Turkish Navy validates indigenous capabilities during Denizkurdu-II exercise

The Turkish Navy concluded its large-scale Denizkurdu-II naval exercise, conducted between 4 and 14 June 2026 in the Eastern Mediterranean, with a series of high-intensity live-fire engagements against decommissioned vessels. This year’s exercise moved beyond routine drills, serving as a comprehensive operational validation for Türkiye’s newest indigenous weapons, combat management systems and unmanned platforms. By testing these systems in a co-ordinated manner against real targets, Ankara demonstrated the maturing of its sovereign naval warfare ecosystem.

A primary milestone occurred below the surface, where the Preveze-class submarine TCG Sakarya executed a successful firing of the Akya heavyweight torpedo. The launch was directed via the Müren combat management system, which was developed indigenously by Tübitak Bilgem, dubbed the ‘Turkish DARPA’. This event represented the first time TCG Sakarya used the integrated Müren-Akya architecture against a surface target. The impact on the decommissioned vessel, the former training ship TCG Sokullu Mehmet Paşa, was effective enough to break the hull into two sections.

The Akya is a 533 mm heavyweight torpedo developed by Roketsan. It features a range exceeding 50 km and a top speed of over 45 kts (83 km/h). The torpedo can operate in both autonomous and fibre-optic-wire-guided modes, using active and passive sonar seekers along with a wake-homing capability for surface targets. It entered the Turkish Navy’s inventory in early 2024 following successful qualification firings. The Müren system is currently being rolled out across Turkey’s Type 209 submarine fleet to replace the legacy German-made ISUS system, providing the navy with total control over sonar processing and the guidance chains of its national torpedoes.

The exercise also marked a technological first for Türkiye’s maritime unmanned aviation. A Baykar Bayraktar TB3 shipborne unmanned combat air vehicle (UCAV), operating from the multi-purpose amphibious assault ship TCG Anadolu, conducted the type’s first flight equipped with the Antidot electronic support measures (ESM) pod. Developed by Turkish defence giant Aselsan as a lightweight electronic warfare solution for unmanned platforms, the Antidot system allows the TB3 to detect, identify and locate enemy radar emissions. Integrating this capability into a carrier-based UCAV shifts the TB3’s profile from a pure strike platform to a versatile electronic reconnaissance asset capable of providing critical situational awareness for the fleet without risking manned aircraft.

In addition, a TB3 conducted a combat air patrol mission from TCG Anadolu and successfully engaged a one-way attack unmanned surface vessel (USV) using a Roketsan MAM-L precision-guided munition. The growing threat posed by low-cost, high-speed one-way attack USVs, as demonstrated in the Ukraine conflict, has become one of the more challenging aspects of modern naval warfare. The successful interception of such a target by a carrier-based UCAV using a low-cost munition offers a practical and cost-effective defensive concept against this emerging threat.

The surface-to-surface and air-to-surface engagements were equally extensive, with all munitions directed at actual decommissioned hulls. The Ada-class corvette TCG Burgazada fired an Atmaca anti-ship missile at the ex-TCG Akbaş, a former open-sea tugboat. The Istanbul-class frigate TCG İstanbul conducted the first public firing of the Hisar-D naval air defence missile. SH-70B Seahawk helicopters from naval aviation units engaged targets using both indigenous Roketsan Temren and Norwegian-designed Penguin Mk 2 Mod 7 anti-ship missiles. Additionally, an Aksungur unmanned aerial vehicle released a Roketsan MAM-T precision-guided munition against a surface target.

The exercise thus demonstrated the Turkish Navy’s increasing use of domestically developed weapons and combat systems across the submarine, surface and air domains.