The world’s first maritime drone for electronic warfare MARLIN was demonstrated in Turkey
On January 19, 2024, the Turkish shipyard Sefine hosted a ceremony of commissioning four new ships into the Turkish Navy, including the TCG Istanbul frigate (F-515), the TCG DERYA tanker, and the TCG Ütğm logistics vessel. Arif Ekmekçi and the MARLIN surface unmanned ship.
The importance of this event for the Turkish Navy is emphasized by the fact that the military and political leadership of Turkey – President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, members of the Cabinet of Ministers – attended the ceremony, the leadership of the armed forces and defense enterprises of the country, writes Naval News portal.
En zorlu koşullarda görev yapabilen MARLİN S-İDA, Dünyada elektronik harp kabiliyetine sahip ilk ve tek insansız deniz aracı. #MaviVatan’ın korunmasında önemli bir yer tutacak. pic.twitter.com/MHYH1EgfxC
— SSB (@SavunmaSanayii) January 19, 2024
In this message, special attention should be paid to the Turkish MARLIN surface drone, as it is stated that this remotely controlled ship can even be used to conduct electronic warfare against enemy ships, and that such functionality was even practiced during NATO exercises in September 2022.
Until now, there have been no reports in open sources about other maritime drones that can be equipped with electronic warfare. Accordingly, the Turkish MARLIN can be considered the first in this class.
According to the authors of the Naval News portal, the MARLIN maritime drone was created in cooperation between Aselsan and the Sefine shipyard. The characteristics of this unmanned boat are revealed only in some details: cruising speed – up to 12 knots, maximum speed – 36 knots, seaworthiness – in waves up to 4-5 points, hull size – up to 15 meters (according to open sources, the length of the hull of our marine drones is 5 meters).
It is also stated that the Turkish MARLIN maritime drone has modular equipment options, meaning that it can be equipped not only with electronic warfare equipment, but also, for example, short-range guided missiles or light torpedoes. At the same time, the most important parameters of the MARLIN marine drone, such as the range and control system of the unmanned ship, and how the onboard equipment of this drone is used, are not disclosed.
The example of this Turkish MARLIN may “suggest” to us that perhaps the line of our maritime drones should be expanded to include multi-purpose versions that can perform strike functions or carry relevant equipment. Even if this requires a slight increase in the size of the case.
Moreover, our maritime drones are already undergoing a certain expansion of functionality. Here, for example, we can recall open-source data that the SBU Sea Baby marine drones received RPV-16 flamethrowers for self-defense against racists at sea.
