(DEFENCE SECURITY ASIA) — Turkish defence company, Roketsan has proposed its newly-developed “ATMACA” anti-ship missile to the Royal Malaysian Navy (RMN), in an effort to break the domination of French-made anti-ship missile on the Malaysian market.
Roketsan Central Asia and Far East Regional Manager Cumhur Murat Boz said they have already kick-started negotiations with RMN on the prospect of introducing the anti-ship missile on Malaysian warships.
“Now we are negotiating with the RMN for the procurement of ATMACA, but we are waiting for the contract between Turkiye Savunma Teknolojieri Muhendiskil (STM) and the RMN to be signed (for the possible acquisition of Littoral Mission Ship (LMS) Batch II).
“We are sure that RMN will decide to procure ATMACA anti-ship missile since it has been qualified and delivered to Turkish Navy,” he said on an interview with the local media on the sidelines of the Defence Services Asia (DSA) and National Security (NATSEC) Asia 2024 exhibition here, today.
For decades, most of RMN’s warships have been using the “EXOCET” anti-ship missile developed by European defence company, MBDA, but if Malaysia inked a contract with STM for the procurement of LMS Batch II, it will probably see the entrance of Turkish-made anti-ship missile to the Malaysia market.
In a separate interview earlier, Turkish shipbuilder, STM expressed its optimism about sealing the LMS Batch II deal to supply the RMN with the warships which would be based from the Ada-class Corvette design.
STM general manager Ozgur Guleryuz said discussions with RMN and the Malaysian Ministry of Defence (Mindef) have been going smoothly for nearly two years.
“Insya-Allah we hope to sign the memorandum of understanding (with RMN) soon (on the LMS Batch II),” he said.
In another testament to the capability and reliability of “ATMACA” anti-ship missile, Boz said, the Turkish Navy has opted to replace all US-made “Harpoon” anti-ship missiles used by its warships with Roketsan’s locally-developed anti-ship missile.
He also said as regional navies upgrade their capabilities and acquire new assets to keep up with the fast-changing security environment, the demand for anti-ship missiles will increase.
“There is also a huge demand for anti-ship missiles especially in the Asia Pacific region and in other parts of the world. We are sure, we are very happy and we are confident with our products,” he said adding that most of the products developed by Roketsan are combat-proven.
It was reported in January this year that Indonesia has awarded a contract to its local company, PT Republik Defensindo, to acquire 45 units of the ‘ATMACA’ anti-ship missile, making the Southeast Asian country the first outside Turkiye to buy the anti-ship missile.
Weighing 750kg, the “ATMACA” anti-ship missile proposed to RMN utilises the Inertial Navigation System (INS) and Global Positioning System (GPS) which enabled it to strike targets up to 280km away with pinpoint accuracy.
The anti-ship missile operates autonomously, maintains a low radar cross-section (RCS), functions in all weather conditions and is capable of countering various countermeasure systems.
ROKETSAN has been developing “ATMACA” for ten years and only unveiled the missile to the public in 2019. — DSA