Turkish Navy’s first Hisar-class offshore patrol vessel ready for launch

The Turkish Navy's first-ever offshore patrol vessel (OPV), the Hisar-class project's lead ship was spotted at the Istanbul Naval Shipyard. The future TCG Akhisar (P-1220) is ready for launch.

Emre Koray Gencsoy, the Naval Programs Director of ASFAT (the main contractor of the project), shared the photos of the future TCG Akhisar and stated that the ship is ready for the launch ceremony, Naval News reports.

“Only 15 months after the steel-cutting, TCG Akhisar, with most of its equipment fitted and its power system ready, awaits the launching ceremony,” Emre Koray Gencsoy, the Naval Programs Director of ASFAT, said.

The steel-cutting ceremony of the OPV took place on August 15, 2021, and a scale model of the ship was first exhibited at the IDEF 2021 expo in Istanbul between August 17 and 21, 2021. In April 2022, the Turkish Ministry of Defence announced that block construction of the lead vessel of the class, the future TCG Akhisar, has begun at the Istanbul Naval Shipyard.

Under the Offshore Patrol Vessel Project, initiated to meet the needs of the Turkish Naval Forces, the construction of 10 vessels is planned. The first ship is scheduled to be launched in 2023. Developed as a variant of the MİLGEM-class corvettes, the Hisar class OPV has been redesigned with a different main propulsion system and a different structural and general layout concept, allowing it to be built in a shorter time and at a lower cost.

The primary missions of the OPVs to be built are intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (ISR), search and rescue (SAR), counterterrorism, maritime interdiction operations (MIO), and maritime special operations. Other missions include naval air operations, electronic and acoustic warfare, land bombardment, defence against asymmetric threats, maritime traffic protection, and support and training for amphibious operations.

The Hisar-class OPV is being built using the “fitted for but not with” concept, which allows for the integration of newly developed indigenous weapon and sensor systems. The OPV, which can accommodate a total of 104 people, will have a range of 4500 nautical miles with its CODELOD (COmbined Diesel-eLectric Or Diesel) main propulsion system.

Hisar-class OPV specification:

• Overall length:99,56 meters
• Beam:14,42 meters
• Draft:3,77 meters
• Maximum speed:24 knots
• Displacement:2300 tons

About Hisar-class:

The rendering shared by ASFAT indicates a heavily armed ship compared to average OPVs. According to the rendering, the OPVs will be equipped with anti-ship missiles (likely ATMACA or CAKIR), a 2×4 vertical launch system to launch surface-to-air missiles (probably Hisar family air defence missiles), a Gökdeniz close-in weapon system (CIWS), a 76-mm gun, and a small missile launcher, likely to launch laser-guided L-UMTAS missiles.

Considering the Turkish Ministry of Defence’s announcement marking the commencement of the construction of the OPV which indicated a “fitted but not with” design approach, it’s unclear whether the above weapons will be installed on the first ship, as officials didn’t provide specifics on the armament and sensor equipment of the OPVs.