In 2023, during the IDEF 2023 defense exhibition in Turkey, Meteksan Defense, together with the shipbuilding company ARES Shipyard, unveiled the ULAQ KAMA kamikaze drone boat and announced that they could produce up to 100 units of these drones per year.
Additionally, the Turkish Navy is set to receive new ULAQ 12 ASuW unmanned boats, equipped with an advanced set of weaponry and systems. This information was reported by the Turkish news outlet Anadolu Ajansi.
The ULAQ KAMA was developed based on the combat experience of kamikaze drone boats used in Ukraine. It features a 200 kg warhead, a speed of 20 knots (37 km/h), and an operational range of 200 nautical miles (370 km).
Communication is likely established via Starlink. For example, the Ukrainian Magura V5 has a 320 kg warhead, a range of 800 km, and a speed of 22 knots (40 km/h), meaning the ULAQ KAMA is significantly inferior to its Ukrainian counterpart in several aspects.
For surveillance and targeting, the ULAQ KAMA is equipped with television and thermal imaging cameras. According to the developers, it can operate in three different control modes—fully autonomous, semi-autonomous, or remote-controlled (with operator involvement). The system can be operated from any platform equipped with the necessary software.
An interesting feature is that if communication is lost, depending on the mission, the ULAQ KAMA may begin searching for enemy targets and autonomously execute an attack. The semi-autonomous mode likely enables a single operator to control multiple ULAQ KAMA drones simultaneously, allowing for large-scale attacks with minimal personnel involvement.
The ULAQ 12 ASuW unmanned surface vessel has been in development for quite some time, and in 2022, according to the developer, it conducted the world’s first missile launch from an unmanned surface vessel. It has a length of 12 meters, a speed of 70 km/h, and a range of 400 km. Additionally, it is equipped with a radar, thermal imaging, and television cameras, while control is carried out via a satellite communication antenna.
The ULAQ 12 ASuW is armed with a remotely controlled turret equipped with a 12.7 mm machine gun. In addition, it features a launcher for four UMTAS guided anti-tank missiles, which can be fitted with tandem, thermobaric, or fragmentation-explosive warheads. Depending on the modification and launch method, the maximum range of these missiles reportedly varies from 8 km to 50 km.
The UMTAS missiles can be guided in multiple ways: via laser beam guidance, infrared homing, or image transmission from the missile’s onboard camera to the operator via radio link.
Instead of UMTAS missiles, the launcher can be fitted with two pods, each containing four 70 mm Cirit guided rockets. These rockets are laser-guided, capable of destroying targets at a distance of 8 km, and are considered a counterpart to APKWS.
