SG-701 TCSG Dost in Samsun. Photo: Official Turkish General Staff Photo.

The first pair of offshore Patrol vessels of the Turkish Coast Guard have arrived to their home ports and started to their duties.

SG-701 TCSG Dost is located in Samsun and SG-703 TCSG Umut is located in Marmaris.  TCSG Dost started her duties in the Black Sea on 19 May 2013. It is not clear now when TCSG Umut will start her duties but I do not think it will take too long.

Both ships  were commissioned in Turkish Coast Guard on 5 April 2013.

The contract for the construction of 4 ships at RMK Marine Shipyard was signed on 16 January 2007. The keel of the first ship TCSG Dost was laid on 3 May 2008. She was launched on 9 June 2010 and was supposed to enter service last year. Similarly TCSG Umut was launched in 2011 and supposed to enter into service this year. So TCSG Dost is entering two years late and TCSG Umut is entering into service just about time.

These are the first large ships of the Turkish Coast Guard which never used any boat with a large displacement than 200 tons. Their primary task will be search and rescue missions on heavy seas and in bad weather conditions when the smaller boats cannot operate. Secondary missions will be showing the flag, patrolling the seas and prevention of smuggling.

This class of ships have fire fighting equipment and a hangar and a flight deck for helicopter operations.

SG-701 TCSG Dost in Samsun. Photo: Official Turkish General Staff Photo.

UPDATE: I have corrected the names of the ships. I should not be posting when tired.

First: The Russians are here. The long, west bound voyage of the Russian Pacific Fleet task force has ended. The ships have arrived in the Med and are in Cyprus for a well deserved rest.The Udaloy class destroyer Admiral Panteleyev, the Dubna class tanker Pechenga and the Baklazhan class tug Fotiy Krylov docked in Limassol Cyprus while the Rophucha class landing ships Peresvet and Admiral Nevelskoi remained on the high seas.

Τhree Russian warships from the Pacific fleet docked at Limassol port this morning, in the first such exit from the Suez canal in decades. The destroyer Admiral Panteleyev is 165 metres long and the tanker Pechenga 130 meters, accompanied by the support vessel Fotiy Krylov.

Two other amphibian vessels are also in the Mediterranean but no docking license has been requested from Cyprus. The three warships sailed from their base in Vladivostok on March 19 and will remain docked for three days for refuelling and personnel rest.

The other warships of the other fleets are active too. The Black Sea Fleet, large landing ship Azov has conducted a training with the North Fleet destroyer Severomorks in the Aegean.

In the central Aegean large anti ship Northern Fleet “Severomorsk” and large landing ship BSF “Azov” trained to test the interaction on the performance of common tasks. Ships the joint maneuvers performed and conducted training of communications and radio communications. At the same time, studies have been conducted with the struggle for survival and a number of measures of search and rescue support.

Click here for photos of Admiral Panteleyev in Limasol.

Second: Cyprus realized that it needs some kind of a navy at least to police its off shore gas and oil drilling rigs and wells. For this they will need some OPV’s with good duration and sea keeping as their mission will be old fashioned constabulary work on the high seas.

Buy two warships offshore to enhance shortly Navy Command of the National Guard for surveillance purposes Cypriot EEZ, announces the Cypriot Defence Minister Fotis Fotiou, in an interview with the newspaper “Politis”. 

The minister states that it can not proceed with its investigation and excavation of hydrocarbons, although there are no safety requirements. 

Also notes that despite the difficult economic situation, we find ways of strengthening the defense capability of the Republic, while promoting and creating strategic alliances with several countries, particularly Israel, because of common interests in the Eastern Mediterranean.

Two years ago Greece wanted to hand over 3 newly decommissioned  Votsis (La Combatante IIA or Type 148 ) class fast attack craft to Cyprus for EEZ surveillance and protection of natural gas reserves in the region. But Cyprus declined this offer as the offered vessels were not in a good condition.  Their new political ally Israel offered the brand new Saar S-72 class. Interestingly the Israeli navy also needs some cheap ships with good sea keeping in order to police their off shore assess. So may be the Cyprus will be the next customer for Israeli warships.

