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SAHA 2026: Turkey markets modular undersea systems to European buyers

13th May 2026 - 14:08 GMT | by Harry McNeil in Istanbul, Turkey

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The Multi-Purpose Mini Submarine, certified by Türk Loydu, successfully finished its initial uncrewed dive tests off the coast of Karamürsel in April 2026. (Photo: Datum AŞ)

Turkey’s defence industry is pushing a class of platform and building an entire philosophy of cost-imposition around it.

At SAHA 2026 in Istanbul, the cumulative weight of Turkey’s subsurface announcements pointed in a clear direction: cheap ways to combat expensive things at sea, delivered from platforms small enough to move by truck.

The clearest expression of that came not from one of Turkey’s established primes, but from Datum AŞ, an Istanbul Technical University-partnered underwater technologies firm which unveiled Turkey’s first indigenous mini-submarine at the show. 

The Multi-Purpose Mini Submarine, which completed its initial uncrewed dive tests off the coast of Karamürsel on 14 April 2026, is certified by Türk Loydu and carries a localisation rate exceeding 80%. Its

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Harry McNeil

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Harry McNeil


Harry McNeil is Shephard's Naval Reporter. Before joining, he spent almost two years as an …

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