MKE
Turkey's state-owned arms and ammunition maker, established in 1950 and headquartered in Ankara.
An MKE one-way-attack robot boat carrying a 100kg live warhead destroyed a surface target in Turkey's Denizkurdu-I exercise in late September 2026. MKE says the series had never before included a live-warhead strike.
Last refreshed: 7 October 2026 · Appears in 1 active topic
What may MKE's attack boat do when it runs autonomously?
Timeline for MKE
Fired its attack USV's live warhead at a surface target
Autonomous Systems: Land & Sea: MKE robot boat hits with a live warheadBackground
MKE, long an arms and ammunition maker, now builds armed uncrewed boats. During Denizkurdu-I/2026, a Turkish exercise of about 100 ships held from 20 to 25 September 2026, its one-way-attack uncrewed surface vessel struck a surface target with a 100kg live warhead. A CREW on a Tuzla-class patrol boat controlled it through radio and satellite links and could hand it between remote and autonomous control. MKE has not said what limits bind the boat once it runs on its own, and nor has Baird Maritime, which reported the strike.
MKE, the Mechanical and Chemical Industry Corporation, was established by Law No. 5591 of 8 March 1950 to supply the Turkish Armed Forces. It is headquartered in Ankara and wholly owned by the Ministry of National Defence. Its roots lie in the Ottoman Tophane-i Amire arsenal, and its plants include the Kırıkkale complex, built from 1936.
As Turkey's state arsenal, MKE supplies the munitions that its armed forces fire. The attack boat extends that role from the warhead to the vehicle that carries it.
