The launcher loaded with Atmaca UM (Atmaca Kara) cruise missiles before the test firing that Roketsan announced on 18 August. (Roketsan)
Turkish company Roketsan announced on 18 August that it had successfully test-fired the long-range cruise missile version of its Atmaca anti-ship missile.
It released a video showing the missile being prepared and then fired from a mobile launcher at a location that could be identified as the company's test facility on the Sinop peninsula on Türkiye's Black Sea coast. The missile was shown hitting a target on a floating platform at an unspecified distance from the launch site.
The video identified the missile as an Atmaca UM (the Turkish initials for long range), explaining it was previously referred to as the Atmaca Kara (land) version of the Atmaca anti-ship missile that has been developed for the Turkish Navy.
While this was the first time Roketsan has reported test firing an Atmaca UM/Kara, it suggested there had been earlier tests when the missile had achieved its longest range and flight duration to date.
Haluk Görgün, the secretary of Turkish Defence Industries, congratulated Roketsan on the successful test of what he referred to as the Kara Atmaca, describing it as a long-range cruise missile that is resistant to jamming and designed to be used against strategic land targets that require a high level of accuracy.
Roketsan has said the Atmaca Kara has a range of 280 km compared with the more than 220 km range of the original Atmaca and is also longer and 100 kg heavier, with the warhead increased from 220 kg to 250 kg. It also has an imaging infrared (IIR) seeker rather than an active radar seeker for terminal guidance.
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