Ares Shipyard, Meteksan Defence to develop Turkey’s first armed USV

Turkish companies Ares Shipyard and Meteksan Defence have launched a programme to develop a new armed unmanned surface vehicle (USV) for use by the country’s navy.

The USVs in the ULAQ series will each have advanced composite construction, a range of 400 kilometres, a speed of 35 knots, day and night vision cameras, and encrypted communications infrastructure. Armament will consist of locally-produced surface-to-surface missiles.

Missions will include intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (ISR), surface warfare, asymmetric warfare, escort missions, and strategic infrastructure protection.

A prototype was completed in August and is scheduled to commence trials in the Mediterranean in December.