Turkey's defence ministry said on Thursday construction work had started on its first indigenous submarine (the Milden class), adding that Ankara had also completed its first sale of a corvette warship to a NATO ally by inking an agreement with Romania.
NATO member Turkey, which has ramped up defence industry production and cut dependence on foreign providers, said last week that contractors had begun building its indigenous TF-2000 naval air defence destroyer. It will be part of the planned "steel dome" multi-layered air defence system.
At its weekly briefing, the ministry said the ASFAT company operating under its jurisdiction had inked a deal with Romania's defence ministry to export one Akhisar light corvette, marking the first such sale by Turkey to a NATO ally.
"Following the construction of the first block of the TF-2000 air defense destroyer at our Istanbul Shipyard Command, construction of the first test block of our national submarine (Milden) has begun at our Golcuk Shipyard Command," it added.
(Reporting by Tuvan Gumrukcu; Editing by Jonathan Spicer)
