Three İSTİF-class frigates built under Türkiye’s MİLGEM national warship program have sailed together at sea, the head of the country’s defense procurement agency said on Sept. 27, as the ships move through trials ahead of planned delivery to the navy by the end of 2026.
Haluk Görgün, president of the Presidency of Defense Industries (SSB), posted images of the ships on his social media account to mark Navy Day and the 488th anniversary of the Battle of Preveza. He said the three frigates were built simultaneously at three separate shipyards and launched in 2025, with local content above 80 percent.
“We are carrying the maritime legacy left to us by Barbaros Hayreddin Pasha and our heroic sailors into the future with our engineering capabilities, which enable us to design, build and equip our own ships,” Görgün said. “The newest representatives of this legacy at sea are our MİLGEM İSTİF-class frigates.”
More than 50 warships under construction
Görgün said the defense industry is building more than 50 warships at the same time for the Turkish Navy and for friendly and allied countries.
“These projects, taking shape in various shipyards and bringing together the capabilities of hundreds of our companies, demonstrate Türkiye’s design, production and integration capabilities in naval platforms,” he said. “We continue to transform this legacy into a deterrent force through our national engineering.”
Status of the three frigates
Görgün did not name the ships in his post. The İSTİF-class ships launched in 2025 are TCG İZMİR (F-516), TCG İZMİT (F-517) and TCG İÇEL (F-518), which are being built at the Anadolu, Sedef and Sefine shipyards by the STM-TAİS joint venture.
- TCG İZMİR (F-516): The second ship of the class was launched at Anadolu Shipyard in Tuzla in January 2025 and began sea acceptance trials on Aug. 10.
- TCG İZMİT (F-517): Built at Sedef Shipyard and launched on Jan. 11, 2025. The Ministry of National Defense said at its weekly press briefing that the ship’s trials began on Sept. 15. It will enter service as the seventh ship of the MİLGEM program.
- TCG İÇEL (F-518): Built at Sefine Shipyard in Altınova, Yalova, and launched on Sept. 1, 2025. Outfitting and system integration are continuing.
Under current plans, all three are due to join the navy’s inventory by the end of 2026.
The lead ship, TCG İSTANBUL (F-515), was delivered to the navy on Jan. 19, 2024. STM General Manager Özgür Güleryüz said at an earlier launch ceremony that TCG İSTANBUL had been delivered with a domestic content rate of 80 percent.
“With the localization steps we are taking on the other ships we are launching today and will build in the future, we will raise this rate above 80 percent,” Güleryüz said.
Domestic sensors and weapons
The İSTİF-class frigates carry a largely Turkish-made combat suite:
- Length: 113.2 meters
- Displacement: about 3,000 tons
- Range: 5,700 nautical miles at 14 knots
- Main radar: ASELSAN’s CENK-S active electronically scanned array (AESA) radar, built on gallium nitride (GaN) technology
- Combat management system: HAVELSAN’s ADVENT
- Vertical launch system: ROKETSAN’s MİDLAS
The range figure gives the frigates longer endurance on the open sea than the ADA-class corvettes that preceded them in the MİLGEM program.
MİDLAS was developed as a domestic replacement for the U.S.-made Mk 41 vertical launch system. TCG İSTANBUL has engaged an aerial target with a HİSAR-D RF missile fired from the launcher. The system is also described as able to fire other missiles, including the ATMACA, SİPER and ESSM.
Exports to Indonesia
Türkiye will export two İSTİF-class frigates to Indonesia. Which hulls will be delivered has not been officially announced.
News reports published in January 2026 claimed that İZMİR and İÇEL, both built for the Turkish Navy, would be transferred to Indonesia. Under current plans, however, İZMİR, İZMİT, İÇEL and KARADENİZ (F-520) will join the Turkish Navy, while hulls F-519 and F-521 are expected to be delivered to Indonesia in 2027-2028.
With several series-production ships in trials at once, the program is approaching the delivery stage. The new frigates will add AESA radars and a Turkish-made vertical launch system to the navy’s air defense capacity at sea.