The design of a new mini-corvette presented by Israel Shipyards during the international exhibition naval systems IMDEX 2013 held in Singapore from 14 to 16 May 2013.

The new mini-corvette called Saar S-72 and is essentially a design evolution of rocket type vessels Saar (Saar 4, 4.5 and 5). Developed with the primary purpose of satisfying the requirements of maritime patrol and surveillance of exclusive economic zones, both Israel and other countries.

Noting that the situation Israel Shipyards developed the mini-corvette Saar S-72 which puts inline between Saar 4.5 and Saar 5. As for the coastguard forces or civilian missions the same design (800 tons displacement) is offered as a patrol offshore Offshore Patrol Vessel (OPV)

The participating ships left their port in Gölcük, Foça and Aksaz. The exercise will be conducted in the Marmara, the Aegean and the Eastern Mediterranean. 

According to Akşam newspaper F-243 TCG Yıldırım, F-244 TCG Barbaros, F-246 TCG Salihreis and F-511 TCG Heybeliada are taking part in the exercise.

The exercise will end on 3 June 2013.  Click here for the official announcement.

A-577 TCG Sokullu Mehmet Paşa, passing through Bosphorus in 2012.

The training ship A-577 TCG Sokullu Mehmet Paşa and the transporter A-1600 TCG İskenderun are in Odessa, Ukraine for a 3 day official visit.

The ships are carrying the students of the Turkish Naval Petty Officer Vocational School. Their first port of call was Samsun, Turkey. The ships will sail to Varna, Bulgaria after leaving Odessa.

According to the blog Ships Bk, this is the third time TCG Sokullu Mehmet Paşa visits Odessa and the first time for TCG İskenderun.

Alenia Aermacchi has signed an agreement with Savunma Sanayii Müsteşarlığı (SSM), the Turkish Undersecretariat for Defence Industries to deliver two ATR 72-600 TMUA (Turkish Maritime Utility Aircraft) and six ATR 72-600 TMPA (Turkish Maritime Patrol Aircraft) to the Turkish Navy. The contract calls for strong industrial collaboration between Alenia Aermacchi and Turkish Aerospace Industry (TAI) for the duration of the project.

But the magic lasted only one paragraph.

The agreement is an amendment to a previous deal between Alenia and the Turkish government for the delivery of 10 ATR 72-500 ASW to the Turkish Navy.The most important change into the contract amendment is the adoption of the new -600 version of the ATR 72, the best in class of regional Turboprop. The original contract was based on the now out of production ATR 72-500.

I think the whole Meltem acquisition project should be thought in business and project management courses as a case study as an example how not to run a project.

When the Project started in 1998, CASA was still an independent company; the C-295 has just made its maiden flight and its ASW version did not exist even in the dreams of the CASA/EADS/Airbus Military engineers. After 16 years we still do not have any fully operational ASW planes for our navy.

And it gets only worse. Last week the Alenia announced that they were going to delivery 8 new planes to Turkish Navy. This is actually BS as two of the planes will be two ATR 72-600 TMUA (Turkish Maritime Utility Aircraft) which means in plain English that these planes will carry neither weapons nor any sensors. They will be used cargo planes.

Thanks to the agreement, the Turkish Navy will obtain the last generation ATR72-600 equipped with a glass cockpit as well as more powerful engines that guarantee best performance and supportability for the next 30 years.

The two ATR 72-600TMUA–already in the modification phase at Alenia Aermacchi’s plant in Naples-Capodichino–will be used by the Turkish Navy for personnel and cargo transport and will be delivered in June and July 2013 .

In July 2005 a contract was signed to procure 10 ATR-72-500 planes for ASW missions, to be used by Turkish Navy after the first part of the program involving the CN-235 planes was stuck.  8 years later, the Italians realized that they cannot deliver the 10 planes to according to the deal done in the contract so they had to renegotiate the whole deal. Now we get 2 planes less but a newer version of the ATR-72 plane as production of the  -500 variant is discontinued in the mean time.

As the newer -600 version has improved engines it is believed that the performance of the -600 will be superior to the old -500 version. But this fact has to be proven first.

