Turkey’s own Atmaca missile to replace Harpoons on its Navy ships

ANKARA, Turkey — Turkey’s first indigenous anti-ship cruise missile, the Atmaca, will replace the country’s aging inventory of American-made Harpoon missiles, military and industry sources said.

“We are confident of a smooth substitution over the next years,” a Navy officer said. “The effort covers all combat ships in our inventory.”

An official from state-controlled missile-maker Roketsan, a co-producer of Atmaca (which translates to “Hawk” in English), said that the weapon will replace more than 350 Harpoons in the next two to three years, starting with ships under maintenance and upgrade programs .

Both officials spoke on the condition of anonymity, as they were not authorized to speak to the press.

Roketsan won the development contract from the Turkish government in 2009. In 2018, Roketsan teamed up with military-electronics specialist Aselsan, Turkey’s largest defense firm, to jointly manufacture Atmaca, which incorporates features of the Harpoon and French Exocet missiles.

In 2019, Atmaca was fitted aboard Turkey’s fourth Ada-class corvette, the TCG Kinaliada. It was successfully tested in July 2020.

The Roketsan official said Turkey aims to save up to $500 million from the Atmaca replacement program, as the homemade missile comes in at around half the price of a Harpoon.

Defense News asked Harpoon manufacturer Boeing about the financial impact of Turkey’s decision, but the company referred questions to the U.S. government and the international customer.

Atmaca is a subsonic, sea-skimming anti-ship missile with a range exceeding 220 kilometers. It features a 250-kilogram-class high-explosive fragmentation warhead. It reportedly has a high resistance to countermeasures and features all-weather capabilities, a target updating and mission termination facility, and a comprehensive mission planning system with 3D routing.

The missile is effective against sea targets in open or coastal waters, as well as against shore-based targets. During tests, Atmaca cruised at an altitude as low as 3 meters.

It will be fitted aboard the Ada-class corvettes, the Istanbul-class frigates and the TF2000-class anti-air warfare destroyers.

Chris Martin in Washington contributed to this report.

Burak Ege Bekdil was the Turkey correspondent for Defense News.

土耳其安卡拉——军方和工业界消息人士称，土耳其首款国产反舰巡航导弹“阿特马卡”（Atmaca）将取代该国老旧的美国制造的“鱼叉”（Harpoon）导弹。

一位海军军官表示：“我们有信心在未来几年内顺利完成替换。这项工作涵盖我们现役的所有作战舰艇。”

国营导弹制造商罗克特桑公司（Roketsan）的一位官员表示，这种武器将在未来两到三年内取代 350 多枚鱼叉导弹。罗克特桑公司是 Atmaca（英文意为“鹰”）导弹的联合生产商。该武器将首先用于正在进行维护和升级计划的舰艇。

两位官员均要求匿名发言，因为他们没有被授权接受媒体采访。

2009 年，Roketsan 赢得了土耳其政府的开发合同。2018 年，Roketsan 与土耳其最大的国防公司、军用电子专家 Aselsan 合作，共同生产 Atmaca 导弹，该导弹融合了鱼叉导弹和法国飞鱼导弹的特点。

2019年，Atmaca系统被安装在土耳其第四艘Ada级轻型护卫舰TCG Kinaliada号上。该系统于2020年7月成功通过测试。

罗克特桑公司官员表示，土耳其希望通过“阿特马卡”导弹替代计划节省高达 5 亿美元，因为这种自制导弹的价格大约只有“鱼叉”导弹的一半。

《防务新闻》就土耳其的决定对鱼叉导弹制造商波音公司造成的经济影响询问了该公司，但该公司将问题转给了美国政府和国际客户。

“阿特马卡”（Atmaca）是一种亚音速掠海反舰导弹，射程超过220公里。它配备250公斤级高爆破片战斗部。据报道，该导弹具有很强的抗干扰能力，并具备全天候作战能力、目标更新和任务终止功能，以及包含三维路径规划的综合任务规划系统。

该导弹对开阔水域或近海海域的目标以及岸基目标均有效。在测试中，“阿特马卡”导弹的巡航高度低至3米。

它将安装在 Ada 级轻型护卫舰、伊斯坦布尔级护卫舰和 TF2000 级防空驱逐舰上。

华盛顿的克里斯·马丁对本报道亦有贡献。

布拉克·埃格·贝克迪尔是《防务新闻》的土耳其记者。