Turkey’s Defense Ministry revealed last week that Turkish shipyards are simultaneously building 31 naval vessels that are expected to meet the military’s needs for decades to come. These include aircraft carriers and destroyers.
The Ministry announced on Thursday that the first welding ceremony of the National Submarine Project (Milden) was held at the Golcuk Shipyard Command.
Additionally, the first sheet metal cutting of the TF-2000 Air Defense Warfare Destroyer and National Aircraft Carrier (Mugem) project was carried out at the Istanbul Shipyard Command, marking the start of the construction process.
Ankara has been investing in its navy for decades. Avoiding formal and unofficial military embargoes imposed on Turkey by President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, who has been in power since 2002, for military operations against Kurdish armed groups inside and outside Turkish territory. Numerous defense industry projects aimed at achieving this goal have been accelerated.
However, the simultaneous construction of 31 vessels marks an important milestone never before recorded. Some experts estimate that the price tag for such an ambitious project could exceed $8 billion.
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Apart from aircraft carriers, destroyers, and new national submarines, Ankara is currently building five Reis-class submarines based on the German-designed Type 214, seven I-class frigates, and six oceangoing patrol vessels (OPV-2100). It is. , eight modern landing craft tanks (LCTs), one modern mine-hunting vessel, and one 55-class fast attack craft (FAC).
“The ships built in the first phase will revitalize the navy and make it largely indigenous.”
– Yusuf Akbaba, Defense Industry Consultant
The construction work reflects Turkey’s desire to project power not only to its own neighbourhood, but also to the Horn of Africa and the Indian Ocean.
Yusuf Akbaba, an independent defense industry consultant, said the main objective of the initiative is to modernize the Turkish Navy by replacing aging ships with new ones through public and private shipyards. .
“Rather than increasing tonnage, the ships built in the first phase will reinvigorate the navy and make it largely indigenous,” Akbaba told Middle East Eye.
The Turkish Navy has long operated second-hand frigates purchased from the U.S. Navy and Germany decades ago.
“The ships in our inventory are older. The main force of the fleet consists of eight 1980s American frigates, particularly the Oliver Hazard Perry class. The rest are from the late 1980s to late 1990s. It is a manufactured German MEKO-class frigate,” Turkish defense industry expert Kublai Yildirim told MEE.
“Half of our frigates are 40 years old, the other half are 20 to 30 years old. Some have been partially modernized at some stage, but they are quite old, both structurally and mechanically. It remains.”
complete overhaul
Yildirim said the Turkish government recognized the need for a comprehensive review of its navy during the 2020 Eastern Mediterranean crisis, when Turkey and Greece entered into a maritime dispute over conflicting exclusive economic zone claims. .
“We found that even all 16 frigates were not enough,” he says. “It was insufficient to establish a presence at sea; it strained both ships and personnel, even causing attrition. Frigates were also tasked with tasks that could have been handled by corvettes. ”
He said Turkey’s national warship project “Milgem” was initially launched to produce Ada-class anti-submarine warfare corvettes, and has since expanded to allow the navy to design a variety of ship models, including blue-water patrol ships and I-class frigates. he added.
Tensions in the Eastern Mediterranean have highlighted Ankara’s need for naval assets to protect energy exploration vessels and drilling vessels, and, if necessary, confront hostile warships without provoking conflict. This is where ocean patrol vessels (OPVs) play an important role.
“The Turkish Navy will want to move towards indigenous technology and equip its submarines with offensive weapons such as cruise missiles.”
– Kublai Yildirim, defense industry expert
“These OPVs are equipped with light weapons, can fly the Turkish flag in areas under Turkish jurisdiction, and can ram and harass enemy ships if necessary,” Yildirim said. say.
“Ships are large, have long ranges, and can remain at sea for weeks.”
Yildirim also explained that OPVs are “fitted but not equipped” with advanced sensors and advanced weapons. That means ships have designated space for such systems, and the Navy can add them later if needed.
The timeline for completion of such ambitious projects, including a new Turkish national submarine, could take three to five years, while some projects, such as a national aircraft carrier, could take six to eight years.
The submarine project is particularly important as Ankara seeks to develop atmospheric independent propulsion (AIP) technology domestically, leveraging the experience gained from co-producing the Wraith-class submarine with Germany.
“The Turkish Navy will want to move towards indigenous technology and equip their submarines with offensive weapons such as cruise missiles. This will make them a sea-denial platform capable of gathering intelligence and deploying special operations forces. ”Yildirim points out. Sea denial is a military term that means preventing an enemy from using the ocean.
cost reduction
Akbaba predicts that by 2030, the Turkish Navy will include one aircraft carrier task group and two landing helicopter dock (LHD) task groups. Turkey already has the unmanned amphibious assault ship TCG Anadolu in service, and its twin, TCG Trakya, is in the planning stages.
One of the advantages Turkey enjoys is the ability to produce ships at significantly lower costs than its European counterparts. For example, Akbaba claims that Turkey can produce an LHD ship for $724 million, while European countries would spend $1.2 billion on a similar platform.
“This will position Turkey as a major power in the eastern Mediterranean and bring it to the same level as France in its overall dominance of the Mediterranean,” Akbaba said.

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“We believe Turkey will maintain a permanent fleet off the coast of Somalia and leverage this new power projection capability to support its allies in Southeast Asia.”
It is clear that Ankara’s ambitions extend beyond its traditional neighborhoods, including the Horn of Africa. Last month, Turkey sent an energy exploration vessel to Somalia’s coast, guarded by naval vessels.
Serhat Guvenc, a professor of international relations and an expert on naval history, told MEE that the unprecedented prominence of the navy in the Turkish military reflects changes in Turkey’s national security strategy. Foreign interests and commitments are now considered as important as territorial and forward defense.
“This shows that the claim of being one of the seven countries in the world capable of building warships is by no means unfounded,” he said, referring to orders Turkish shipyards have received from countries such as Ukraine and Pakistan. It shows that.”
Guvenc further pointed out that since the late 1990s, the Turkish Navy has aimed to expand its global and regional reach by focusing on the open seas. In recent years, new ships and submarines have expanded the navy’s operational reach to the Horn of Africa and the Mediterranean coast of Somalia and Libya.
“Turkey’s interests abroad, especially in Africa, require the Turkish Navy to develop global power projection capabilities,” he says.
“Recent projects suggest that the scope goes well beyond the concept of a ‘blue homeland’; for example, patrol vessels are also being designed for ocean-going.”