On August 18, 2023, Turkish defense company STM announced the keel laying of the second MILGEM corvette for the Ukrainian Navy. The event took place at the RMK Marine Shipyard in Istanbul.
STM, the prime contractor of the Ukraine corvette project, announced the milestone via social media accounts. Ukrainian officials attended the ceremony, as well as representatives from the contractor companies.
The ship was announced as the “second corvette”, as the christening of the ship wasn’t conducted yet.
Ukrainian Ambassador to Türkiye, Vasyl Bodnar, revealed in an exclusive interview with Naval News at the IDEF 2023 exhibition in Istanbul last month that the project’s second corvette is being built in Türkiye and the keel laying will take place soon. The ceremony took place just a few weeks after that statement.
Türkiye and Ukraine signed a military cooperation agreement on 16 October 2020, outlining the parties’ intentions to launch and implement joint projects to construct warships, unmanned aerial vehicles, and all types of turbine engines.
Turkiye was supposed to build two corvettes for the Ukrainian Navy under the terms of the agreement, however, Mr. Bodnar stated in the interview that they may procure four corvettes within the scope of the project. Turkiye’s RMK Marine Shipyard launched Ukraine’s first Ada-class corvette, Hetman Ivan Mazepa (F-211), in Istanbul on 02 October 2022.
It was initially planned that the ship would be towed to Ukraine with partial equipment for completion by the end of 2022. In the course of 2023, the corvette was to be equipped with the necessary equipment and armament, and government tests were to begin. But due to the invasion of Ukraine by Russia, the fate of the implementation of these plans is unknown.
No official statement regarding the sensor suite and weapon configuration has been made due to the confidentiality of the project. However, Radio Svoboda, a Ukrainian news outlet, claimed on 09 August 2021, that the Ukraine Defense Ministry revealed the weapon systems for the Ada-class corvettes.
The corvettes will be equipped with Harpoon anti-ship missiles as their primary strike system. Ukraine’s Deputy Defense Minister stated that the country was considering the indigenous Neptune anti-ship missile, as well as the Harpoon, Atmaca, and Naval Strike Missile. Still, the Harpoon was an unexpected choice. It should be noted that the mockup presented by the company to the first lady is fitted with Aselsan-made Gokdeniz CIWS, while previous statements were suggesting Rheinmetall Oerlikon’s Millennium 35 mm CIWS for the Corvette.
Ukrainian media initially reported that VL MICA missiles by MBDA, launched from a vertical launch system (VLS), would serve as the corvette’s air defense system. However, the corvette rendering on the poster displayed at the keel-laying ceremony does not feature VLS. During IDEF 2013, Vasyl Bodnar confirmed to Naval News that France would supply such missiles.
Leonardo’s 76 mm Super Rapid gun and Aselsan’s 12.7 mm STAMP gun will be mounted on the corvettes. The primary weapon against the submarine threat will be MU 90 lightweight torpedo.
