OOC Source: Navy RecognitionFankum: The naval shipyard expansion project in the coastal city of Fankum has been completed, giving the city the first military shipyard in the country. The Fankum shipyards were planned to be complete in 7 years but, thanks to additional funds from the Department of National Development and a favourable ruling from the federal courts the construction project was sped up to such a point that 4 years within launching the project it was complete. The new major complex, consisting of thousands of square acres, will allow the construction of 3 medium to large sized warships a a time with the exception for a aircraft carrier, which cannot be constructed at the new shipyard if required. The facilities also have the capability to repair damaged ships. The new Fankum shipyards will be managed by the newly created "Fankum Shipyard Cooperative", a non profit management company that will be in charge of managing, maintaining and organizing the Fankum military shipyards. Likely the first ships to be build here will be the Budara class frigate's, designed by the NVG, and the new Mirat class destroyers developed by PUNKT.
The Department of Defense has, in close cooperation with the navy, initially ordered around 5 Budara class frigate's and 3 Mirat class destroyers on top of one prototype ship of each class, which will be upgraded to the final versions, putting to total number of ships for each class at 6 and 4 respectfully. The navy has stated that it is their intend to, "make these new ships form the new line of modern warships for the Istapali Navy, allowing us to build on their design for the possible future development of other much needed ships and using their capabilities to the best of their ability." There is currently no plan for the construction of additional Budara or Mirat class ships, with the DoD likely planning to use the initial pair of ships to reinforce and lead the old ships in the fleet and waiting with the procurement of additional ships of the new classes based on budgetary concerns. The NVG is also reportedly working on the development of a new sea to land missile that will be used as the primary ground strike missile on the new Mirat destroyers, giving it a capable missile to operate with.
Construction on two Mirat class destroyers and one Budara class frigate has already been ordered, with these three ships likely being ready for sea trials within the next 1 to 2 years depending on the way construction will play out.