MARLIN
Turkish armed uncrewed surface vessel built by Sefine Shipyard and Aselsan.
MARLIN laid a MALAMAN training mine in both autonomous and remote-controlled modes, Anadolu Agency reported in August 2026, adding minelaying to a Turkish robot boat that has already fired a Kuzgun-KY missile. Only that one agency has reported the mine trial.
Last refreshed: 7 October 2026 · Appears in 1 active topic
MARLIN has laid a mine and fired a missile; is it a combat boat yet?
Timeline for MARLIN
Mentioned in: MKE robot boat hits with a live warhead
Autonomous Systems: Land & SeaTurkish robot boat reported laying a mine
Autonomous Systems: Land & SeaBackground
MARLIN is an armed uncrewed surface vessel developed jointly by Sefine Shipyard and the defence electronics group Aselsan. It has a 14.75m aluminium hull, displaces 26 tonnes, reaches 36 knots and has a stated range of 700 nautical miles; its hull can switch between monohull and trimaran form, according to Baird Maritime.
The first MARLIN entered Turkish Navy service on 19 January 2024 as TCB 1101, Janes reported. It has fired a Kuzgun-KY surface-to-surface missile. In August 2026 Anadolu Agency reported that it laid a MALAMAN training mine in autonomous and remote-controlled modes after testing by Sefine Shipyard. No first-party notice confirms that trial or any operational minelaying deployment.
MARLIN is one of several Turkish uncrewed boat programmes. It is not the MKE explosive boat that struck a target with a live warhead in the Denizkurdu-I exercise in September 2026; that is a separate, one-way-attack design from a different maker.
