TCG ARİF EKMEKÇİ (A-575) Logistics Support Ship Begins Sea Trials
After the flag ceremony at ADA Shipyard, TCG ÜTĞM ARİF EKMEK (A-575), the second ship of Turkey’s Logistics Support Ship Project launched by the Turkish Defense Industry Agency (SSB), left the port for its first sea trials.
The tender for two Logistics Support Ships for the Turkish Naval Forces, launched by the Turkish Defense Industry Agency on July 17, 2012, saw a contact signed with Selah Shipyard on November 24, 2014. The TCG A-574 Logistics Support Ship, the project’s first ship, began construction on March 25, 2015 and was launched on October 8, 2016. The TCG Ütgm. Arif Emekçi, the project’s second ship, was launched on July 7, 2017. After Selah Shipyard went bankrupt in 2019, due to financial constraints, the unfinished ships could not be delivered to the navy.
Following the signing of an agreement between the Defense Industry Agency and STM for the completion of the ships awaiting completion in the long-bankrupt shipyard, equipment activities for the two unfinished logistics support ships began in early 2021. STM is the project’s main contractor, in charge of program management, procurement, assembly, ship equipment, integration, tests, and integrated logistics support. The logistics support ship project’s first ship, TCG YZB GÜNGÖR DURMUŞ (A-574), was tested over the course of just 8 months, passing all performance tests along the way, and on December 8, 2021, was delivered to the Turkish Naval Forces Command. The project’s second ship, ÜTĞM ARİF EKMEKÇİ (A-575), is scheduled to be delivered in the first quarter of 2024.
These ships have a length of 106.51 meters and a breadth of 16.80 meters, according to STM, and they will improve the Turkish Navy’s supply and logistics capabilities. A 15-ton utility helicopter can land and resupply on the helicopter platform of these logistics support ships with a crew capacity of 82 personnel. These vessels have a cruise range of 9500 nautical miles, a speed of 12+ nautical miles, and are equipped with two 12.7mm ASELSAN STAMP weapon systems. The ships, which are outfitted with cranes with a lifting capacity of 18 tons, can carry 8 containers, 631 tons of drinking water, 336 tons of JP-5 helicopter fuel, and 4,036 tons of F-76 fuel.