Unique in Türkiye, critical capabilities for Blue Homeland

One of the world's largest defense industry events, the International Defense Industry Fair (IDEF'23), has commenced in Istanbul. The fair not only brings together leading domestic companies but also gathers prominent foreign firms under the same roof, showcasing the impressive achievements of the Turkish defense industry.

From land systems to air and sea, autonomous platforms to complementary products, the event presented significant products in various fields, drawing attention to the vital platforms and systems for the future of the Blue Homeland.

Among them, the ORKUN-2053 stood out, bearing the signature of ARMELSAN and being Türkiye's first indigenous diving sonar, representing a crucial milestone for the future of Blue Homeland.

ARMELSAN General Manager, Can Emre Bakım, explained that they had specialized in underwater acoustics and become one of the few companies not only in Türkiye but also in the region. He summarized their main objective as "ending the dependency of the Turkish Naval Forces Command on foreign sources" in certain areas.

Bakım shared that all the diving sonars on the inventory of the Turkish Naval Forces were currently procured from abroad. According to him, the challenges would not only arise during the acquisition process from other countries, but also when it comes to providing support if needed. Their aim is to eliminate these difficulties and ensure self-sufficiency in this area for the Turkish Navy.

"Submarines are the most significant threat underwater."

Can Emre Bakım, mentioning that the diving sonar from helicopters had began as a recent AR-GE project of the Presidency of Defense Industries, emphasized the critical importance of having control over the seas in the field of warfare.

"One of the most significant threats underwater is submarines," he statd, and continued:

"Different sonar systems are used for detecting submarines, and these are products imported from abroad. In order to produce a domestic solution, we initiated the ORKUN-2053 project and have brought it to this point. The purpose of this product is to detect submarines operating deep in the ocean and hiding below the layers from long distances.

The diving sonar from helicopters is used in the current anti-submarine warfare helicopters. Additionally, we are aware that work is being done on the naval version of the Gökbey helicopter. As ARMELSAN, we also aim to integrate the ORKUN-2053 with the naval version of the Gökbey helicopter. This is one of our objectives."

The ORKUN-2053 will be mounted on an autonomuous surface vehicle.

The environment in the field of warfare is constantly evolving, and methods, platforms, demands, and solutions are continuously changing. This trend is also observed worldwide for airborne diving sonars.

Although rare, some leading countries in the world can conduct diving sonar operations not only from helicopters but also from autonomous surface vehicles. Bakım answered if the ORKUN-2053 had such a capability.

Bakım mentioned that they were also planning to take a similar step. They are goimg to conduct the first trial of the ORKUN-2053 with an autonomous surface vehicle within this year.

Indeed, what Bakım shared indicates that the ORKUN-2053 not only holds significant value for the Turkish Navy but also possesses substantial export potential. With its expected entry into the inventory of the Naval Forces Command in the near future, Bakım concluded his statements as follows:

"ORKUN-2053 received a tremendous amount of attention at IDEF. Especially regarding friendly and brotherly countries, we may expect some positive export news in the short term.

ORKUN-2053 is the first and only domestically developed helicopter diving sonar. It can dive up to approximately 500 meters in depth and boasts a localization rate of over 85%. By producing this system, Türkiye has not only achieved a milestone within its own borders but also became one of the few countries globally with this capability. The Blue Homeland has gained a critically important and powerful asset."