The Atmaca Anti-Ship Missile Turkey Will Be Installed on the Indonesian Navy's OPV 90.
12/11/2022.
The Atmaca anti-ship missile made by Roketsan, Turkey, has also been named in the Indo Defense 2022 event. Apart from being previously reported to have been eyed by the Indonesian Navy, a press release from the Indonesian Ministry of Defense has also indicated the potential for cooperation in the acquisition of Atmaca missiles. But it should be noted, this is only a potential and has not yet been outlined in the form of an defense equipment procurement contract. As a multi-platform anti-ship missile, Atmaca has characteristics like the Harpoon and Exocet, which are prepared in variants that can be launched from surface warships, air vehicles and land-based platforms. Then it becomes a question for netizens, if Atmaca is later acquired by the Indonesian Navy, where will this anti-ship missile be placed?
Returning to the press release of the Indonesian Ministry of Defense during Indo Defense 2022, it was stated that the Atmaca missile will become an arsenal for OPV (Offshore Patrol Vessel) type ships, including OPV 90. The Atmaca missile will later complement the weapons in the Indonesian Navy's OPV in the Fit for But Not scheme. With (FFBNW). Referring to Havelsan's statement, which is also a defense vendor for Turkey, then there is a match, where Havelsan will supply the Advent CMS (Combat Management System) to the two OPVs ordered by the Indonesian Navy which are currently under construction. Which means, there is compatibility between the use of the Advent CMS made in Turkey and the Atmaca anti-ship missile which is also made in Turkey.
Atmaca, which means Eagle, is an anti-ship missile developed within the scope of the MILGEM project, namely Turkey's national warship development program (Ada Class corvette). Tracing its lineage, Roketsan was officially awarded the first phase research and development contract in 2009, and it was only in 2012 that the Atmaca development project was fully accelerated under the auspices of the Turkish Ministry of Defense.
Atmaca is called an anti-ship missile that shoots at a subsonic speed level of Mach 0.85 and flies at sea skimming altitude. Supported by the microturbo engine Safran TR40, Atmaca has a range of up to 200 km. The weight of this missile reaches 800 kg, including a 250 kg high-explosive penetrating warhead.
Atmaca has a length of 5.2 meters, a diameter of 350 mm and a wingspan of 1.4 meters. What about the guiding system? This missile alert of the Ottoman State relies on a combination of an inertial navigation system, GPS (Global Positioning System), barometric altimeter/radar altimeter with terminal guidance via an active radio frequency (RF) seeker. At Indo Defense 2022, Roketsan brought a full mockup of this missile. Unlike the variants launched from warships, the land-based variant of the Atmaca missile is equipped with an infrared guidance system.
As for the warships, our source within the internal TNI AL said, there are two options in the development of OPV, namely between 'larging' the patrol boat or reducing the weapons capabilities of a corvette or frigate. If you look at the 90-meter OPV design from PT Daya Radar Utama (DRU), what is shown is likely to be the 'highest' arsenal set-up if the OPV is to be operated by the Indonesian Navy.
From the design in the drawings, PT DRU's 90-meter OPV is equipped with a 35 mm caliber Rheinmetall Millennium Gun fast reaction cannon mounted on the hangar. Then on the middle deck, there are 2×4 anti-ship missile launchers and in the bow you can see the OTO Melara 76 mm Super Rapid Gun cannon. (Glang Prime)