I must give my respects to the PR people of the SSM and Alenia as they deserved it by making a good news from the rotten state of the whole Meltem Project; that is some spin doctoring.

The Ropucha class landing ship 151 Azov passing through the Bosphorus on her way to the Mediterranean  Photo: Arda Mevlütoğlu. Used with permission.

As the Russian task force from The Pacific Fleet arrives the Mediterranean the crossing of the Black Sea and Baltic Fleet ships continue without any pause. According to Turkish news portals the Ropucha class large landing ships Azov, Kaliningrad and Alexander Shabalin have returned to their Black Sea base in 11 May 2013. Apparently it was a short stay as Azovis on her way the Mediterranean on 19 May 2013.

I thank my dear friend Arda Mevlütoğlu for this excellent shot of Azov.

So this is the latest tally of Russian warship movements

During a speech, Fleet Commander Vice-Admiral Alexander Fedotenkov, told that Russia plans to add 20 ships to its Black Sea Fleet

The Russian Black Sea Fleet will be updated and improved to ensure the country’s national security. Up to 20 new ships, submarines and boats will join it in the near future, Fleet Commander Vice-Admiral Alexander Fedotenkov said in connection with the 230th anniversary of the fleet to be marked on May 13. . . .

The latest guard ship Admiral Grigorovich of Project 11356 is expected to be launched in 2013 and placed in service in 2014. It will be the first in the series of six guard ships of the project with the Kalibr high-accuracy long-range missile system. The ships are named Admiral Essen, Admiral Makarov, Admiral Butakov, Admiral Istomin and Admiral Kornilov, the commander said.

The navy also expects to receive six new submarines of Project 636, the Varshavyanka class. The first three will be named Novorossiisk, Rostov-on-Don and Stary Oskol, the vice-admiral said, adding that seven more various-purpose naval boats and other ships would join the fleet.

I am going straight to the point: I am very suspicious about the recent news and announcement on the Russian naval rearmament.

The Russians talk the talk but when it comes to deliver, there is nothing much to see.

Back in January, when the newest Russian  intercontinental ballistic  missile carrying nuclear powered submarine Yury Dolgoruky, was commissioned Russian President Mr. Putin said that the commissioning of the new submarines is part of an ambitious arms modernization program that envisages spending more than 20 trillion rubles ($657 billion) on new weapons through 2020. Mr Putin also said that 4 trillion rubles ($132 billion) of that money will be spent on commissioning the new submarines and other navy ships.

The plans have become more specific in March. How we have a more detailed plan and a list of the future projects.

Russia will get 78 warships in total by the end of 2020, said Russian Minister of Defense Sergey Shoigu as reported by RIA Novosty. According to Sergey Shoigu, military technology delivery is specified in the State Armaments Program of the Russian Federation. Within the frame of the Program the Russian Navy will receive 8 strategic nuclear-powered submarines, 16 general purpose-built submarines and 54 surface warships of varied classes.

As reported in the beginning of January 2013, the Russian Navy will receive 24 warships by 2016: 6 nuclear-powered submarines and 18 surface ships.

Currently Russian shipyards are building Yasen-class nuclear multipurpose attack submarines, Borei-class nuclear-powered ballistic missile submarines, Lada and Varshavyanka classes of diesel-electric submarines, Project 1135.6 frigates, Project 20380 corvettes, Project 21631 missile-equipped ships, Mistral class amphibious assault ships.

In February 2011 Vladimir Popovkin, who held a post of First Deputy Minister of Defence, told journalists, that by 2020 military department had to buy 100 surface ships and submarines: 20 submarines, 35 corvettes and 15 frigates in particular.

I must admit that the number are very very impressive. 78 warships of various classes worth of 4 trillion rubles ($132 billion). This is very ambitious.

Mr. Galrahn, of the famous naval blog Information Dissemination, estimates that until 2020 Russia will spend as much as US Navy spends for new ship construction.

That means Russia will supposedly spend $16.5 billion US on shipbuilding for the rest of the decade through 2020. They plan on building lots of smaller warships, submarines, and all types of auxiliary vessels – and sometimes they suggest they will build capital ships, but I’ll believe that when I see it.

