Last week, Qatar’s Ministry of Interior signed a contract with ARES Shipyard and Meteksan Defence to supply ULAQ USV to the Coast Guard Command. This contract, which represents Turkey’s first armed unmanned surface vessel export, was signed at Milipol 2024, the Global Homeland Security and Safety Event held in Doha.

According to a statement released by Meteksan Defence, the contract includes an indefinite number of ULAQ USVs to be used by the Qatar Coast Guard Command for reconnaissance, surveillance, intelligence missions, and critical facility base protection activities. These unmanned surface vessels will be built in the PSV (Port Security Vessel) variant and equipped with a 12.7 mm remote-controlled weapon system, radar, encrypted communication systems, and autonomous software.

Commenting on the contract, Sükrü Serkan Sevim, Deputy General Manager of Meteksan Defence Autonomous Systems, said they are proud to have exported Turkey’s first unmanned surface vessel. Sevim also stated that they are motivated to continue their efforts to meet the needs of Turkey and allied countries in this field.

ULAQ is Turkey’s first armed unmanned surface vessel, developed by the Ares-Meteksan Joint Venture. R&D and design studies of this unmanned floating platform began in 2018, and its first configuration was introduced in 2020. After outfitting the prototype boat, whose structural production was finished, ULAQ was launched in February 2021. Then, in May 2021, the first test firing was completed during DENİZKURDU-2021, the largest naval exercise in the history of the Republic of Turkey. In 2022, the unmanned surface vessel, which started mass production, entered the service of the Turkish Naval Forces in 2023.

The ULAQ is 11 meters long, has a load-carrying capacity of 2,000 kilograms, a cruising range of more than 400 kilometers, a speed of more than 70 kilometers per hour, day/night visibility, crypto, and electronic warfare-protected communication infrastructure. The unmanned vessel, which has many variants to perform different missions such as reconnaissance, surveillance and intelligence, surface warfare, asymmetric warfare, armed escort and force protection, strategic facility security, and anti-submarine warfare, can be equipped with a wide range of payloads according to user needs. ULAQ also incorporates artificial intelligence, and autonomous behavior features that enable it to perform joint operations with other USVs and manned aerial vehicles of the same or different structures.

ARES Shipyard and Meteksan Defence continue to develop ULAQ in line with the requirements of the changing warfare environment in the world. The two companies recently exhibited at SAHA EXPO a new variant of the ULAQ, named KAMA, in the Kamikaze USV concept, which came to the fore during the Ukraine-Russia War. Oğuzhan Pehlivanlı, Deputy General Manager of ARES Shipyard, stated that they are continuing their efforts to develop the world’s best unmanned naval vehicles equipped with different concepts and payloads and that they aim to make Turkey a leading trend-setting country in this field.

Tags: ARES Shipyard, Meteksan Defense, Qatari Emiri Navy, Turkey, ULAQ, Unmanned Surface vehicle