Turkey has become aware of Greece's undersea superiority in the Aegean and SE Mediterranean, mainly thanks to our 4 state-of-the-art Papanikoli-class 214 submarines, out of a total of 11 at our disposal, which is a major obstacle to its plans to conduct a large-scale amphibious operation, with for the purpose of occupying our islands.
The Turkish Navy has a fleet of 12 submarines, consisting of four Ay-class (Type 209/1200), four Preveze-class (Type 209T/1400) and four Gür-class (Type 209T2/1400), all conventional (diesel -electric) attack submarines, but none of the 214 class.
Realizing the above, the Turks proceeded to draw up the following programs for the construction of new submarines as well as the modernization of their existing ones.
The Turkish Reis submarine program
So the Turks decided that from this year onwards, one submarine will be commissioned every year and 6 Reis class submarines will be delivered to the Turkish navy by 2027.
The initial delivery schedule for the submarines is:
TCG Piri Reis – 2022
TCG Hizir Reis – 2023
TCG Murat Reis – 2024
TCG Aydin Reis – 2025
TCG Seydi Ali Reis – 2026
TCG Selman Reis – 2027
It seems that the Piri Reis, which will be the first independent propulsion submarine of the Turkish Navy, will enter service in the first half of 2023.
According to a reputable Turkish defense media, "under the PREVEZE Class Mid-Life Submarine Modernization Project, systems acceptance activities have been successfully completed"
In the "Half-Life" Modernization Project, 4 PREVEZE Class Submarines, the acceptance activities of some critical systems under the responsibility of STM were successfully completed.
In addition, STM took responsibility for the platform integration of the HAVELSAN Advent-Müren combat management system, which will also be integrated into the Gür-class submarines.
Under the leadership of the Presidency of the Defense Industry Presidency of the Republic of Turkey (SSB), STM Defense Technologies Engineering and Trade Inc., which plays an important role in Turkey's defense industry, continues its efforts to equip the Turkish Navy Command with national systems.
In the PREVEZE-YÖM project, which includes the modernization of 4 Preveze-class submarines, STM successfully tested the sea acceptance experiences of the inertial navigation system on TCG Preveze (S-353), CTD detectors, cold water system and static converters, completing the acceptance activities of these systems on March 2, 2023.
The project as a whole covers the modernization of the submarines TCG Preveze (S-353), TCG Sakarya (S-354), TCG 18 Mart (S-355) and TCG Anafartalar (S-356), which are in the inventory of the Naval Forces Command .
With the contract signed between TÜBİTAK Bilgem and STM on February 28, 2023, the National Battle Management System platform integration responsibility was given to STM and concerns the Advent-Müren Battle Management System Integration Project for Gür-class submarines.
The contract was originally signed between TÜBİTAK Bilgem and the Naval Forces Command on December 5, 2022 for the Advent Müren Combat Management System and the AKYA Integration Project for Gür-class submarines.
The Preveze and Ay class submarines, which have the MUREN Combat Management System (SYS) family, were equipped with the national AKYA torpedo firing capability.
With the contract signed between TÜBİTAK Bilgem and the Naval Forces Command, the aforementioned capability will be transferred to the Gür-class submarines and the warfare management system, which is the brain of the submarines, will be modernized with national means.
STM Director General Özgür GÜLERYÜZ stated that STM has achieved many firsts in Turkey in the fields of submarine design, construction and modernization and said:
"With our specialized manpower and technology, we carry out important studies for the submarines of our Navy and our sister countries. In one of them, the PREVEZE-YÖM Project, we successfully passed the acceptance activities of four systems and signed a new agreement with TÜBİTAK BİLGEM to transfer our national engineering experience gained in the Ay and Preveze class submarine modernization projects to the Gür class submarines."
Our assessment is that despite the Turkish efforts, the Greek sovereignty in submarine warfare in the Aegean for the next few years is not expected to be shaken, which is a significant obstacle to the Turkish plans to carry out a large-scale amphibious operation with the aim of occupying our islands.
