Turkey’s Navy is set to receive 100 expendable one-way unmanned surface vessels designed to strike targets in coordinated swarms, a procurement decision made at the February 2026 Defense Industry Executive Committee meeting. The order, overseen by the Presidency of Defense Industries (SSB), splits production across multiple domestic defense firms and represents one of the largest known commitments to kamikaze naval drone warfare by a NATO member. The program sits alongside parallel Turkish efforts to develop submersible explosive drones and decentralized swarm software, raising the prospect of mixed fleets that could approach warships partially underwater and evade radar detection.
Why 100 kamikaze naval drones change Turkey’s maritime calculus
The scale of the order is what sets it apart. Buying 100 one-way attack drones in a single tranche signals that Ankara views expendable naval swarms not as experimental prototypes but as an operational capability ready for fleet integration. The February 2026 committee decision, with SSB directing the effort, assigned production to at least two industrial teams: 40 units from ASELSAN working with Ares Shipyard, and 32 units from STM. That split across contractors suggests Turkey wants competitive pressure and supply-chain redundancy rather than dependence on a single builder.
The tactical logic is straightforward. A defending warship can engage one or two incoming threats with missiles or close-in weapons systems. Engaging dozens of small, fast, explosive surface drones arriving simultaneously from different bearings is a far harder problem. Turkey’s SSB has been developing a swarm architecture that lets unmanned surface vessels navigate and maneuver without central control, meaning no single communications link can be jammed or severed to neutralize the entire group. That architecture also supports scaling the number of units and mixing different vehicle types within the same swarm, which opens the door to combining surface drones with underwater platforms in a single coordinated attack.
This is where the hypothesis about mixed fleets gets concrete. HAVELSAN, another major Turkish defense company, has developed a concept called CAKA, described as a submersible hybrid kamikaze platform and tied to Turkish patent number 2024/003310. A drone that can travel on the surface at speed and then partially submerge during its final approach would present a much smaller radar cross-section than a conventional surface vessel. If Turkey’s decentralized swarm software can coordinate both surface and semi-submersible drones in the same attack run, defenders would face threats appearing on radar at different ranges and times, compressing their reaction windows.
ASELSAN’s TUFAN and KILIC expand the swarm toolkit
The 100-unit procurement is not happening in isolation. At SAHA Expo 2026, ASELSAN displayed its TUFAN one-way attack unmanned surface vessel alongside the KILIC family of autonomous underwater vehicles, both described as swarm-capable systems. TUFAN appears to be the surface attack component, while KILIC adds an underwater dimension. Together, they represent exactly the kind of heterogeneous swarm that SSB’s demonstration project is designed to enable: different vehicle types operating under the same decentralized control logic.
The industrial picture is worth tracing. ASELSAN, Turkey’s largest defense electronics firm, is involved in both the 100-unit procurement (partnered with Ares Shipyard for 40 units) and the development of next-generation swarm platforms like TUFAN and KILIC. STM, which is building 32 of the 100 ordered drones, has its own track record in unmanned naval systems. HAVELSAN contributes the submersible CAKA concept. Three major defense companies are working on overlapping but distinct approaches to the same operational problem, which gives the Turkish Navy options for assembling mixed swarms from different manufacturers’ hardware.
For any navy facing these systems, the defensive challenge multiplies. A purely surface swarm can be detected at range by shipboard radar and engaged with guns or missiles. Add semi-submersible drones that pop above the waterline only intermittently, plus fully submerged autonomous torpedoes, and the defending ship must simultaneously track threats in the air, on the surface, and underwater. Turkey’s investment in decentralized control software, which allows the swarm to adapt without a central node, makes electronic countermeasures less effective because there is no single command signal to disrupt.
Gaps in the public record and what to watch next
Several questions remain open. The February 2026 Defense Industry Executive Committee meeting confirmed the 100-unit decision, but no public SSB or committee document has disclosed the contract value, delivery timeline, or specific warhead configurations for these drones. The remaining 28 units not attributed to ASELSAN–Ares or STM in publicly available reporting are likely assigned to other Turkish firms, but no official breakdown has been released. It is also unclear whether all 100 platforms will share a common hull and propulsion design, or whether the Navy is deliberately buying a mix of configurations to test different performance envelopes.
There are similar gaps around command-and-control arrangements. SSB’s swarm demonstration work points to a future in which unmanned vessels can self-organize and re-task within a mission, but the degree of autonomy authorized for operational use has not been detailed. Rules governing target selection, abort criteria, and human-in-the-loop oversight for one-way explosive missions remain undisclosed. These choices will shape not only battlefield effectiveness but also how other states perceive the legal and ethical framework around Turkey’s use of naval drones.
Another unknown is how quickly the Turkish Navy can adapt its own doctrine, training, and logistics to absorb 100 expendable platforms. Swarm tactics require new concepts of operation: how to integrate unmanned waves with conventional surface combatants, how to manage deconfliction in crowded littoral waters, and how to sustain high-tempo use of expendable assets without overstraining maintenance pipelines. The answer will depend in part on whether the first batch is treated as an operational testbed or as a standing capability ready for deployment in sensitive theaters such as the Aegean or Eastern Mediterranean.
Regional navies will be watching closely for clues. Demonstration footage, live-fire exercises, and any export marketing of TUFAN, KILIC, CAKA, or the 100 ordered drones will offer hints about range, payload, and guidance accuracy. Changes in coastal infrastructure-such as new hardened shelters, mobile control stations, or dedicated support vessels-could also signal how seriously Turkey intends to rely on swarming unmanned systems in crisis scenarios.
What is already clear is that the decision to procure 100 one-way naval drones marks a shift in how Ankara conceives maritime power. Rather than focusing solely on large, high-value surface combatants, Turkey is investing in numbers, autonomy, and attritable platforms designed to overwhelm defenses. As the swarm software matures and mixed fleets of surface, semi-submersible, and underwater drones move from concept to practice, the balance between offense and defense in nearby seas will become more uncertain-and potentially more volatile-for every navy operating within range of Turkey’s coasts.
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*This article was researched with the help of AI, with human editors creating the final content.
