IRIA News

Pakistan launched the fourth of its Babur-class warship, PNS TARIQ (283), which has been built under the MILGEM project in collaboration with Turkey. The launch ceremony took place in Pakistan’s port city of Karachi on August 2, 2023.

Turkey’s Vice President Cevdet Yilmaz and Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif were present during the launching ceremony in Karachi. Pakistani Prime Minister admired the collaboration between Pakistan’s Ministry of Defense Production and Turkey’s Ministry of National Defense under the MILGEM project.

Sharif said that Pakistan and Turkey enjoy a “unique” and “deep-rooted” relationship. He stressed that it was “high time” to enhance strategic cooperation between Islamabad and Ankara by adding more joint ventures in other areas.

“Today’s joint venture project is another example of our commitment to support each other, to strengthen each other’s industries, trade, and enhance our economic cooperation,” he said.

Bağlı kuruluşumuz ASFAT’ın ana yükleniciliğinde üretimi gerçekleştirilen Pakistan MİLGEM Projesi'nin dördüncü ve son gemisi PNS TARIQ, Cumhurbaşkanı Yardımcısı Cevdet Yılmaz, Pakistan Başbakanı Şahbaz Şerif ve Millî Savunma Bakan Yardımcısı Celal Sami Tüfekci’nin katıldığı… pic.twitter.com/MBiJr1URml

— T.C. Millî Savunma Bakanlığı (@tcsavunma) August 2, 2023

Turkey’s Vice President Cevdet Yilmaz also spoke at the ceremony. Yilmaz highlighted that “Beyond its own needs, Turkey also builds ships for many developed countries of the world.” Yilmaz added, “Thanks to the capacity we have developed in the field of defense, we have the ability to voluntarily manage the processes in which we are involved, without the need for anyone’s consent.” He added that “Our joint projects with Pakistan are a good example of this approach.”

PNS TARIQ

Equipped with effective long-range sensors and advanced weapons systems, PNS TARIQ is the last of the four Babur-class corvettes built under the MILGEM project. Pakistan is building four Babur-class corvettes under the MILGEM project in collaboration with Turkey. Two of the four ships were built in Istanbul while two have been built in Karachi, Pakistan. The MILGEM-class warships are known as Babur-class in Pakistan.

PNS TARIQ is a 3000 tons multi-mission platform, equipped with anti-ship, anti-air, and anti-submarine warfare weapons. It is 108 meters long and 14.8 meters wide warship and can sail at the speed of 27 knots with an endurance of 15 days. The ship is also capable of carrying out anti-surface attacks through ATMACA anti-ship missiles.

All four Babur-class ships are equipped with two four-cell launchers. The ships also have one flight deck with an enclosed aviation hangar that can accommodate an anti-submarine helicopter. It is expected that the PNS TARIQ would be paired with Pakistan Navy’s AgustaWestland AW159 Wildcat attack and rescue helicopters.

Each of the Babur-class corvettes is equipped with a Turkish-made Aselsan SeaEye-AHTAPOT Electro-Optical (EO) surveillance system, capable of tracking targets at a range of 250 kilometers. In addition, the ships are also equipped with the Northrop Grumman LN-270 INS/GPS navigation system, for accurate geo-positioning and turret stabilization.

MILGEM Project

The name of the project MILGEM emerged from the Turkish phrase ‘Mili Gemi’, which means ‘National Ship’. The national warship program by Turkiye, is managed by the Turkish Navy. The project aims at developing multipurpose corvettes, frigates, and destroyers.

In July 2018, Pakistan signed a $1.5 billion deal with Turkiye for the construction of four Ada class ships with Turkish state-owned defense firm ASFAT. While ASFAT served as the main contractor, the project involved the incorporation of the Integrated Combat Management System (ADVENT), a network-supported data system developed by HAVELSAN and the Turkish Naval Forces Command, marking its first-ever export. At that time, the Turkish defense minister Nurettin Canikli described the warship deal as “the largest defense export of Turkiye in one agreement.”

Under the defense deal that included technology transfer, two ships were to be constructed at Istanbul Naval Shipyard and the other two at Karachi Shipyard. The first MILGEM-class warships, named PNS Babur and PNS Bar, were launched in Istanbul and Karachi, in August 2021 and May 2022, respectively. The third PNS Khaibar was launched in November 2022 in Istanbul. The fourth is PNS Tariq which was launched at Karachi Shipyard in August 2023.

Apart from manufacturing Babur-class corvettes for Pakistan Navy, the MILGEM project also oversees the production of Ada-class anti-submarine warfare corvettes, Istanbul-class multipurpose frigates, and TF2000 Class anti-air warfare destroyers for the Turkish Navy.

Turkey is one of the few countries in the world that can design, build, and maintain warships completely by utilizing domestic capabilities. MILGEM project is Turkey’s national warship program, managed by the Ministry of National Defense and the Turkish Navy. The project aims at developing multipurpose corvettes, frigates, and destroyers.