ASFAT exported the first corvette PNS BABUR (F-280) to Pakistan. The commissioning ceremony of the First PN MILGEM ship, PNS Babur, was held at İstanbul Naval Shipyard Command. Turkish Defence Minister Yaşar Güler and his Pakistani counterpart, Defence Minister Anwar Ali Hyder, attended the ceremony.
Turkish Chief of General Staff General Metin Gürak, Chief of the Naval Staff of Pakistan Admiral M Amjad Khan Niazi, Commander of Turkish Naval Forces Admiral Ercüment Tatlıoğlu, Ambassador of Pakistan to Turkiye Dr Yousaf Junaid, President of Defence Industry Agency Professor Haluk Görgün, Deputy Defence Minister Celal Sami Tüfekçi, senior officers of Pakistan and Turkish armed forces and diplomatic missions were also present at the ceremony.
HİSAR Class Offshore Patrol Vessels (OPV) AKHİSAR (P-1220) and KOÇHİSAR (P-1221) were also launched at the same ceremony.
Pakistan MİLGEM Project, which is the largest export of the Turkish defence industry in the field of naval platforms, includes the construction of four MİLGEM ADA Class Corvettes for the Pakistan Navy (PN). Two of four Corvettes were constructed at the Istanbul Shipyard Command in Turkiye and two at the Karachi Shipyard in Pakistan.
Following the delivery of the first ship, PNS BABUR, which had its first sheet metal cutting at the Istanbul Shipyard Command in January 2020 and was launched on August 15, 2021, the other three ships are aimed to be delivered six months apart. The last corvette will be delivered in Karachi in 2025 and will enter the inventory of the Pakistan Navy.
MİLGEM corvettes are designed to perform surface, air and anti-submarine warfare, reconnaissance and surveillance, defence against asymmetric threats and command and control missions. The ship's overall length is 99 and a half meters, and its maximum width is 14.4 meters. With a displacement of 2,400 tons and a draft of 3.9 meters, it can speed up to 29 knots per hour with two diesel engines and a gas turbine.
The vessel is designed for helicopter operations day and night and to have the necessary platform hangar and comprehensive support equipment for a ten-ton class helicopter.
PN MİLGEM corvettes, an improved derivative of the Ada Class Ships, are warships that have been designed longer and wider according to the needs of the Pakistan Navy.
General Features of PN MİLGEM/BABUR Class:
Length: 108.2 meters
Width: 14.8 meters
Draft: 4.1 meters
Displacement: 2985 tons
Engine: 2 MTU 16V 595 TE90 diesel engines and 1 LM2500 gas turbine engine produced by General Electric
Range: 3500 nautical miles
Speed: 29 knots
Electronic Systems: ASELSAN produced Torpedo Countermeasure System for Surface Ships Hızır, ARES-2N electronic warfare system, SMART-S Mk2 S-Band 3D radar, ALPER LPI radar, AKREP (AKR-D Block B-1/2) fire control radar, SeaEye -OCTAPOT electro-optical surveillance system, PİRİ infrared search and tracking system (IRST), LN-270 INS / GPS navigation system produced by Northrop Grumman, YAKAMOS hull-mounted sonar produced by Meteksan.
The vessel will also accommodate a ten-ton class helicopter.
