The Turkish Naval Forces Command has decided to integrate the Roketsan-manufactured ATMACA Anti-Ship Missile into all its platforms.
Turkey’s first domestically designed naval missile ATMACA, developed by Roketsan with national capabilities, has gone into mass production last year and has been recently put into use by the Turkish Navy.
Due to its range value and advanced capabilities, an important decision has been taken for the ATMACA, which is among the most advanced anti-ship missiles in the world.
According to the information obtained by SavunmaSanayiST.com, ATMACA will be integrated into all combat platforms used by the Turkish Navy.
Turkish Navy Phasing Out Harpoons
The Harpoon missiles that are also avaible in the Turkish Navy inventory are expected to be used for drills and training activities. The first platform on which ATMACA was launched was the MILGEM ADA Class Corvette TCG KINALIADA (F-514).
The pritority for ATMACA integrations would be first given to ADA Class Corvettes, which are TCG BURGAZADA (F-513), TCG BÜYÜKADA (F-512) and TCG HEYBELİADA (F-511) and BARBAROS Class Frigates.
According to open source information, ATMACA has more advanced capabilities than the Harpoon missiles.
ATMACA Anti-Ship Missile Project
Developed to meet the operational needs of surface warfare, ATMACA is a high-precision anti-ship missile that can be integrated into assault boats, frigates and corvettes.
The ATMACA Guided Missile was launched in 2009 in order to meet the anti-ship missile needs of the Turkish Naval Forces Command with domestic and national resources.
In this context, the 220+ kilometers range ATMACA Anti-Ship Missile with Active Radar Seeker Head, developed under the main contractor of Roketsan, was fired for the first time from the MILGEM ADA Class Corvette TCG KINALIADA (F-514) 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 June 18, 2021, the ATMACA missile was fired from the KINALIADA Corvette and hit a real ship target for the first time. The target ship sank after being hit by an ATMACA missile.
Super Sea- Skimming Capabilities
ATMACA Anti-Ship Missile, due to its low radar cross-section area and ability to fly close to super sea skimming, i.e. water level, it can only be detected by the target platform from a distance of 18-20 kilometers.
As the missile flies at a speed of 0.85 Mach, this allows a very limited reaction time to the crew of the target ship. For this reason, it is thought that the platform targeted by ATMACA will not be able to eliminate ATMACA easily.
According to the information obtained by SavunmaSanayiST.com, developed within the scope of the needs of the Turkish Navy, ATMACA anti-ship missile has the feature of “Advanced 3D Mission Planning”.
Thanks to this feature, the ATMACA operator crew can plan the route the missile will take on its way to its destination in advance and add route legs.
Considering that the target platforms are usually located behind an island in the Aegean Sea, ATMACA can navigate around the island located in front of the target platform or destroy the target by suddenly ascending and descending due to its top notch sea-skimming capabilities.
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SOURCE: TurkishDefenceNews