Although there are glorious victories like the Battle of Preveza in their history, Turks
are not known as a maritime nation. In fact, after Preveza, they are mostly known for their
defeat in the naval history books. However, Turks are making a name in the naval community
again with the Ada-class corvette. This remarkable surface combatant differs from its counterparts
in the world, considering its capabilities and dimensions. As the Weapon Detective, we
are investigating the Ada, the Turkish naval shipbuilding programme.
Please don't forget to subscribe to our channel before we start.
Each of these corvette takes its name from an island of Turkey in particular the Prince
Islands. Therefore, these ships are defined as the Ada-class.
The Ada-class corvette is the first product of Turkey's ambitious MilGem Programme. The
MilGem is an abbreviation made up of the Turkish words "Milli Gemi", meaning “national ship”.
In order to understand the background of this program, it is necessary to take a long journey
in the past. The Republic of Turkey was founded in 1923
after the devastating First World War and Turkish War of National Liberation. Because
of these wars, the infrastructure and manpower of this new poor country had come to an end.
The navy taken over from the Ottoman Empire consisted of a small number of ships that
had become obsolete or unusable. Although some programmes were carried out to strengthen
the navy, they were quite limited due to both insufficient economic and technical capability
of Turkey. As a member of the Western Block after the
Second World War, Turkey was supplied surplus naval vessels, especially from the military
aid programs of the USA and the UK. At first glance, Turkey had become an important regional
maritime power in an inexpensive way. Both Turkey and its allies were satisfied with
the situation. However, when the Cyprus dispute arose, the
problems started. The ethnic conflict on the island escalated rapidly. In 1963, after Bloody
Christmas attack carried out by Greek Cypriots, Turkey was intending a military intervention
in Cyprus. This intention was blocked in 1964 by the
ultimatum of the US President Lyndon B Johnson. The US government officially stated that Turkey
cannot go to war with US weapons. This ultimatum was a breaking point. Turkish
government realized that they must have an independent defence industry to protect their
interests over Cyprus. As a result of this decision, Turkey laid
down an escort destroyer named Berk TCG in 1967. TCG Berk which is the first major surface
combatant to be built in Turkey, was a modified model of the US Claud Jones-class.
The second important breaking point was happened due to the Cyprus dispute again.
During the invasion of Cyprus in 1974, a Turkish combat aircraft sunk the Turkish destroyer,
TCG Kocatepe as a result of an intelligence error. The Turkish Navy investigated the incident
and realized that its warships did not have sufficient air defence capabilities.
Because these ships had been designed according to US doctrines.
According to the US doctrine, air defence of the fleet is provided by 14
carrier-borne aircraft and missile-equipped surface combatants.
Yet Turkey, had neither the air defence missile capable ships nor the aircraft carriers.
In order to solve this problem, in 1980, Turkey requested the permission from USA to build
Oliver Hazard Perry-class locally. However, the permission was not granted.
So, Turkey turned to Germany to build the MEKO 200-class frigates locally. The Turkish
Navy determined its unique requirements within the scope of this programme and requested
some modifications to the general configuration of the ship.
Now Turks were organizing their navies according to their own doctrines, not according to the
doctrines determined by others. The Turkish Navy determined the need for corvettes
in 1996. Turkey initially evaluated the work with foreign partners. However, it was later
decided that the launch of a national shipbuilding program was strategically important.
However, the late 1990s and early 2000s, Turkey was struggling with a major economic crisis
so the program progressed slowly. MilGem Project Office was established in 2004.
During this time, the program was redefined. MilGem was no longer just a local corvette
development effort. Now, Turkey has planned to domestically design and build multipurpose
frigates and large air defense frigates. In addition, the Project has included not only
vessel design but also local design and production of sub-systems to be used on these surface
combatants. Therefore, Turkey's leading defense industry
companies, universities and research institutions have worked jointly.
Many sub-programs have been launched for the development and production of subsystems to
be used on these ships. The first of the Ada-class corvettes which
is the first stage of the MilGem Project, TCG Heybeliada was laid down in 2007. She
was launched a year later and commissioned in 2011.
According to the original plan, Turkey, would commission eight Ada-class corvettes. Two
of them would be built in naval shipyards, and the remaining six in private sector shipyards.
However, this number has been reduced to four, and all corvettes are built by the naval shipyard.
The complement of the Ada-class is 95. According to the Turkish Navy website, the fully loaded
displacement of the ship was 2,300 tons. However, in many other sources, there are many different
information. The corvette has nearly 100 metres length, 14.5 metres beam, and 4 metres draught.
The propulsion system of the Ada-class consists of one 31,280-horsepower GE LM 2500 gas turbine
and two 5,875-horsepower MTU 16 V 595 diesel engines in CODAG configuration. The maximum
speed is 29 knots. The corvette can sail nearly 6,500 kilometres at an economic speed of 15
knots. The ship has one RIM-116 RAM close in weapon system and eight RGM-84 Harpoon
anti-ship missiles. The Ada-class is also equipped with one 76mm gun and two 12.7mm
machine gun as well as 324mm torpedoes. The ship can carry one S-70B helicopter.
The Ada-class has stealth design. Corrosion-resistant aluminum alloys are used in some parts of
the hull made of steel. The supersturcture is made of composite materials. The acoustic,
hydrodynamic and infrared signatures of the ship are very low.
The corvette has full operation capability at sea state 5 and limited operational ability
at sea state 6. The Ada-class can be operated in NBC einviroment.
