Turkish indigenous MKE’s 76mm National Naval Gun passed the sea tests onboard Burak-class (D’Estienne d’Orves-class aviso) corvette TCG Beykoz (F-503). The Naval Gun, which made its first trial shooting in Konya in the last quarter of 2021, revealed that it could shoot 80 shots in 60 seconds. the Naval Gun was integrated into the TCG BEYKOZ Corvette to verify these shots and the process under maritime conditions. Naval Gun is designed for short-range anti-missile point defence, anti-aircraft, anti-surface, and ground support missions. Turkish Defence Ministry’s company Makine ve Kimya Endustrisi Inc (MKE) and Istanbul Shipyard Command developed the gun in collaboration.
The Naval Gun completed such tests within port and sea. With the completion of the qualification tests, there is no obstacle to the decision to mass-produce the Italian OTO Melara equivalent gun. umerous naval vessels of the Turkish Navy are armed with 76 mm guns. The Naval Gun has a 20-kilometre range and can rate 80 rounds per minute with five different shooting modes. The compact system makes the gun suitable to be installed on relatively small warships. Due to its high rate of fire and availability of several types of ammunition, many navies, including the Turkish Navy, prefer the specific naval gun type.
Naval News reported that MKE is the primary contractor for the project. Three private sector companies have been working on the project as subcontractors. In addition to costing the project half the price, MKE claims that it will extend the barrel’s life with a special coating applied to the barrel of the gun. The company also stated that the indigenous 76mm Naval Gun stands out with its features such as the ability to fire a wider variety of ammunition compared to the Italian product, the ability to use special fused bullets, and its electro-mechanical structure that allows digital control.
The MKE (Makina ve Kimya Endüstrisi, Mechanical and Chemical Industry), established in 1950, is a reorganization of government-controlled group of factories in Turkey that supplied the Turkish Armed Forces with military products. Its roots lie in the “Tophane-i Amire” (“Royal Arsenal”) built in the latter part of the 15th Century to supply the Ottoman Empire’s artillery corps with cannon, powder, and shot. The corporation mainly produces equipment for the Turkish Armed Forces, such as the ammunition for small arms and heavy weapons, artillery systems, aerial bombs, mines, explosives, and rockets. Its large range of defense industry products are not only demanded in Turkey, but are exported to more than 40 countries worldwide.