The agreement signed on December 15 also includes the transfer of Turkish technology to Ukraine and the co-production of armed drones made in Turkey. It was signed by the Ukrainian Defense Minister Andriy Taran and Turkey’s senior defense procurement officer Ismail Demir.
The warship deal could be valued at around $ 1 billion, a government source told Defense News on condition of anonymity.
In 2018, the Turkish state-controlled defense technology company STM won an order to manufacture and sell four MILGEM corvettes to the Pakistani Navy. STM promised to deliver the first small multi-purpose warship by the end of 2021. The order provides for the construction of two corvettes in Turkey; the other two are to be manufactured in Karachi Shipyard & Engineering Works in Pakistan.
A Turkish procurement officer said a similar production pattern could be applied to the Ukrainian contract.
According to industry data, STM may need to replace some American-made parts in the MILGEM architecture with locally-made components as the US recently decided to sanction Turkey’s defense industry presidency.
The move to the USA took place under the Act to Combat Adversaries of America through Sanctions in response to the Turkish decision to procure and use the S-400 air defense system made in Russia. Turkey is the first NATO member state to use a Russian-made air defense system.