Türkiye touts herd feature of its unmanned maritime vessels

The Turkish defense industry has completed another test with its domestic armed unmanned surface vessel (AUSV), Albatros-S, which was used in a herd concept, the head of the Presidency of Defense Industries (SSB) Ismail Demir said

On Twitter, Demir said that they completed the third phase of the project, where the defense giant Aselsan-developed Albatros-S herd capabilities were exhibited.

“We continue to develop high-autonomy unmanned sea vehicles and expand our IDA (unmanned sea vehicle) family!

“In the third phase of the project, we implemented the 8-herd architecture. #Albatros-S IDA Herd performs different tasks, shares sub-tasks, and is divided into sub-herds,” his statement read.

The video shared by Demir, along with the Albatros-S’ high autonomy capabilities, showed automatic target detection, approaching the target with different maneuvers and engaging in a herd.

Tests were previously carried out in different herd architectures in the previous phases of the project.

In the first phase, where navigation capabilities were at the forefront, the ability to automatically avoid obstacles and approach the target with a smaller herd was demonstrated. In the second phase, where the joint mission capability with different AUSVs was demonstrated, the Albatros-S herd, working together with Aselsan and Sefine shipyard joint developed Mir AUSV, which was determined as the herd leader, intercepted the representative foreign boat.

Aselsan developed the new generation Albatros-S with subcontractors. Within the scope of the project, a tactical mesh communication capability was created for the maritime environment.

The approximately 7-meter (23-foot) long USV designed for herd missions has a speed of over 40 knots, a cruising range of over 200 nautical miles and a significant payload capacity.

Herd AUSVs will be able to continue their duty safely against various obstacles with capabilities such as a domestic communication system, control system, multi-communication system architecture and a global navigation satellite system (GNSS). The AUSVs also have the ability to maintain their duties in a non-communication environment.

The AUSVs will offer important operational capabilities in protecting Türkiye’s surrounding seas, which are collectively dubbed the “Blue Homeland.” The AUSVs will add to the security and protection of the country’s maritime continental shelf and the exclusive economic zone (EEZ) with features such as autonomous navigation in swarms, autonomous formation change and autonomous mission execution.