Turkiye continues its corvette-type warship construction activities for the Ukrainian Navy under the main contractor of STM. Ukraine had placed an order to Turkiye for a 1+1 ADA Corvette in the first place. The first corvette built at RMK Marine shipyard was launched last year. Istanbul Shipyard undertook the construction of the second corvette. The steel-cutting ceremony for the Ukrainian Navy's second corvette was held in May. As a continuation of the project, the ceremony of laying the keel of the corvette was held a short time ago.
Istanbul Shipyard had previously built the same size TCG UFUK intelligence ship. The Ministry of Defence of Ukraine delegation, led by the Deputy Minister of Defence of Ukraine, Volodymyr Gavrilov, and the Deputy Commander of the Naval Forces of Ukraine, Admiral Andriy Tarasov, attended the ceremony. The Ukrainian Navy emphasized that all processes related to the construction activities of the Ukrainian ADA corvettes were completed on time. On the other hand, Ukraine is expected to increase its order for ADA Class Corvettes to four. Vasyl Bodnar, Ukraine's Ambassador to Ankara, who made a statement on the subject recently, said, “We have a memorandum signed on four corvettes before, and it depends on the situation on the front. We'll see how the construction goes. There was also the idea to continue construction in Ukrainian shipyards. But today, they will most likely be built here in Turkiye due to military activities and danger.” The Ukrainian corvette is a variant of the ADA Class corvette design serving in the Turkish Naval Forces Command. As previously reported to the Ministry of Defence of Ukraine, the Ukrainian Navy corvettes will be armed with Harpoon anti-ship missiles, VL MICA air defence systems, OTO Melara Super Rapid (76 mm) naval gun, as well as Aselsan 12.7mm STAMP machine gun mounts. The anti-submarine armament will consist of a 324 mm torpedo tube or tubes with Murene 90 lightweight impact torpedoes.
