Turkey holds official welding ceremony of third MILGEM corvette for Pakistani Navy.

On January 23, 2021, Turkey has held the official welding ceremony of the third MILGEM class corvette for the Pakistani Navy at Istanbul Naval Shipyard (INSY), Turkey. The event was attended by the President of the Republic of Turkey, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, and the Ambassador of Pakistan to Turkey H.E Muhammad Syrus Sajjad Qazi.
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The official welding ceremony of the third MILGEM corvette for the Pakistani Navy was held in Turkey on January 23, 2021. (Picture source Twitter Ali Keskin)

In July 2018, The Pakistani Ministry of Defense has signed a contract with the Military Factory and Shipyard Management Corporation (ASFAT) for the construction of four MILGEM Ada-class corvettes in collaboration with the Karachi Shipyard.

In December 2018, during the IDEAS defense exhibition that was held in Pakistan, Pakistan Navy officials stated that, under the agreement, the fourth ship will be entirely designed and constructed in Pakistan which will become the first Jinnah-class frigate. The latest information published in January 2020, the contract for the four corvettes includes the construction of two ships in Turkey and two ships in Pakistan.

The delivery of the first Jinnah-class frigate to the Pakistani Navy is scheduled for 2023 while the fourth and final ship will be delivered in 2024.

The MILGEM ships build for the Pakistani Navy is based on the Ada-class corvette but modification requested by Pakistan including the use of 16 vertical launch system (VLS) able to fire the LY-80 surface-to-air missile. The HQ-16, which is the land export version of the LY-80 is already in service with the Pakistani army since 2017. Most of the subsystems will be supplied bt the Turkish company Aselsan.

The Pakistani Navy MILGEM ship will be fitted with the SMART-S Mk2 search and targeting radar. It is an active phased array radar offering an instrumented range of 250 km. The radar can detect and track up to 500 airborne and surface targets. The ship will be also equipped with the Aselsan ARES-2NC electronic support measures (ESM) suite which allows passive monitoring as well as categorize and record enemy radar and communication signals.

The Ada-class ship is powered by combined diesel and gas (CODAG) propulsion systems that will include one gas turbine engines, two diesel engines, and 2 shafts. The ship will be able to reach a top speed of 30 knots(56 km/h) with a maximum cruising range of 3,500 nautical miles (6,500 km) at 15 knots (28 km/h).