Turkish Dearsan Shipyard To Build Two FAC 50 Ships For The Qatari Emiri Navy
Last week, Qatar’s Ministry of Defense signed a contract with Turkish Dearsan Shipyard to supply two FAC 50 ships to the Emirati Navy. The signing ceremony was attended by Qatar Naval Forces Commander Major General Abdullah bin Hassan Al Sulaiti, Turkish Defense Industry Agency President Prof. Dr. Haluk Görgün, and Dearsan Chairman Aziz Yıldırım at the DIMDEX 2024 International Naval Defense Fair in Doha.
In a statement to an AA correspondent, DEARSAN Business Development Manager Erkan Yeniçeri stated that the signing ceremony marked the culmination of a six-year business development process with Qatar Naval Forces. Yeniçeri stated that the total number of ships will reach 5 with three ships of different configurations in the future, in addition to the two assault boats within the scope of the project, and that these ships will significantly improve the Qatar Navy’s surface and air warfare capabilities.
The ships being built for the Qatar Navy will be used for a wide range of missions, including asymmetric warfare, patrol missions, territorial water protection, anti-piracy operations, reconnaissance and surveillance, search and rescue, disaster relief operations, border control, base and port security, surface warfare, and air defense warfare. The ships, which will be equipped with Roketsan’s ÇAKIR missile system against surface threats and Roketsan’s SUNGUR missile system against air targets, will also include two stabilized 12.7-millimeter machine guns, ASELSAN’s MAR-D 3D search radar, ASELSAN’s AHTAPOT electro-optical binoculars, Chaff and Decoy systems.
According to Dearsan Business Development Manager Erkan Yeniçeri, the shipyard will start the construction of the first ship designed specifically to meet QENF regulations within eight months, following preliminary and critical design studies. Following that, the shipyard will deliver the first ship to Qatar in 39 months and the second in 42 months.
Dearsan Shipyard is currently constructing two OPV 76 offshore patrol vessels and a Tuzla-class patrol boat for the Nigerian Navy. The shipyard laid the keel for the first ship in September 2022, and it was launched in October 2023. The company will also modernize the Nigerian Navy’s flagship, the NNS Aradu.