Another World Brand from Anadolu Shipyard
Within the scope of the LST project, the agreement for 2 amphibious ships that shall contribute to the administrative and logistic task functions of the Turkish Naval Forces and which shall support international peace, provide assistance in natural disasters (DAFYAR), shall be used in non-combatant operations such as humanitarian aid and evacuation operations during peace was signed in 2011. The manufacturing of the ships was launched. The talks for the financing of the project between the Undersecretariat for Treasury and Ziraat Bank resulted positively and the agreement was signed by the parties. Following this procedure, the credit process of the project was accomplished with the Council of Ministers’ approval of the agreement. With the enforcement of the credit mechanism, within the scope of the Amphibious Ship (LST) Project, a sub-contract agreement has been signed between the Turkish Armed Forces Foundation companies Aselsan, Havelsan, İşbir Elektrik Sanayi A.Ş. and Anadolu Shipyard. National Defence Deputy Minister Hasan Kemal Yardımcı, Undersecretary for Defence Industries Murad Bayar, Aselsan General Manager Cengiz Ergeneman, Havelsan General Manager Sadık Yamaç, İşbir’s Members of the Executive Board and officials from the Undersecretariat for Defence Industries and a great number of invitees attended the ceremony that took place in Anadolu Shipyard’s facilities in İstanbul. With this sub-contract agreement Aselsan will be providing the electronic systems, Havelsan will be providing the combat management systems and İşbir Elektrik will be supplying the generators of the ships.
Bayar:“We shall continue the seeds spread at the Anadolu Shipyard with Exports”
In his speech at the signature ceremony, Undersecretary for Defence Industries Murad Bayar stated that they relied on the private shipyards not only in the works carried out for the Naval Forces Command but also in export activities and added: “Within no time we shall continue to work on the seeds spread here with exports”. Bayar mentioned that the work done was improved in half and half between the manufacturing of the first ship and the last one and said that Anadolu Shipyard became a prominent shipyard among the landing craft fleet. Bayar reminded the audience that the number of the ships that the Turkish Naval Forces could buy is limited and expressed: “The survival of our industry depending on only these is really hard. Therefore, we are encouraging specialization in these projects. If we are to establish a model here then we have to have specialized shipyards”. Underlining the importance of a national technology Bayar continued: “We will be using the same combat management system family in our G class frigates, Milgem vessels, LST ship, mass production Milgems and TF 2000s. This bears a great importance in respect of the operation efficiency as we shall accumulate all our knowledge in a single bucket and consequently transform this accumulation into a perfect combat system”.
Yaşar: “LST ship’s main function shall be amphibious operation and fire support”
In the ceremony, Anadolu Shipyard’s CEO Ertuğ Yaşar gave detailed information on the LST project in his presentation about the Anadolu Shipyard. Yaşar mentioned that the main function of the LST ship would be amphibious operation and fire support and continued; “First ship shall be delivered 44 months after the launch of the manufacturing process and the second one shall be delivered 52 months later that date. Regarding the features of the ship, it shall have 138 m full length, 19.60 m width, 7250 tons of displacement, front draught shorter than 2 m and back draught shorter than 5 m. With an acceleration of 15 miles it shall remain in the sea for 30 days or for at least 6 thousand sea miles. The ship will have a capacity of carrying a combination of loads up to 1200 tons. If detailed, these 1200 tons refers to 60 tons of more than 20 tanks and 550 amphibious units. The weapons that shall be used in cases of attacks against the order are 2 Phalanxes, 2 400 mm Fast Forts, 2 stabilized machine guns and a Chaff IR Decoy”.
Ergeneman: “With this Project, our Naval Forces Command shall become more powerful”
In his speech during the ceremony, Aselsan General Manager Cengiz Ergeneman stated that Aselsan accomplished the modernization of the electronic systems of a small number of naval platforms within the Turkish Armed Forces’ inventory and explained Aselsan’s contributions to the LST project: “In this Project, Aselsan shall provide the most important features of the ship, namely the air Defence radar system FBI radar, navigation radar, electronic support system, electronic research system, external and internal communication system, satellite communication system, 127 mm stabilized machine gun platform and laser export system”. Ergeneman additionally stated that as Aselsan they were prepared for the inclusion of their indigenous designs such as the torpedo spoofing system “Hızır”, research and surveillance system “Piri” and depth metering sonar “Kulaç” to this project for increasing the domestic contribution rate.
Following the speeches, the ceremony ended with the handing out of the plaques and signing of the sub-contract agreements by the parties.
