Turkish Shipyard Dearsan and The Nigerian Navy Have Agreed On The Refurbishment of The ARADU (F98) Frigate and Procurement of A Tuzla Class Patrol Boat
On Tuesday, June 6, the Turkish DEARSAN Shipyard and the Nigerian Naval Forces Command signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) for the remodeling/refurbishment of ARADU (F98), the 40-year-old flagship of the Nigerian Navy. Members of the Senate of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, Officials of the Ministry of Defense, Commander of the Naval Forces Vice Admiral A.Z. Gambo, Naval Forces Headquarters staff and Dearsan Chairman Aziz Yıldırım and company executives attended the signing ceremony held in Abuja, the capital of Nigeria.
The DEARSAN shipyard in Tuzla will carry out the modernization of the MEKO 360 class NNS ARADU Frigate. Originally built in Germany by the Blohm & Voss Shipyard, the vessels has a length of 125 meters and a displacement of 3500 tons, it entered service with the Nigerian Navy in 1982. Within the scope of the project, outdated and obsolete systems, equipment, and devices will be repaired or replaced with modern equivalents, and the ship will be brought up to modern standards. DEARSAN will also deliver a Tuzla Class Patrol Boat to the Nigerian Naval Forces Command under the same contract. The Patrol Boat, which will be used by the Nigerian Navy for tasks such as base and port security, intelligence gathering, reconnaissance and surveillance, combating illegal immigration and smuggling, and natural resource conservation, will be equipped with Surface Warfare, Air Defense Warfare, and Asymmetric Warfare weapon systems.
Dearsan Shipyard issued a statement regarding the contract in question, stating, “We are happy and proud that our platform, which has the distinction of being Turkey’s first national warship, will now perform its duties in Nigerian territorial waters. Along with our aforementioned modernization and new construction projects, we resolutely continue our efforts for the continuation of the relations between the Republic of Turkey and the Federal Republic of Nigeria and for our export targets with Nigeria and other countries.”
This is not the first contract signed by the Nigerian Naval Forces Command with the Turkish Dearsan Shipyard under the framework of the 2021-2030 Strategic Plan. Turkish Dearsan Shipyard and the Nigerian Navy previously signed a contract for the procurement of two OPV 76 Class Offshore Patrol Vessels in November 2021. Admiral A.Z. Gambo, Commander of the Nigerian Naval Forces, stated in his statement at that time that the ships in question would be used in humanitarian aid missions in natural disasters, as well as combating piracy, smuggling, and drug smuggling. Dearsan Shipyard started the construction of Nigeria’s Offshore Patrol Vessels approximately 9 months after the signing of the contract. The ships, which are still under construction, are planned to be delivered to the Nigerian Navy in 2024.