BUSAN, June 04 (AJU PRESS) - Türkiye’s corvette-class warship TCG Kinaliada arrived in the southern port city of Busan Tuesday as part of its Asian tour of 20 countries. The Turkish homemade warship will stay docked at Korea’s Fleet Command port for two days before it heads to Japan.
The Embassy of Türkiye in the Republic of Korea and the Turkish Naval Forces officials held an on-board press conference on Kinaliada and explained the purpose of the Asian Tour and the crews' plans in Korea.
"TCG Kinaliada is conducting port visits in order to demonstrate the capabilities of the Turkish Naval Forces, promote our national platforms, and improve bilateral relations with the countries that have been visited and to be visited," Türkiye's Lieutenant Commander Burak Duzalan, the executive officer of TCG Kinaliada, told reporters inside the ship's briefing room.
As part of Türkiye's MILGEM project for homemade warship development, the construction of Kinaliada began at a shipyard in Tuzla, Istanbul in October 2015 and the ship was launched in July 2017. Duzalan provided information about the warship's gear, emphasizing that many of the ship's arsenals were localized and tested for combat.
With a displacement of 2,400 long tons, the corvette is powered by two diesel engines and a gas turbine with an output of 47,000 horsepower. It boasts a range of 6,500 kilometers (4,038 miles) at 15 knots (28 kilometers per hour). Kinaliada accommodates a crew of 93 with a capacity for up to 106 seamen.
Kinaliada was built on Türkiye's first modern ship platform, which houses a network-supported combat management system. The system facilitates communication between the ship and its headquarters, enabling data exchanges and coordination with other linked vessels.
"This is the longest voyage which Kinaliada has ever been on, and this is really a historic task for her as we have visited many ports and countries," Lieutenant Commander Duzalan told Aju Press, adding: "It really is a significant task. We have reached approximately the half way of the journey and it will take another two and a half months to reach our home port."
The Turkish naval officer stressed that Kinaliada is the brainchild of Türkiye's defense industry has been going through a reform designed to increase the adoption of homemade hardware and software. "This trip is a reflection and the perfect example of the improvement made in our defense industry," Duzalan said.
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