Turkey Arms Naval Seahawk Helicopters With Domestic Missiles for New Anti‑Drone Role
The Turkish Navy has live‑fired ROKETSAN’s L‑UMTAS and IIR‑seeker TEMREN missiles from its Seahawk helicopters off Antalya, replacing foreign munitions and adding an anti‑drone and anti‑helicopter capability that expands the fleet’s options.
Turkey is reshaping the way its navy uses helicopters by arming them with domestically produced missiles designed to hit targets on land and in the air, including drones.
The Turkish Navy recently carried out live‑fire tests off the coast of Antalya, launching ROKETSAN’s L‑UMTAS guided missiles and infrared‑imaging TEMREN missiles from its Seahawk helicopters. According to reporting on 13 September, the shots were carried out against both ground and air targets.
L‑UMTAS is part of a family of Turkish anti‑tank missiles. The TEMREN variant uses an imaging infrared seeker and a fire‑and‑forget guidance method, meaning the missile can lock onto a heat signature and then continue tracking it without further input from the launcher.
By integrating these missiles on its naval helicopters, Turkey is replacing foreign‑made munitions with domestic weapons and giving the aircraft an anti‑drone and anti‑helicopter capability they did not have before. That lets the navy use the same missile family against armoured vehicles, surface targets and low‑flying aerial threats.
For the Turkish defence industry, the tests mark another step in producing and fielding home‑grown systems. For the navy, they mean more control over a key part of its arsenal, with supply, upgrades and support now tied to a domestic manufacturer rather than an external supplier.
Analysts will be watching how quickly these missile configurations move from test firings off Antalya to regular deployments on front‑line ships, and whether similar upgrades are made on other Turkish helicopter types or offered for export to foreign navies.
Sources
- OSINT