But the key point is that Russia continues to publicly state they will spend $16.5 billion US annual average through 2020 for naval shipbuilding. According to Eric Labs at CBO, the US Navy plans to spend an average of $11.8 billion on naval shipbuilding from 2013-2017 and an average of $18.5 billion on naval shipbuilding from 2018-2022, resulting in a 10 year average for naval shipbuilding of $16.8 billion from 2013-2022.

While I don’t have the specific numbers that Eric Labs does, by my estimates it looks to me like that if Russia really is spending $16.5 billion US from 2013-2020 on shipbuilding, they will spend more money on average through 2020 on naval shipbuilding this decade than the US Navy will.

So there is the political will and backing from most politically powerful rulers of Russia and apparently there is money. But will the political backing and money sufficient to realize these grandiose dreams plans? Under normal circumstances money and political will should be enough. But this right this point is where my suspicion kicks in.

Because since the end of the Cold War the Russian naval shipbuilding failed again and again to deliver a modern warship that can compete in today’s naval engagement scenarios and fulfills the expectations of the end-user: The Russian Navy.

The construction of Yuri Dolgoruky, the first submarine of the Borei class started in 1995 but was slowed down by a post-Soviet economic meltdown, and it wasn’t until 2009 that it finally entered sea trials. The submarine’s commissioning was delayed further by problems with the new Bulava intercontinental ballistic missile intended to arm it. It took Russian military industrial complex 18 years to solve the problems of the new submarine and its main weapon.

It has been reported that, 3 Project 636 Varshavyanka (NATO code name Kilo) class submarines are being constructed for the Russian Black Sea Fleet instead of the newer Project 677 Lada class. The Kilo class submarines were designed before the collapse of the Soviet Union. They have been update ever since but they are not new. If the Russian Navy prefers a 20 year old design over the newer Lada submarines we can assume that the newer design is not satisfactory.

Two promising warships projects started after the Cold War and produced actual ships in commission are facing important difficulties  The Project 20380 Steregushchiy was terminated after 2 ships have been commissioned and 4 ships have been ordered. The Project 20380 corvettes have also been criticized by some experts because of their little arms and the weakness of their propulsion system. These criticisms are based on the experience gained through the first unit, Stereguschy. Its follow up Project 20385 is also a disappointment for the Russian Navy as finds the uselessness rather limited and the cost too high. The corvette Gremyaschy will probably remain as the sole copy of Project 20385. The Staff of the Russian Navy has decided to stop the continuation of the construction of these stealth corvettes, because of the high cost (unit cost between 14 billion (€ 350 million) and 18 billion (€ 450 million) rubles). The Staff of the Russian Navy also believes these ships are not sufficiently armed to fulfill their assigned missions.

The Russian Navy ordered, 3 units of Project 11356 class frigates to be commissioned in the Black Sea Fleet. The Project 11356 better know as the Talwar class of Indian Navy are based on the 34 years old Krivak class frigates. The Talwar class was designed and constructed by Russian shipyards solely for the Indian Navy. The success of this class must have convinced the Russian Navy to order it. It is remarkable that Russian Navy chose an old but proven design that was developed for export to a foreign country than a new design made purely for them.

Another problem of the Russian naval shipbuilding complex is timely delivery of the ships.

Russian shipyards are testing the patience of the Navy: admission to active duty units in new naval forces last year fall short of targets set for 2012.

 Russian shipyards are struggling to fulfill orders from the Ministry of Defence in a timely manner, while for export, the timing seems more strict, except for the aircraft carrier INS Vikramaditya (former Gorshkov Soviet PA) where notion of calendar seems long since faded.

 In 2012, the Russian Navy would have to admit at least 6 new units to active duty: 3 submarines and surface vessels 3. This is the K-535 SSBN Yury Dolgoruky (Project 955 Borei), the K-550 SSBN Alexander Nevsky (Project Borei 0955) and K-329 SSGNSeverodvinsk (Project 885 Yasen). For surface ships, it is multi-purpose frigate Admiral Gorshkov (Project 22350), and corvettes and Boïki Stoïki (Project 20380). However, during the year 2012, the Russian Navy has only received SSBN K-535   Yury Dolgoruky .Even if the delivery is a major event, it is the first SSBN be commissioned in the Russian Navy for almost 20 years, it should not be forgotten as the difficulties faced by the industrial Russian naval.

