Türkiye, a NATO member for 70 years now, has attended a NATO drill for the first time with a national unmanned surface vehicle (USV).
The USV named Marlin, developed with the cooperation of Sefine Tersanesi and ASELSAN, has become the first platform representing Türkiye in this area in the NATO drill in Portugal and has received widespread acclaim with its performance during the drill.
Mustafa Lutfi Civelek, an official from Sefine Tersanesi, said that various manned and unmanned surface vehicles took part in the drill, adding every country got the chance to test its own platform in a real environment.
Stressing that Marlin stood out as the most technologically ready platform compared to the other countries, Civelek also underlined that this was also mentioned by other participant countries.
Stressing that Marlin stood out as the most technologically ready platform compared to the other countries, Civelek also underlined that this was also mentioned by other participant countries.
Saying that the weather went worse on that day while the conditions on the sea changed also, Civelek said "Unmanned surface vehicles did not operate while Marlin sailed on that day too."
"Not just it sailed, it also completed all of the missions it was given successfully despite the harsh weather conditions."
Reminding that Marlin is the world's first unmanned surface vehicle platform with an electronic warfare capability, Civelek talked about other highlights from the drill too.
In a mission to detect enemy targets that are out of range, Civelek said Marlin completed the mission in a very short amount of time.
Stressing targets were detected from a very long distance and quickly, Civelek said that after the success of Marlin, the project planners that arrange the drill's phases changed the allocation criteria at the beginning of the drill.
"In this context, a senior official of NATO said that he wanted to get into contact with the officials of our country and look for possible cooperations," he added.
Underlining that Marlin has very unique and very valuable capabilities, Civelek explained how the USV successfully found enemy targets underwater with its Sonobuoy signal processing capabilities. The test was a first for Türkiye in this respect, Civelek said.
"The other countries platforms also had sonar capabilities, but none of them could see the submarine. Marlin has found the targets and then it also automatically and successfully reported this to the base that is conducting the NATO drill. These are very important capabilities."
Stressing the importance of the experiences gained in the drill, Civelek said they are planning to improve further the Marlin after their arrival to Türkiye in parallel with the feedback from the field.
They are also planning to attend other national electronic warfare drills in the upcoming periods, he said.
Marlin then will be test-firing national Kuzgun missiles, developed by TÜBİTAK SAGE, Civelek said, adding that the project will be completed in 2023 and delivered to the Defense Ministry.
