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Istanbul Technical University-based defense company DATUM Submarine Technologies unveiled Türkiye's first domestically designed and built mini-submarine at SAHA 2026.
Presenting the Multipurpose Mini Submarine Development Project, in Turkish Cok Amacli Mini Denizalti (CAMD), alongside a family of derived platforms including the Sinarit modular extra-large unmanned underwater vehicle (XLUUV), the Tranca combat mini-submarine for special operations forces, and the Kirlangic seabed warfare vessel.
The CAMD completed its first unmanned dive on April 14, 2026, in the Sea of Marmara off Karamursel, with officials from the Defense Industries Secretariat and Turkish Lloyd surveyors witnessing the test. Assembly was completed at Sefine Shipyard.
The 12-meter platform, rated for depths exceeding 300 meters and a speed of 10 knots, has a domestic content rate exceeding 80%, with the pressure hull built by Yakut Kazan, the motor by Femsan DC Motor Factory and the propeller by Eris Pervane.
The design is 100% domestically originated.
DATUM's board chairman and ITU faculty member Dr. Munir Cansin Ozden said the engineering knowledge accumulated through CAMD would enable the custom design and construction of mini-submarines matched to the operational needs defined by the Turkish Naval Forces Command.
The CAMD is also planned as a testbed for subsystems being developed under MILDEN, Türkiye's national submarine program, allowing evaluation in a dynamic underwater environment without pulling fleet submarines from operational duties.
Future integration of Aselsan sonars and Roketsan's Orka lightweight torpedo is planned.
The Sinarit is the unmanned backbone of the DATUM family, a modular XLUUV derived from the CAMD by removing the crew section and converting that volume into 3.8-meter modular payload bays.
It fits inside a standard truck container and can be airlifted by an A400M military transport, giving it a strategic mobility profile unmatched by conventional underwater platforms.
"Sinarit is an underwater pickup truck. Whatever payload you put in its 3.8-meter cargo bay, it can secretly carry it to wherever you want underwater," DATUM Board Chairman and ITU faculty member Dr. Munir Cansin Ozden said.
"While submerged, it cannot be detected by radar, cannot be tracked by satellite, and because it is designed with a low sonar cross-section and very quiet operation, detection by sonar is nearly impossible," he added.
Sinarit can carry up to 12 different payload configurations, including:
The Tranca combat mini-submarine is designed for Türkiye's Special Underwater Assault Command (SAT).
It can transport six operators and their Diver Propulsion Device systems dry over a range of 400 nautical miles from a submerged launch point, carries two heavy torpedo tubes capable of firing the Akya torpedo and Akata missile, and can deploy up to 10 Malaman mines, providing SAT forces with a clandestine insertion and organic strike platform.
The Kirlangic (Gurnard), seabed warfare mini-submarine is designed for critical underwater infrastructure operations, capable of cutting undersea cables and laying Malaman mines against pipelines and port facilities.
DATUM cited the 2022 Nord Stream pipeline sabotage in the Baltic Sea as a demonstration of the strategic significance of undersea infrastructure warfare, positioning Kirlangic as a platform developed in direct response to evolving naval competition beneath the surface.
DATUM, which includes retired submariners among its staff, also aims to complete a Submarine Personnel Rescue Vehicle for service with Türkiye's Rescue Underwater Command, developed in response to the Dumlupinar disaster, one of the country's most painful naval tragedies.
The company's press release noted that its mini-submarine family, which can be transported by truck or aircraft and launched by crane, resembles the drone industry more than traditional shipbuilding, enabling inland or underground production facilities to build hundreds of them serially, even if coastal shipyards were destroyed in wartime.
DATUM said it has received strong interest from European Union member states, particularly in the Sinarit XLUUV and Tranca combat mini-submarine.
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