If the Turkish Navy is going to focus on a 5000-6000 tons intermediate class, making this ship all about surface weapons or overloading it with AAW missiles makes zero sense. We already have the 8500+ ton TF-2000 project coming up for heavy area air defense duties anyway. Also, keeping Istif class within its own tonnage limits is way better for engineering stability instead of trying to cram everything in there.
An intermediate class of this size should primary focus on blue-water Anti-Submarine Warfare (ASW). But making a real ASW ship isnt just about putting a sonar and torpedos on it. Submarines fight with their ears, so how quiet the ship itself is what actually matters. A standard surface combatant and a proper ASW frigate are completely different under the hood. An ASW ship needs a hybrid propulsion system like CODLAG so it can shut down its main engines and cruise almost completely silent on electric motors while hunting submarines. The whole acoustic design must be built around this. Engines and generators need to sit on special shock mounts (raft mounting) to stop vibrations from leaking into the water, and the hull shape needs to be perfectly optimized to minimize cavitation noise. Instead of wasting precious space with tons of VLS cells, the design should prioritize low-frequency towed array sonars (TASS/VDS) and a large hangar that can operate two ASW helos and/or sub-hunting USVs at the same time.
Long story short, if we are spending budget on a 5500-ton platform, the goal shouldn't be packing it with missiles, it should be building an acoustically flawless, ultra-quiet hunter that can stay at deep seas for weeks.
From a budgetary and fleet planning perspective, it makes way more sense to limit the expensive TF-2000 destroyers to 6 hulls and shift that massive funding to build 6 units of this intermediate ASW class. In the long run, with around 8 to 12 Istif class frigates keeping the baseline, 6 hulls of this 5500-ton ASW ship would be perfect. Based on the 1/3 logistics rule; having 6 ships guarantees that we can constantly deploy 2 of them to support ocean going task groups at any given time. Giving up a couple of over-expensive TF-2000 air defense platforms creates enough budget to build a solid 6-ship ASW backbone, providing a much healthier balance for blue-water operations without breaking the bank.
Besides, if we look at the baseline, from the second ship onwards, Istif class already gained its strategic VLS capability. If we think about the future potential batch like hulls 9 to 12, a very limited tonnage increase and a smart revision on the main mast can significantly boost its mid-layer air defense capability. Since the Turkish Navy operates surrounded by enclosed internal seas like the Aegean and Black Sea, upgrading the future Istif hulls this way turns the baseline into a much more comprehensive, all-round capability. It effectively secures our inner seas while allowing the 5500-ton dedicated ASW hunter and TF-2000 to project power in the deep blue waters. To sum it up, if we are spending budget on a 5500-ton platform, the goal shouldn't be packing it with missiles; it should be an ultra-quiet hunter, while leaving the mid-tier defense to an evolved Istif baseline.
Unmanned Tuzla class ship could lunch torpedoes, AShM, SAMs
