Roketsan made the first serial production delivery of ATMACA, the indigenous anti-ship missile, to the Turkish Naval Forces Command.
The acceptance activities of the ATMACA Anti-Ship Missile were successfully completed in the recent past. Following the inclusion of the prototype missiles in the inventory of the Turkish Naval Forces, Roketsan started deliveries of the mass production ATMACA Anti-Ship Missile.
According to the information obtained by SavunmaSanayiST.com (Turkish defence news platform) during DSEI 2023, ‘double-digit numbers’ of ATMACA Missiles have been delivered to the Turkish Naval Forces so far with the rapid delivery batches. The delivered missiles will be integrated into the surface ships in the navy’s inventory.
TCG KINALIADA (F-514) Corvette made history as the first Turkish ship to use and fire the ATMACA Anti-Ship Missile. Following KINALIADA, HEYBELİADA, BÜYÜKADA and BURGAZADA corvettes and BARBAROS Class Frigates are expected to be equipped with ATMACA.
On the other hand, within the scope of the contract signed between Roketsan and STM on 23 November 2022, ATMACA, the national anti-ship missile, will be integrated into 11 different naval platforms. Integration activities are planned to be completed by 11 April 2027.
ATMACA Anti-Ship Missile
The ATMACA Guided Missile G/M Project was initiated in 2009 to meet the anti-ship missile requirement of the Turkish Naval Forces Command with domestic and national capabilities. In this context, the 250+ kilometre range ATMACA Anti-Ship Missile with Active Radar (RF) Seeker, developed under the main contractorship of Roketsan, was fired for the first time from the MİLGEM TCG KINALIADA (F-514) Corvette in November 2019, following extensive testing activities. During this firing test, ATMACA successfully hit a fixed target on the sea surface.
During another test conducted on 18 June 2021, the ATMACA Missile was again fired from the KINALIADA Corvette and hit a real ship target for the first time. The target ship sank after being hit by the ATMACA Missile. In the recent past, ATMACA officially entered the Turkish Navy inventory as a result of low-rate production.
Roketsan’s ATMACA Anti-Ship Missile can only be detected by the target platform at a distance of 18-20 kilometres due to its low radar cross-sectional area and Super Sea Skimming, which means that it can fly close to the water surface. Based on ATMACA’s speed of Mach 0.85, this gives the crew of the target ship a very limited reaction time. For this reason, it is believed that the platform targeted by ATMACA will not be able to easily eliminate ATMACA.
Source: SavunmaSanayiST.com