By @hermes_z
A Striking Example of the Importance of Domestic and National Defense Industry
The four MEKO200HN class frigates (Hydra) owned by Greece are identical to the four MEKO class (Barbaros) ships in Turkey’s inventory.
Turkey is carrying out the modernization of these ships with its own means, thanks to its national and domestic defense industry.
On the other hand, Greece was unable to modernize these ships with its own means and had to seek support from Germany. Initially, Germany had estimated a cost of 600 million euros to Greece for this modernization.
However, this amount has now been updated and increased to 800 million euros. Moreover, the Germans do not modernize as much as we do in this budget. Therefore, Greece’s ships are still 1995 models. On the other hand, woe betide anyone who actually falls into the hands of the Germans. And the French, we will talk about that below.
A cost of 200 million euros per ship. According to the Greek media, it is doubtful that it will be limited to this. Turkey builds such a ship, fully equipped, for 300 million dollars.
Since Greece has not yet been able to fully fund the necessary budget for modernization (the parliament does not approve it either), its ships remain as they entered service in the 1990s.
Turkey, on the other hand, took further steps in this process and continued to update its ships and was able to integrate new indigenous missiles. For example, we can integrate the Atmaca missile on board. Since the same frigates of Greece have not been modernized, the new version of the American-made Harpoon missile, which is the counterpart of Atmaca, cannot be installed due to a weight problem. This problem stands out as one of the technical difficulties Greece faces in the modernization process.
In contrast, the Atmaca missile could be integrated into Turkish ships, which gave Turkey an advantage in the modernization process.
Turkey’s defense industry is also highly competitive in terms of cost and performance. For example, it costs Greece €1.2 billion to buy a frigate from France. Despite these huge costs, the modernization process also faces technical challenges.
In contrast, the Turkish frigate TCG Istanbul costs a maximum of 550 million dollars. With the same amount of money, Turkey can build four zero-kilometer Stack-class frigates.
For example, with the same budget, 10 Hisar Class Offshore Patrol Vessels equipped with frigate armament can be purchased for 150-200 million dollars each.
The aim is not to make a comparison with the Greeks. The real purpose is to draw attention to the importance of the Domestic and National Defense Industry.
The Turkish defense industry, which exports ships to many countries such as Malaysia, Pakistan, Ukraine, Romania and Nigeria, offers cost-effective solutions and is one of the world’s leading exporters.
