Alwaght- Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan reiterated his country’s goal of self-sufficiency in defense as he launched a warship on Monday.
“We will build our own aircraft carriers,” he said, speaking at the launching ceremony of the Kinaliada Corvette, at the Istanbul navy shipyard.
The warship has been manufactured locally under the Turkish military’s MILGEM project.
Erdogan added Turkey will not tolerate attempts to block its military initiatives.
"As a country that aims to become independent in the field of defense by 2023, we must move even faster,” he said.
“We are proud of our ability to build military ships, especially construction of submarines,” he said, adding that Turkey was among the 10 countries in the world capable of designing and manufacturing military vessels.
Erdogan said 14 projects for the construction of military ships were in the pipeline, while 10 more projects will be signed in the coming years.
He said the government attaches importance to the navy for resolving the dangers developing in the region.
Erdogan also talked about Turkey's defense industry aims. “In 2016, Turkey achieved $5 billion in production and $1.6 billion in exports, which is important but well below our targets,” he said.
Amid strained ties with US-led NATO military alliance, Turkey has been diversifying the sourcing of military equipment from non-NATO members.
On Sunday, Vladimir Kozhin, Russian presidential adviser on military and technical cooperation said the contract on the delivery of Russian-made S-400 air defense systems to Turkey has been agreed, but there is still no decision on a loan Moscow can provide to Ankara for the purchase. The Russian missile defense systems are expected to replace the Nike systems which has been in service in NATO countries since the 1960s.
Officials in Ankara say this modernization is important because the current missile defense systems cannot comply with Turkey’s security needs.
Meanwhile, Turkey is set to buy 52 Super Mushshak training planes from Pakistan Aeronautical Complex - Kamra, to replace the US-made T-41 and Italian-made SF-260 planes currently in use, a statement by Ankara's defense under secretariat said in early May.
This would be the first time a NATO country has used Super Mushshak planes, the statement added.
The announcement was made as Turkey and Pakistan signed a memorandum of understanding for the sale of four Turkish made corvette warships and 52 Pakistan-made training planes for Ankara's armed forces.
