Türkiye Eyes Joint MILGEM Warship Build With Egypt

Türkiye’s navy chief says Ankara wants to start building warships jointly with Egypt under the MİLGEM programme, using the same model Turkey already applies with Pakistan. Admiral Ercüment Tatlıoğlu made the statement on November 9 at the Distinguished Observer Day of the Türkiye-Egypt “Dostluk Denizi-2026” (Sea of Friendship) naval exercise, held off Alexandria.

“We aim to carry out joint shipbuilding activities with Egypt under the MİLGEM project, similar to the cooperation we have undertaken with Pakistan,” Tatlıoğlu told his Egyptian counterpart, Rear Admiral Mahmud Adel Fawzy, according to Anadolu Agency. No ship class, shipyard, contract value or delivery schedule was announced. It is a stated goal from Turkey’s naval leadership, not a signed industrial agreement, and Egypt has so far made no matching public commitment.

What the Pakistan Model Would Mean

The reference point is unambiguous. Türkiye’s MİLGEM (“Milli Gemi,” or National Ship) programme has already produced an export arrangement with Pakistan covering four PN-MİLGEM corvettes, a larger derivative of the Ada-class that forms the backbone of the Turkish Navy’s own MİLGEM fleet. State contractor ASFAT built two of the Pakistani ships in Türkiye and two at Karachi Shipyard and Engineering Works, with design rights and technology transfer included in the deal. Applying that template to Egypt would mean Turkish-designed hulls built partly or wholly in Egyptian yards, with Egyptian engineers and technicians gaining the skills to maintain, adapt and eventually help design future derivatives.

That would be a significant shift for Egypt’s navy, which has pursued a different partner for its last major corvette programme. Cairo’s four Gowind 2500-class corvettes came from France’s Naval Group, with the lead ship, ENS El Fateh, built in Lorient and the rest assembled at Alexandria Shipyard. A Turkish MİLGEM track would put Ankara in direct competition with Paris for a share of Egypt’s naval shipbuilding footprint — on top of the competition the two countries already have over gas exploration rights and alignment in Libya.

A Rapidly Thawing Relationship

The joint-shipbuilding idea lands against a backdrop of a rapid, still-incomplete rapprochement between two states that broke off military ties after Egypt’s 2013 change of government. The two navies resumed joint exercises only in September 2025, after a 13-year gap, and Dostluk Denizi-2026, which began on November 4 off Alexandria, is the drill’s second edition.

The exercise brought together a substantial order of battle on both sides. Türkiye sent the amphibious assault ship TCG Anadolu, the frigate TCG Gaziantep, the fast attack craft TCG Meltem, two SH-70 Seahawk helicopters, three AH-1W Super Cobra attack helicopters and three Bayraktar TB3 unmanned combat aircraft, plus a SAT special-forces team, an amphibious assault team and first-class divers. Egypt fielded the multipurpose amphibious ship Gamal Abdel Nasser alongside the frigates/corvettes M. Fahmy, El Fateh, Fouad Zekry, El Farouk and Al-Arish.

Tatlıoğlu used the visit to point to unmanned systems as the next frontier of the relationship, saying Türkiye is taking “concrete steps” to build UAV and unmanned-surface-vessel cooperation with Egypt. The TB3 and the MKE-built PİRANA kamikaze unmanned surface vessel both featured in the exercise’s demonstration programme. He also said Türkiye produces its own guided munitions, torpedoes and naval mines domestically, and that work is underway with Egypt on shared use of those systems — though, again, no contracts were cited. On mine warfare specifically, he said Turkish forces have been actively clearing drifting mines in the Black Sea since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine began, and that Ankara has shared that operational experience with Cairo.

Built on a Year of Smaller Deals

The shipbuilding statement is the highest-profile item yet in a string of lower-key agreements the two countries have signed over the past 18 months. MKE agreed a roughly $350 million arms and joint-production package with Egypt’s Ministry of Defence in February 2026, which reportedly includes a joint-venture company to run new production facilities; the company set up a dedicated Egyptian subsidiary in September. Egypt was approved to join the KAAN fifth-generation fighter programme in August 2025, and HAVELSAN signed a sales agreement with Egypt’s Arab Organization for Industrialization in September 2026 covering the Hamza-1 UAV. Set against that run of deals, a MİLGEM shipbuilding line would be the largest single step — moving the relationship from equipment sales and licensed production of smaller systems into co-building front-line surface combatants.

Why It Matters Beyond the Two Countries

For Türkiye’s shipbuilding industry, Egypt would be only the second MİLGEM shipbuilding partner after Pakistan, reinforcing a template — design, technology transfer, local-yard construction — that Ankara is also pitching to other Mediterranean and Gulf navies as it tries to convert naval goodwill into recurring export revenue rather than one-off sales. For Egypt, a Turkish option diversifies a surface-fleet supply chain currently anchored to Naval Group, at a moment when both countries are also managing the much thornier question of competing maritime claims in the Eastern Mediterranean and opposing positions on Libya.

None of that is resolved by a navy commander’s remarks at an exercise reception. What was announced on November 9 is an aspiration articulated by Türkiye’s top naval officer, built explicitly on a working precedent with Pakistan, with Egyptian officials yet to confirm anything publicly on their side. Whether it becomes a memorandum of understanding, a government-to-government agreement or nothing at all will depend on talks that, as of this writing, have not been disclosed to have started.

Sources

• Anadolu Agency (Turkish), “Türkiye-Mısır Dostluk Denizi-2026 Tatbikatı ‘Seçkin Gözlemci Günü’ yapıldı,” November 9, 2026.
• İstanbul Ticaret Gazetesi (AA republish), “Ortak gemi projeleri gündemde: Türkiye ve Mısır savunma sanayisinde iş birliğini derinleştiriyor,” November 9, 2026.
• Military Africa, “Türkiye Aims to Build Joint Warships With Egypt Under MİLGEM,” November 9, 2026.