Turkey to sell four corvette ships to Pakistan Navy: Defense minister

Turkish Defense Minister Nurettin Canikli says Ankara has won a tender to build four corvettes for the Pakistan Navy, describing the deal as “the largest defense export of Turkey in one agreement.”

“A tender opened by the Pakistan Navy to supply four corvettes has just been concluded and Turkey has won the tender,” Canikli told reporters during an official visit to Montenegro on Thursday.

He added, “It is [a] multi-billion dollar project and Turkey has undertaken such a sophisticated project for the first time in the international arena. Negotiations were going on for over six months. They have been completed after a really difficult and exhaustive period, and the agreement was signed today.”

“The tender's result is important to show the growth that the Turkish defense industry has achieved,” Canikli said, noting that Turkey has overtaken a number of competent countries through a very good bid, both in terms of quality and price.

Back in May 2017, Turkey and Pakistan signed a goodwill agreement for the construction of four Turkish Ada class MİLGEM (National Ship) corvettes in the Karachi Shipyard, a major defense contractor and military corporation based in the Pakistani city of Karachi.

Under the agreement, two ships will be built in Istanbul and two others in Karachi. Two corvettes will join the inventory of the Pakistan Navy in 2023 and the remaining two in 2024.

The deal also includes sharing engineering information and training engineers.

The first ship will be manufactured in 54 months, while the remainder will be built in 60, 66 and 72 months respectively.

The corvettes, which will be able to cruise uninterruptedly for 15 days, will be 99.56 meters long and 14.42 meters wide with a maximum speed of 26 knots.

Additionally, Ankara and Islamabad signed a deal in May for the sale of 30 Turkish attack helicopters.

The TAI/AgustaWestland T129 ATAK multi-role and all-weather attack helicopter was developed by Turkish Aerospace Industries (TAI), with partner AgustaWestland.

It is designed for advanced attack and reconnaissance in hot and high environments and rough geography.

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