ATMACA Anti-Ship Missile has successfully hit its target in an electronic warfare environment scenario comprising Electronic Jamming and GPS Jamming. In accordance with the firing scenario that took place at the Sinop Missile Testing site on 26th September, it was seen that ATMACA successfully hit its surface test target with its onboard Inertial Navigation Systems (INS), with GPS-free and limited navigation support.

In the footage of the firing test shared at the Roketsan press briefing, it was seen that ATMACA succeeded in hitting its surface test target according to an electronic warfare environment scenario involving Electronic and GPS jamming. In accordance with the scenario applied, the missile hit its target only with its onboard inertial navigation systems, with GPS off, limited navigation support, and Prof.İsmail DEMİR stated that the project is coming to an end and they are waiting for the serial production activities to start soon.

President of Defense Industries Prof. İsmail DEMİR, in his statement following the viewing of the test-firing footage, gave the good news that one last test of ATMACA was carried out on 26th September and said: “The firing test have been accomplished, successfully. This was the penultimate test of ATMACA. One more test is left; we are coming to an end. We just had a talk with our colleagues, and we expect them to start serial production activities. As you know, the process is not just like ‘you have made a product, you have hit the target once while the tests were conducted.’ You have to test various capabilities. The onboard control systems and automatic control systems need to be controlled and monitored. The systems’ stand-alone functionality and interoperability need to be tested. Test-firings need to be conducted in various environments and conditions. In other words, a product is not calibrated and matured with only 1-2 tests. We have systems where nearly 50 tests are conducted by the time they reach the maturity stage. The announcement of a product test can be understood by the public that productization has been achieved. But the colleagues closely following the defense industry and technology know better, that there is a process called product qualification, because when you deliver the product, the user authority should be able to use it with ease and comfort, even in that sense, there is still a continuous improvement in the products with the experience and feedback obtained in the operational environment. In this respect, it is essential for a system that the designer, producer and user authority stay in constant communication, as a working principle. It is critical for us to realize this. Adopting this approach, maintaining our contact with the operation area and receiving feedback from there, sharing information with manufacturers and designer companies and contributing to the development process are amongst the coordination duties of the Presidency of Defense Industries. Surely, in addition to ATMACA, Ground-to-Ground cruise missiles, Air-to-Ground cruise missiles and other versions and products derived from it are also being examined. I would also like to inform you that Roketsan has been studying  the launch of this missile from the submarine apart from this project.”

Emphasizing that foreign dependency on engine will be resolved, DEMİR said, “I hope we will solve this, too. In brief, we will make it better than its equivalents in the world, and we will eliminate foreign dependency by indigenizing the engine with the components in its technology.” 

Roketsan CEO Murat İKİNCİ, shared technical information about the test-fire and said: “This test was actually based on a scenario involving the test of ATMACA under the most challenging conditions. It was able to find and hit the surface target precisely from a quite considerable distance with only its own internal inertial navigation (INS) system, completely independent of GPS. This was an indication that ATMACA was able to hit the target with its very limited navigation capability even in environments where Electronic Warfare was very intense. Even if there is no external intervention, it is prepared for the most challenging scenarios where electronic jamming is present. The feature of the test, as I said, was a scenario demonstrating that the missile seeks out the target with its onboard inertial navigation and seeker without GPS and no support utilized by other navigation units. We are preparing our ATMACA for tough conditions.”

Stating that ATMACA has very critical algorithms and intelligence to bypass countermeasure systems of hostile elements, İKİNCİ said, “The most important capability of ATMACA is Sea Skimming, in other words, flying as low as is practically achievable and not detected by radars. Of course, there are countermeasures, but we rely on the fact that ATMACA will have some serious capability. It has very critical algorithms and intelligence to bypass most of the measures on the opposite side, and there are different attack modes, so it does not only keep course on the surface, it also has the ability to hit from above, that is, from above the vessel. More features will be added. The most important feature in the current test is the ability to hit the target with its own internal navigation systems by completely bypassing electronic jamming.” 

After this test, which was conducted without a warhead, the final test on a surface target with a live warhead is planned to be conducted. Following the surface target test, the qualification tests are expected to be finalized and the serial production will be initiated.