Turkish Unmanned Vessel Fires Cruise Missile; First for an Autonomous Surface Vessel

Turkey’s armed unmanned surface vessel (AUSV) MARLIN fired a cruise missile Tuesday, a first for an unmanned platform.

“We continue to add new capabilities to our unmanned sea vehicles. With the firing of the solid propellant RAVEN Cruise Missile from MARLIN, guided ammunition was fired for the first time from a SİDA,” Defense Industries Presidency (SSB) head İsmail Demir confirmed in a tweet March 28.

AUSV MARLIN is produced by Sefine Shipyard and Aselsan under the leadership of the Presidency of Defense Industries (SSB). It has demonstrated its capabilities during NATO exercises REPMUS 22 (Sept. 12-23, 2022) and Dynamic Messenger 22 (Sept. 26-30, 2022) in Portugal.

MARLIN is approximately 15m long and has critical capabilities related to surface warfare, underwater warfare, electronic warfare (EW) and asymmetrical operations. The AUSV which embodies the capabilities of gunboats, can even be a naval warfare platform that can be used more flexibly than gunboats at some points.

MARLIN can fulfil its missions in harsh sea conditions and can carry different payloads such as guided missiles, light torpedoes, 12.7 mm cannons, sonobuoys that extend the sonar range, and towed array sonar systems in line with operational needs.

MARLIN is also the first in the world to carry EW systems. It will be able to conduct EW from an unmanned surface platform in a way that cannot be used on a manned platform.

The USV is equipped with ASELSAN's remote-controlled weapon, electro-optical reconnaissance surveillance, radar, and jamming-resistant GNSS.

With its satellite communication capability, MARLIN has a much wider operational range than its counterparts and can travel at a speed of approximately 36 Kts. MARLIN SİDA, which can start its mission from ports, amphibious, and logistics ships, can be made ready for operation in a short time.