Historic day in the Blue Homeland: National mini-submarine launched for the first time

Türkiye, which has achieved very valuable successes in naval platforms in recent years, has turned another critical corner in a field that will directly affect Ankara’s capabilities.

At the forefront of this success story is DATUM, established in 2013 with the aim of designing manned/unmanned mini-submarines for military and commercial use. Strengthened in 2018 with the partnership of Istanbul Technical University, DATUM recently launched the first mini-submarine designed, produced, and certified entirely with domestic/national resources.

Dr. Münir Cansın Özden, a faculty member at ITU’s Faculty of Naval Architecture and Ocean Engineering, explained both the importance of this test and what can be done with mini-submarines that will undertake extremely strategic tasks.

Dr. Özden begins with some details about the test on April 14th… He states that they used a 12-meter-long, 36-ton displacement manned mini-submarine. However, in the first test, the submarine was launched unmanned. It successfully executed all the commands given to it, and thus the system was successfully tested.

Özden emphasizes that this is an extremely difficult task, and only 10 countries in the world have been able to achieve it.

Münir Cansın Özden mentions that, with the very valuable support of the Presidency of Defense Industries, they are also working on mini-submarines capable of undertaking 12 different missions.

“We will be able to deploy MALAMAN mines. We will be able to rescue personnel trapped in a submarine experiencing problems underwater with mini-submarines. We will be able to transport our SAT commandos to their mission areas. We will be able to attack the communication cables or power transmission lines of enemy countries in deep seas. At the end of the day, we will produce submarines that will successfully undertake critical missions, each one more important than the last.”