The other five units must be delivered and in 2013 the late Admiral Gorshkov frigate the was announced in November 2013, while the K-329 Severodvinsk launched in June 2010, will resume testing to the sea as soon as weather conditions permit. As for the K-550Alexander Nevsky (launched in December 2010), it should do a shot of the new strategic ballistic missile Bulava in the month of July. Some source announced its delivery delayed to 2014.

We just have to wait and see how much of the grandiose dreams of naval rearmament will become reality.

The Russian Dergach class corvette 615 RFS Bora in Bosphorus.

As reported earlier last week we had an unusual guest. The Russian Dergach class air cushion corvette 615 RFS Bora made her maiden foreign visit to Istanbul during the IDEF 2013 defense exhibition.
I don’t know if the ship has received any visitors, as she was docked almost 30 kilometers (18 miles) away from the exhibition center.

I was able to take the photos of RFS Bora on her very last moments in Istanbul, during her deployment back to Russia. The ship is heavily armed with 8 SS-N-22 Sunburn supersonic missiles, one 76mm gun, two 30mm close in weapon systems and SA-N-4 Gecko SAM missiles. I was not on board so I have no idea about the inside of the ship but judging the size and the armaments and sensors she is carrying I do not think that there is much space left for the crew to live.

With her foils inside the water she can make up to 56 knots. It is not  an easy feature to accelerate a 1000 ton warship to speeds as high as this.

Today the Alligator class landing ship Nikolay Filchenkov passed through the Dardanelles and entered into Marmara Sea. I was not aware that she had returned to the Mediterranean after I have seen in January.

The Alligator class landing ship Nikolay Filchenkov passing through the Dardanelles. Photo: Ahmet Güven. Used with Permission.

The Alligator class landing ship Nikolay Filchenkov passing through the Dardanelles. Photo: Ahmet Güven. Used with Permission.

The Nikolay Filchenkov was not the only Russian warship seen in Turkish Straits today. The floating repair ship Amur class PM-56 passed through the Bosphorus. This ship seem to have more than enough antennas for a floating repair ship; very peculiar.

The Amur Class Repair Ship PM-56 passing through the Bosphorus. Photo: Eser Çelebiler. Used with permission.

The Amur Class Repair Ship PM-56 passing through the Bosphorus. Photo: Eser Çelebiler. Used with permission.

As reported earlier, tomorrow the Dergach (Project 1239) class air cushion patrol vessel 615  Bora will arrive in Istanbul for a 5 day visit. She will be attending the IDEF-13 defense exhibition.

So this is the latest tally of Russian warship movements

The renowned Pakistani Naval expert and journalist Usman Ansari mentioned in his article in the May issue of the Warships International, about the Aman 2013 exercise, that Pakistani Navy has acquired the GENESIS combat management system for its Perry class frigate F-260 PNS Alamgir.

This is the first official acknowledgement that Turkey has sold the GENESIS CMS to Pakistani Navy, thought this has been rumored in Turkish for a couple of years. This is the first export success of the GENESIS CMS.

GENESIS was conceived by the Research, Project Development, Department of Turkish Navy. They built a prototype as a proof of concept and developed the system to the full extend.  After the system got enough maturity the GENESIS project was handed over to Turkish defence contractor Havelsan for further improvement, serial production and international marketing.

The GENESIS was created to update the old CIC of the Perry class frigates and replace all legacy consoles, displays with modern multifunction operator consoles. More importantly with the implementation of GENESIS all existing sensors and weapon systems of the Perry class frigates will be able to communicate with each other.  This system enhances the ships’ situation awareness and accelerates the defense capabilities, decreasing the detect-to-engage reaction time by more than half.

F-492 TCG Gemlik was the first ship to receive the GENESIS system.

As is GENESIS is marketable to almost all second-hand PERRY class frigate users. Thus Pakistani Navy becomes the first foreign user of the GENESIS CMS. Of course important questions like when the deal was signed what is the value of the contract what is the delivery time line are remain unanswered yet.