On 2 January 2025, during the customary weekly press conference, a spokesman for the Turkish Ministry of Defence announced the first steel cuttings for three naval programmes: MUGEM (concerning the new indigenous aircraft carrier), TF-2000 (a major vessel dedicated to anti-aircraft/anti-missile defence) and MILDEN, the latter concerning a new class of conventionally powered submarines.
In Turkish, MILDEN stands for MILli DENizalti, meaning ‘national submarine’. The steel cutting ceremony took place in the Turkish Navy arsenal in Golcuk, located in the eastern offshoot of the Sea of Marmara. The MILDEN programme represents the culmination of an ambitious effort for the Turkish military industry, which is also engaged in the production of systems and equipment intended for this new class of submarines.
According to Turkish sources, the development programme started in 2012, with the participation of the Turkish Navy's technical bodies and with the finalisation of the project taking place in 2024. A team of specialised engineers and technicians have conceived a boat 80 m long and with a displacement of about 2,700 t, therefore larger than those of the 6 REIS class boats (one in line and another 5 under construction in Golcuk).
The general aspect of the MILDEN is reminiscent of the REIS, which in turn has been adapted to Turkish needs using the German TYPE 214 project as base design. The MILDEN will be fitted with a fuel cell AIP system, while the vessels' equipment will include domestically produced weapon systems, such as the AKYA heavy torpedoes (to counter surface and underwater units), the ATAMCA long-range anti-ship missiles and probably also the GEZGIN land-attack cruise missiles, currently under development and likely to be launched from a group of vertical tubes positioned aft of the counter-ship.
The MILDEN model exhibited at the SAHA 2024 show in Istanbul last October depicted a vertical launch of a missile, as well as a UUV (Unmanned Uderwater Vehicle) positioned on deck. The MILDEN is scheduled for delivery within the first half of the next decade, but the exact number of units that will be built is not yet known.
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