ATMACA : Turkey’s first indigenous anti-ship missile

Turkey’s first indigenous anti-ship missile ATMACA developed by Roketsan Co. will enter service for the Turkish Navy by the end of 2020, Turkish President announced at the opening ceremony of Space Systems Research Center of Roketsan.

After the last test-firings of the missile which will be conducted in September in the Black Sea, the Atmaca will be delivered to Turkish Navy. The test-fire will be conducted by TCG KINALIADA, the final MILGEM-class of Turkish Navy.

What is ATMACA?

The ATMACA is a subsonic, sea-skimming guided missile that is effective against fixed and moving targets due to its resistance to countermeasures, target update, re-attack, and task cancellation capabilities, and advanced routing system (3D routing). It can carry a 250kg class high explosive fragmentation warhead.

Main Specifications:

• Autonomous
• Low Radar Signature
• High Precision
• All Weather Operational Capability
• Resistant to Countermeasures
• Target Update, Re-Attack, Re-Target and
• Mission Abort Capability via Data Link
• 3D Mission Planning
• Super Sea Skimming
• Anti-Surface Warfare (ASuW)

The prototypes of the ATMACA missile with Aselsan active RF Seeker, capable of anti-ship and land-attack capabilities, were highly successful in the fire tests performed in 2016, and it was stated that the prototypes reached ranges of over 200 km.

Turkish Navy had conducted successful test-fire of Atmaca anti-ship missile from the TCG KINALIADA corvette, the fourth Ada-class anti-submarine warfare corvette manufactured under the Turkish national warship program on November 2019. Atmaca is expected to enter service at the second half of 2020 as the replacement of Harpoon Missile, which is the main surface-to-surface missile of the Turkish Navy.

Atmaca is a high precision, long-range, surface-to-surface, precision strike anti-ship missile which can be integrated to frigates and corvettes.
Turkish defence company Roketsan carried out a new test-fire of Atmaca Anti-ship missile on Jul 1, 2020. The missile was fired at a target 220 kilometres away and hit it successfully.

Noteworthy point is that during the initial launch phase, the ATMACA missile has an Exocet-like flight profile rather than the Harpoon missile. After leaving the launcher, the Harpoon missile first climbs to an altitude of 600m and then descends toward its target. However, this concept is claimed to pose a higher risk because the ascending flight profile of the missile may reveal the location of the firing platform. On the other hand, the Exocet missile heads towards its target at a lower altitude (100m and below) after launching.

Technical Specifications of ATMACA :

• Length: 4.8 m
• Weight : 800 kg
• Range : > 200 km (>110nm)
• Warhead Type: High Explosive with Penetration
• Warhead Weight: 250 kg
• Seeker : Active RF
• Guidance: INS+GPS+Barometric Altimeter+Radar Altimeter
  *INS: Inertial Navigation System
  *GPS: Global Positioning System

Currently, Low Rate Initial Production (LRIP) Phase studies are continuing in the project. Initially, a total of 64 ATMACA missiles (32+32) were expected to be supplied under the LRIP Phase for use in ISTIF Class Frigates.

The ATMACA missile, which is believed to have a cruise speed of Mach 0.85-Mach 0.95, will also be able to attack coastal targets like the RGM-84L Harpoon Block II missile.

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