 2,300tons at full load, length of 99.5m, beam of 14.4m, maximum speed of +29 knots and a range of 3,500n.m. with the cruising speed of 15 knots. The crew is only 93 people while there is accommodation for 106 passengers including flying crew and technicians (11 people). The propulsion is combined diesel and gas (CODAG) propulsion system, which consists of a gas-turbine and two diesel engines delivering a power of around 30,000kW. The ships carry one medium helicopter (S-70 Seahawk) which can be accommodated in a hangar. Additionally, each corvette carries two rigid-hulled inflatable boats (RHIB). The ships feature a steel hull and fragmentation resistant composite superstructure. Fore and aft masts and the funnel have been constructed with sea resistant aluminum alloys. The warships of the MILGEM project are designed to fully operate at sea state 5 and partially operate at sea state 6. Reduction and management of the ship signatures was taken as the major input during the whole design phase. Many classified precautions were taken in order to reduce hydrodynamic, acoustic, magnetic signature, Infrared Signature (IR), Radar Cross Section (RCS), and therefore, to achieve the specified level of stealth feature. Collective Protection Zones are designed to ensure the ships ability under NBC conditions. Locally designed degaussing system minimizes the magnetic signature for protection against the magnetic mines. The design focused on reduced Life Cycle Cost while the configuration is easily adaptable to technological improvements and changes due to operational requirements.
...

Click to expand...

The Turkish military does not boast the world's most advanced gear for precision strikes but a number of local programs are progressing, signaling reduced future dependence on foreign systems.

Turkish officials recently reported "critical progress" in three systems they have been developing over the past years.

Procurement officials said the first critical firing tests for the Atmaca, a Turkish anti-ship missile, went "extremely successful."

The Atmaca is a radar-guided anti-ship cruise missile with a range of 120 miles. When the program took off in 2009, the idea was to build an indigenous anti-ship missile "with features similar to the Exocet."

But during its development phase Turkish authorities decided that the Atmaca instead should look like the Harpoon Block II, which is already in the Turkish inventory.

"There is an understanding that the Atmaca will eventually replace the Harpoon," said one procurement official familiar with the program.

The Harpoon is an all-weather, over-the-horizon, anti-ship missile system, developed and manufactured by McDonnell Douglas (now Boeing Defense, Space & Security). It was introduced in 1977. The Harpoon system also has a land-strike variant, the Standoff Land Attack Missile. The regular Harpoon uses active radar homing and a low-level, sea-skimming cruise trajectory to improve survivability and lethality.

"The Atmaca will help us move forward to our goal of achieving maximum lethality with minimum cost," said one Navy official. "That target is essential for countries like Turkey that have budgetary constraints."

An Ankara-based analyst said the military is aiming at a "better and cheaper hit" as the local industry has advanced in several indigenous programs over the past years.

"The successful first firing test was a good sign, cementing the military's trust in an industry that is new at developing such capabilities," he said.

The procurement official said the first deliveries of the Atmaca will start at the end of 2016. The first Atmacas will be outfitted to Turkey's Milgem corvettes and frigates.

The missile system is being developed by a team of Roketsan, a state-controlled missile maker; military specialist Aselsan, Turkey's biggest defense company; and ARMERKOM, an Istanbul-based research and development unit of the Turkish Navy.

Rokestsan announced the first autopilot-controlled test missile of its Hisar-A, a low-altitude air defense missile, was successfulin a series of tests June 19-24. Along with the autopilot-controlled test missile, Roketsan said the Hisar-A system's ballistic test missile BTF-2 also was successfully tested.

And on July 2-3, Roketsan said, it successfully tested the Umtas, its anti-tank missile. The Umtas, with its infrared imaging and laser-seeker options, is an anti-tank missile with a range of eight kilometers to be used in air-to-ground and ground-to-ground operations.

Umtas is considered the official anti-tank system for the T-129 attack helicopters Turkey has developed under license from the Italian-British AgustaWestland and the Anka, Turkey's first locally developed unmanned aircraft. Other potential platforms to be outfitted with the Umtas are armored land vehicles and naval vessels.

Click to expand...