Turkey has launched a third indigenously manufactured naval corvette under its MILGEM program.

The Ada-class vessel, TCG Burgazada, took to water late last week during a ceremony attended by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and other government officials who took the opportunity to reiterate the government's goal of a self-sufficient Turkish defense industry by 2023.

Erdogan said Turkey will soon "be in a position to make our own aircraft carriers," the state-run Andalou Agency reported. "Turkey cannot stall in its defense industry and military issues because of our strategic geographical location."

The TCG Burgazada is an Ada-class anti-submarine warfare vessel that is about 326 feet long. Ada-class corvettes have a maximum speed of 29 knots and a range of 3,500 nautical miles at a speed of 15 knots. They are armed with a 76-millimeter gun, missiles and torpedoes.

The first Ada-class corvette, the Heybeliada, was launched in 2008.

Bath Iron Works christens USS Michael Monsoor
Bath, Maine (UPI) Jun 20, 2016 - General Dynamics Bath Iron Works christened the USS Michael Monsoor, the U.S. Navy's second Zumwalt-class guided-missile destroyer, at a ceremony Saturday at Bath's Maine shipyard.

The ship is named for Petty Officer 2nd Class Michael Monsoor, who was killed in Ramadi, Iraq, in 2006.

Monsoor's mother, the ship's sponsor, broke a champagne bottle against DDG 1001's bow to make it official, General Dynamics said in a statement.

The ship's keel was laid in May 2013.

The next-generation surface combatant class is capable of conducting anti-air warfare, anti-submarine warfare and anti-surface warfare while operating in carrier strike, surface action, amphibious ready and underway replenishment groups, the company said.

The USS Zumwalt recently passed its acceptance trials, the ship's electronics developer Raytheon announced Friday.