MKE’s latest PIRANA unmanned surface vessel variant is designed to enable enhanced control of kamikaze drone swarms and deliver strikes against targets through a payload bay.
The Turkish defense firm revealed the new USV variant at its Euronaval debut. Informed by internal company concepts and real-life lessons learned from the trials with the Turkish Navy, the PIRANA Armed USV is designed to enable saturation attacks against maritime targets.
Coming in at three times the weight and ten times the payload of previous variants, MKE’s latest development will operate as a crucial command and control node. AUSV incorporates an extensive communication suite of RF, SATCOM and LTE to strengthen data-link connectivity during swarming operations. To strike and sink enemy warships, the established Kamikaze USV variant will attack targets with its 100-kilogram warheads.
Compared to the KUSV offensive mission, PIRANA AUSV is designed for roles such as coastal patrol, electronic warfare and communications. The drone’s range is stated to be 400 nautical miles and can reach a speed in excess of 35 knots.
The Turkish Navy’s recent unmanned maritime drills showcased the use of data-links via an unmanned intermediary to command and control additional drones. In a June 2025 trial, MKE’s PIRANA was commanded by operators on TCG Anadolu (L-400) via a linked connection enabled by a Baykar Bayraktar TB3 drone. In September, PIRANA KUSV destroyed a target at Exercise Denizkurdu 2026, a large-scale Turkish Navy exercise.
Alongside its communications suite, the AUSV can deploy drones, fires and mission packages via an internal payload bay. According to an MKE fact sheet, the USV can support payloads of 1,000 kilograms. At Euronaval 2026, a payload of eight unspecified tube-launched unmanned aerial vehicles was shown aboard an AUSV model. Naval News understands that the sea drone has the potential to support future payloads beyond UAVs
The PIRANA development builds upon a previous concept in the drone series that planned to launch UAVs At IDEF 2025, Naval News covered a mock-up of a variant that supported a launch capability for either loitering munitions or a UAV.
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