The main task of the Ada-class is anti submarine warfare. For this reason, the ship has aviation
facilities at the same level as that in frigates. However, displacement was kept low in order
to be more effective in littoral waters. With this design the ship can be defined as an
intermediate form between corvette and frigate. For this reason, the Ada-class is generally
compared to the US Freedom-class littoral combat ship.
However, the Turkish corvette has a more conventional surface combatant design philosopy with high
combat capability. The Freedom-class is a non-conventional design
with low combat capability, high speed, and variable mission modules.
The Ada-class is the most capable surface combatant of the Turkish Navy, given its command
and control and combat management systems. The ship's combat management system has been
developed locally and is an advanced model of the GENESIS used in the Turkish Navy's
Oliver Hazard Perry-class frigates. The SMART-S Mk 2 long-range air and surface
surveillance radar of the corvette can detect maritime patrol aircraft from 200 kilometers,
and anti-ship missiles from 50 kilometers. It can track more than 500 targets simultaneously.
Turkish ASELSAN company produces this radar of Thales under license.
Also, the ship's sonar and many countermeasure systems have been developed locally.
The capabilities of the ship's 76mm Super Rapid gun have been increased compared to
the original production models, thanks to the locally developed fire control algorithm.
The STAMP remote-controlled weapon station of the Ada-class has an interesting story.
ASELSAN, the manufacturer of this system, began to develop the Atılgan and the Zıpkın
Pedestal Mounted Stinger ground-based air system in the 1990s.
While this project was continuing, the company also developed the Bora, the ship-based version
of the Atılgan and the Zıpkın. The system has undergone extensive trials
on the Turkish Navy's TCG Tayfun fast attack craft.
After the trials, Turkish naval staff were not satisfied with the performance of the
Stinger missile on the sea, but found Bora's track ability quite successful. So a remote-controlled
weapon station with a track system used in the Bora was requested. The STAMP was developed
to respond to this request. Originally the weapon station was developed against asymmetric
surface threats. However, it has been observed in the trials that the detection, identification
and track capabilities of the system against the air targets are quite superior.
There are 21 missiles in the Mk-144 launcher system of the RAM. The Ada-class is equipped
with the Block 1 model of this close in weapon system. This version has both radar and infrared
guidance system. Thus, the RAM can also be used effectively
against stealth anti-ship missiles. The Ada-class is currently equipped with Harpoon
anti-ship missiles. However, Turkey will replace the Harpoon with
the Atmaca developed by ROKETSAN. The Atmaca, which is still in the development phase, is
equipped with a 250 kilogram warhead and has an effective range over 200 kilometers.
In 2019, Turkish Navy conducted its first ship-launched firing of the missile from the
Ada-class corvette TCG Kınalıada. The most important difference of the Ada-class
from its counterparts in the world is that it can be equipped with the S-70B Seahawk
helicopter. Thus, the ship gained anti-submarine warfare capability similar to frigates.
Russia is also building large corvettes. However, the Ka-27 helicopter used in these
ships has a low capacity compared to the S-70Bs. In the Russian doctrine, helicopters are used
in pairs, which one of them conducts hunter mission and the other conducts killer mission.
However, Seahawk can conduct hunter-killer mission by itself.
Thus, a single Ada-class surface combatant have anti-submarine warfare capability equivalent
to two Russian corvettes. Other corvettes in the world, which are currently
in use, are suitable for light helicopters. The Ada-class TCG Heybeliada performed the
first RIM-116 RAM live fire drill of the Turkish Navy in 2012.
In 2014, the Turkish Navy's Barbaros Task Group passed through the Cape of Good Hope
for the first time after 1866. TCG Heybeliada, was a part of this task group.
As we mentioned before, the number of corvettes will build by Turkey dropped from eight to
four. Now the Istanbul-class frigates, which are
the enlarged model of the Ada-class, are being worked on. TCG Istanbul, the first ship of
the class, was laid down in 2017. The ship is expected to be commissioned in 2021.
The Istanbul-class will have 16 anti-ship missiles instead of eight and will be equipped
with the vertical launching system. So, these frigates will have capability of firing RIM-66
Standard and RIM-162 ESSM air defence missiles. The last step of the MilGem Project is the
TF-2000 anti-air warfare frigate, which will have a displacement of over 7,000 tons.
Thanks to its superior features, the Ada-class soon attracted the attention of many countries.
However, Turkey has begun to be isolated in foreign policy in recent years.
For this reason, many countries considered as potential customers of this corvette turned
to other sources. Nevertheless, Pakistan which is faithful friend
of Turkey, ordered the four corvettes, in 2018. However, the ships of the Pakistan Navy
will differ from the original Ada-class. Pakistani ships will have CODAD propulsion system instead
of CODAG in order to increase sea endurance from 10 to 15 days. Also, after short time,
it is declared that the fourth ship will be entirely designed and constructed in Pakistan.
The Ada-class is one of the most important indicators of the Turkish defence industry’s
capability level. Despite all economic and political difficulties, it is the product
of a program that has been carried out decisively since 1967. Unlike in 1967, Turks no longer
build ships and equip them with subsystems they bought from the West. They also develop
their own weapons and electronic systems. The isolation of this country in foreign policy
day by day is an obstacle for the Ada-class to reach wide markets, but it is still a success
that changes the game. The ability to build naval ships that remained in the hegemony
of the Western states for a long time is being broken by the East. Like China and South Korea,
now, Turkey is also a player in this game. Thanks for watching our video. And please
don't forget to subscribe to our channel.