A model of an ULAQ unmanned surface vessel sits on display at the Meteksan booth at DIMDEX 2024. (Agnes Helou / Breaking Defense)
BEIRUT — Fresh off signing a deal to export an armed, unmanned maritime surface vessel to Qatar, a senior executive at the Turkish defense firm Meteksan said demand is only growing.
“All the world is now much interested in attaining such unmanned surface vessels or unmanned maritime technology,” Meteksan’s Vice Chairman of the Board Selçuk Kerem Alparslan told Breaking Defense in an interview.
Last week Meteksan inked a deal with the Qatari Coast Guard to export the ULAQ 11 USV — so named for being 11 meters long — which was developed alongside Turkey’s ARES Shipyard, what Alparslan described as a first for Turkey.
The contract will be executed in two phases, he said: a 12-month training phase and then a procurement phase. The training phase, with “direct assistance to the customer,” has already started, after the first vessel was delivered during the Milipol conference last week.
“The second [phase] covers the actual ULAQ 11 PSV boats and command-control infrastructure,” Alparslan said. “Therefore, Qatar’s Coast Guard will have been immediately involved in attaining the unmanned technology capability.”
The ULAQ 11 PSV (Port Security Vessel), will be dedicated to intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance missions to aid in protecting critical infrastructure, according to Meteksan, though the company says it can also conduct other law enforcement activities, immediate response or search and rescue. The platform is equipped with a 12.7 mm automatic weapon system, radar and electrooptical system, encrypted communication systems, command and control station and autonomy software.
It can sail up to 400 miles and is equipped with a number of link modalities on top of which is the line of sight data link and satellite links, the company said.
The Meteksan official declined to disclose the value of the deal or the number of vessels contracted, but he said that the system was tested with Qatari officials in Turkey first, according to the Qatari requirements, and the platform structure has been verified by Qatar.
“With this export, we are acquiring products that are adapted to different seas and are further developed and recognized. We are moving forward with great motivation to continue bringing our customers technologies and capabilities that make a difference in this field,” Alparslan said. He specifically pointed to Gulf nations as further potential customers.
To meet the demand, he said the company is “coming up with new versions, new platform sizes, with new payloads for different missions. The most attractive mission nowadays is using these unmanned systems as one way-attack missile-like instruments on the sea or open seas and using swarming capabilities will be defense capability multiplier.”
The export deal with Qatar comes as Turkish defense industry is witnessing increased export revenues of $820 million in October, a 61 percent increase compared to October 2023, according to a post by the secretary of Turkish defense industries Haluk Gorgun.
