(AA Photo)
Türkiye and Egypt are discussing a project to jointly build warships, as the two countries conduct a naval exercise in the Eastern Mediterranean this week, signaling growing defense cooperation between the two sides.
The distinguished visitors’ day of the Friendship Sea-2026 Exercise, jointly organized by the Turkish Naval Forces Command and the Egyptian Naval Forces Command, was held off the coast of Alexandria on Nov. 9.
“By taking our defense industry cooperation in the maritime domain to a more advanced stage, we aim to undertake joint shipbuilding activities with Egypt under the MİLGEM Project, similar to the cooperation we have established with Pakistan,” Turkish Naval Forces Commander Admiral Ercüment Tatlıoğlu said during his speech.
“We believe this approach will elevate relations between the naval forces of the two countries to a more comprehensive and lasting partnership,” he added.
MİLGEM (National Ship) Project is one of Türkiye’s flagship domestic defense industry initiatives, launched to reduce the country’s reliance on foreign suppliers in military shipbuilding and enable the design and production of modern warships required by the Turkish Navy using domestic capabilities.
Under the Pakistan MİLGEM (Babur-class) Project, an agreement was signed in 2018 between Pakistan’s Ministry of Defense Production and Turkish defense company ASFAT.
The deal ranks among the largest single military ship export agreements in the history of the Turkish Republic.
The contract covers the construction of four advanced corvettes, along with spare parts, personnel training and ammunition packages. It also includes a comprehensive transfer of technology and know-how to Pakistan.
