Designed within the scope of the Turkish Coast Guard Command, Gendarmerie General Command and the General Directorate of Security, ARES 35 has added new activities to the Turkish Type Boat (Fast Patrol Boat ). The negotiations that have been continuing for a long time with the General Directorate of Police (EGM) have been completed. EGM orders 17 boats for its own needs, while the manufacturer aims to provide uninterrupted products despite the COVID-19 pandemic.
Keres Kalafatoğlu, Chairman of Ares Shipyard's Board of Directors, stated that within the scope of the needs of the Turkish Coast Guard Command, the Control Boat Project carried out by the Defence Industry Directorate increased both the quantity and the production method. Kalafatoğlu, who gave an interview to the Euronewsport publication, announced that the contract for 105 boats was amended and the total number of boats to be manufactured increased to 122. Kalafatoğlu said, “The contract we signed based on the need for 105-speed patrol boats of our Coast Guard Command has reached a volume of 122 boats with the addition of 17 boats of our Police Headquarters”. Stating that there will be no delay in the delivery schedule, Kalafatoğlu said, “The Critical Design Review phase of the project is about to be completed. Due to the known epidemic, the calendar was frozen for a while because the meetings could not be held. Therefore, the launch of the prototype ARES 35 FPB Control Boat was planned by the end of 2020. However, from the successful delivery of the prototype boat, the delivery of six boats to the Coast Guard Command and the General Directorate of Security will continue for five years every two months ”.
According to the information obtained by C4Defence, it is aimed to complete the Critical Design Review (CDR) soon and launch the prototype in autumn. After that, the Coast Guard Command will carry out various trials in the Black Sea, the Aegean Sea and the Mediterranean Sea by boat to identify the necessary changes on the prototype. The design of the boat will take its final shape as a result of the opinions and information to be obtained from here. After this stage, the mass production phase, which is not an example for marine platforms, will be started. ARES Shipyard allocated a facility to the production of these boats with an investment in Antalya. Similar to the walking belt technique used in automotive mass production, the boots will be produced at this facility. Three bots will come out of the band a month and six bots will be ready to enter inventory in two months after the checks. Due to some different devices used by the two institutions, there will be small differences in the platform in terms of appearance, only the colour and marking difference will be unique to the institutions.
ARES 35 FPB fast patrol boats are designed from advanced composite material for exclusive economic zone security and sudden intervention, patrol and escort, search and rescue, anti-smuggling, human trafficking prevention, reconnaissance and outpost purposes. The length of the platform, whose classification service is made by Türk Loydu is 10.8 m; its width is 3.3 m and the draft is 0.9 m. With a displacement of 11.85 tons, the boat can reach a speed of 35 knots.
