Islamabad, Jan 24 (INP): Welding Ceremony of third ship of MILGEM class corvettes for Pakistan Navy held at Istanbul Naval Shipyard (INSY), Turkey. President of Republic of Turkey, Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Ambassador of Pakistan to Turkey, H.E Muhammad Syrus Sajjad Qazi graced the occasion and jointly kicked off the project by performing the block welding. While addressing the ceremony, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan highlighted deep rooted relationships between the two strategically aligned nations. He underscored the defense collaboration for construction of MILGEM class warships as major milestone in Pak-Turkey defense ties. The President also underlined the Strategic Economic Framework signed between the two countries as step to enhance bilateral ties and reaffirmed Turkey's support in the field of defense.

The MILGEM class corvettes will be state-of-the-art surface platforms equipped with modern surface, subsurface and anti-air weapons & sensors integrated through a network centric Combat Management System. MILGEM corvettes will significantly enhance maritime defence and deterrence capabilities of Pakistan Navy. These ships will augment Pakistan Navy’s kinetic punch and will significantly contribute in maintaining peace, stability and balance of power in Indian Ocean Region. The contract for four MILGEM class corvettes for Pakistan Navy with concurrent Transfer of Technology (ToT) was signed with ASFAT Inc, a Turkish state owned Defence contractor in 2018. The ToT entails construction of two corvettes at Istanbul Naval Shipyard while another two at Karachi Shipyard & Engineering Works (KS&EW).