Turkey’s first domestically manufactured maritime missile, Atmaca, has successfully passed its latest long-distance test launch and will soon enter the security forces’ weapons inventory, head of the Turkish Defense Industries Presidency (SSB) Ismail Demir said Saturday. The Atmaca missile performed its functions perfectly, it successfully hit a target over 200 kilometers (124 miles) away and is ready to enter the Turkish Armed Forces weapons inventory. Made by turkish missile producer Roketsan, Atmaca is expected to enter the Turkish military’s inventory before year’s-end, replacing the US-made Harpoon. According to Roketsan, Atmaca is a high-precision, long-range, surface-to-surface, precision strike anti-ship missile which can be integrated with patrol boats, frigates, and corvettes.
Noted for its long-range, low-track and high-target striking sensitivity, Atmaca is ready for service on modern naval platforms and is expected to herald a new era in the field of surface-to-surface missiles. The launch control systems for the missile were produced by Turkish defense giant ASELSAN, while the fire control system was developed by the Turkish Naval Research Center Command (ArMerKom). It also provides target update, re-attack, and mission abort capability via modern data link. The domestic missile was showcased at one of the world’s leading defense fairs, the International Defense Industry Fair (IDEF’19), in Istanbul. The anti-ship missile, whose development was launched back in 2009, completed tests in November 2018. A deal for its mass production was signed between the SSB and Roketsan in 2018.
ATMACA is an all weather, long range, surface-to-surface, precision strike anti-ship cruise missile which can be integrated to patrol boats, frigates and corvettes. The Atmaca ASCM will enter service with the Turkish Navy by mid-2020. It will also replace the Turkish Navy’s inventory Harpoon ASCM. The missile makes use of its global positioning system (GPS), its inertial navigation system and its barometric altimeter and radar altimeter sub-systems to navigate towards its target, while its active radar seeker pinpoints its target with High precision. With a range of 200 kilometres (120 mi), this guided missile poses a major threat for targets situated beyond line of sight due to its high explosive fragmentation warhead. Its modern data-link provides ATMACA with the ability to update targets, re-attack and terminate the mission.
The work on the Atmaca anti-ship cruise missile began after the signing of contract with ROKETSAN in 2009. Prime contractor ROKETSAN started development of the missile in September 2012 after receiving the results of its previous research and development contract with Turkey’s Under Secretariat For Defense Industries (SSM) at Navy Research Centre Command (ARMERKOM). It is planned to developed in such way that it can be launched not only from ship to ship but also from submarines, aircraft and ship to land or vise versa. The first land-based firing of Atmaca was took place in March 2017, after completing various test, the serial production contract for Atmaca was signed with Presidency of defense industry on 29 October 2018. It will be deployed from Turkish Navy’s MILGEM Ada-class corvette and G-class frigates.
