Pakistan’s Karachi Shipyard and Engineering Works hosted a ceremony on September 25 to mark the official start of construction of the country’s first locally-built MILGEM corvette.
Pakistan is building the warship under a transfer of technology agreement with Turkey, which will see two ships built in Pakistan and two in Turkey.
Turkish shipbuilder Istanbul Shipyard laid the keel for the first unit in the class in June 2020, roughly two years after the contract signing. Pakistan is scheduled to receive all four ships by 2024.
Pakistan’s MILGEM ships share design features with Ada-class corvettes built for the Turkish Navy as part of the MILGEM project. The corvettes measure 99.5 meters in length and employ the CODAG propulsion system.
The MILGEM project is managed by Turkish company STM, which is also in charge of upgrading Pakistan’s Agosta 90B submarines.
In addition to working with Turkey to renew its navy fleet, Pakistan has four Type 054A/P frigates on order from China and two offshore patrol vessels from Dutch shipbuilder Damen.
