Türkiye’s National Fast Attack Craft is expected to be launched by the end of 2026 or in early 2027, marking the next major milestone in the Turkish Naval Forces’ effort to field its first domestically designed fast attack craft.

STM General Manager Özgür Güleryüz said on 21 August 2026 that construction of the prototype was progressing intensively after completion of the design phase. Once launched, the 68-metre, approximately 700-tonne vessel will move into further outfitting and testing before delivery.

The programme is strategically relevant beyond a single missile craft. Türkiye has already established indigenous design authority across corvettes and frigates through MİLGEM and is now extending that capability into a high-speed surface-strike category built around low signatures, shallow-water operations, long-range anti-ship weapons and domestic combat systems.

Key Facts

  • Latest milestone: STM expects the first prototype to be launched by the end of 2026 or in early 2027.
  • Prime contractor and designer: STM.
  • Customer: Turkish Naval Forces under the Presidency of Defence Industries programme.
  • Prototype contract: Signed between SSB and STM on 9 September 2024.
  • Displacement: Approximately 700 tonnes.
  • Dimensions: 68 metres long and 9.34 metres moulded breadth.
  • Maximum speed: More than 39 knots.
  • Range: At least 800 nautical miles.
  • Crew accommodation: 36 personnel.

National Fast Attack Craft Launch Target Moves Into View

Speaking to Anadolu Agency during TEKNOFEST Mavi Vatan on 21 August 2026, Güleryüz said STM had completed the design process and was now intensively manufacturing the prototype.

He identified the next major programme milestone as launching the first vessel either before the end of 2026 or during the beginning of 2027.

The timetable should be interpreted precisely.

Launching the ship does not mean that the vessel will immediately become operational. Major equipment installation, harbour acceptance activity, systems integration and sea testing normally continue after a naval vessel enters the water.

Güleryüz specifically said outfitting would then be completed rapidly before delivery.

STM has not publicly announced a specific commissioning date for the prototype.

Follow-On Production Discussions Are Already Underway

The prototype may also become the first member of a wider fast attack craft family.

Güleryüz said STM was continuing discussions with the Presidency of Defence Industries on production of the remaining vessels in the planned family while prototype construction proceeds.

No follow-on quantity, contract value or production schedule was disclosed in the 21 August statement.

This distinction is important: the prototype is under contract and under construction, while subsequent vessels remain subject to additional procurement decisions.

A follow-on serial-production contract would represent a larger programme milestone because it would convert the design from a one-ship prototype effort into a repeatable Turkish Naval Forces class.

The Programme Started With Indigenous Design Work in 2020

The National Fast Attack Craft programme has progressed through several distinct phases.

According to STM, SSB and the company signed the Turkish-Type Fast Attack Craft Phase-1 Contract Design Agreement on 31 August 2020.

The initial phase covered requirements definition, concept selection, preliminary design and contract design.

STM also completed hull-form optimisation, structural analysis, propulsion-system design, electrical-system engineering and weapon-configuration work.

This design authority is one of the programme’s principal industrial objectives.

Türkiye has operated fast attack craft for decades, but the new programme is intended to give the domestic industry control over the platform architecture itself rather than depend on a foreign-origin baseline.

Prototype Contract Was Signed in September 2024

SSB and STM signed the contract covering procurement of one prototype National Fast Attack Craft on 9 September 2024.

Construction subsequently moved forward during 2025.

The first steel was cut on 8 July 2025, while STM publicly displayed the National Fast Attack Craft model for the first time at IDEF 2025 on 22 July 2025.

The first block was laid down at İstanbul Denizcilik Tersanesi on 27 October 2025, formally moving the project into hull assembly.

The latest launch target therefore follows approximately a year of physical hull construction after keel laying.

A 700-Tonne Surface-Warfare Platform

STM’s current official specifications describe a compact but heavily armed surface combatant optimised around speed and offensive surface warfare.

  • Length overall: 68.00 metres.
  • Moulded breadth: 9.34 metres.
  • Design draught: 2.50 metres.
  • Design displacement: Approximately 700 tonnes.
  • Maximum speed: More than 39 knots.
  • Cruising speed: 20 knots.
  • Range: At least 800 nautical miles.
  • Endurance: Seven days.
  • Accommodation: 36 personnel.

These are STM’s published design specifications and should be treated as the manufacturer’s current baseline until acceptance trials establish the performance of the completed prototype.

Four Diesel Engines Drive Four Steerable Waterjets

The propulsion architecture reflects the importance assigned to speed and manoeuvrability.

STM lists four diesel engines driving four steerable waterjets, supported by three diesel generator sets.

Waterjet propulsion is particularly relevant to fast attack craft because it can support high-speed operation and rapid manoeuvring while avoiding conventional exposed propeller and rudder arrangements.

The platform is also intended to operate in comparatively shallow waters, giving it relevance to Türkiye’s enclosed and semi-enclosed maritime environment as well as coastal approaches.

Low Signatures Support the Ambush Concept

The National Fast Attack Craft is designed around a different operating philosophy from a larger frigate.

SSB states that the vessel is intended to use waiting and concealment positions to complicate an adversary’s detection and identification process before launching long-range guided weapons.

STM therefore emphasises reduced radar cross-section and infrared signature in the hull and system design.

The goal is not to make the vessel invisible but to reduce the distance or quality at which an opponent can establish a reliable track, potentially increasing the tactical value of speed, terrain masking and coordinated targeting.

That is particularly relevant in constrained maritime environments where islands, coastlines and heavy civilian traffic can complicate the surveillance picture.

ATMACA Provides the Long-Range Surface-Strike Layer

STM lists a surface-to-surface guided-missile system among the vessel’s principal weapons.

In its English-language keel-laying announcement, the company specifically identified the ATMACA anti-ship missile for the platform.

This gives the National Fast Attack Craft a long-range strike weapon considerably extending its reach beyond the ship’s organic radar horizon when supported by external targeting information.

The ship is explicitly intended to coordinate attacks with frigates and helicopters, according to SSB and STM.

That requirement points toward networked surface warfare rather than an isolated missile-boat concept.

Targets detected by another ship, aircraft or future uncrewed sensor could potentially contribute to the engagement process provided the required tactical data can be exchanged through the combat-management architecture.

The Gun and Point-Defence Layer Are Also Indigenous-Focused

Published weapon configuration also includes a 76 mm main gun, a guided-missile point-defence system, two 12.7 mm remotely controlled stabilised weapon stations and two chaff/decoy systems.

STM’s English programme material identifies an MKE 76 mm gun for the platform.

This reflects Türkiye’s broader effort to localise not only hull construction but the high-value weapons and combat systems installed aboard new naval vessels.

The exact production configuration of the point-defence missile system has not been specified on STM’s current programme page, so it should not be assigned to a particular missile family until formally disclosed.

Combat Systems Go Beyond a Classic Missile Boat

The sensor suite is similarly extensive for a vessel of approximately 700 tonnes.

STM lists a combat-management system with NATO and national tactical data-link connectivity, including Link 11 and Link 22.

The published sensor architecture includes a 3D surveillance radar, fire-control radar, electro-optical director, electronic-warfare system, laser-warning system, identification friend-or-foe equipment and low-probability-of-intercept navigation radar.

This combination reflects an important evolution in the fast attack craft category.

The vessel is still optimised for high-speed surface attack, but survivability increasingly depends on situational awareness, electronic support, data links and point defence rather than speed alone.

The Design Is Intended for Difficult Sea Conditions

STM also publishes specific environmental requirements.

The National Fast Attack Craft is designed to conduct operations at full-load displacement in conditions involving at least two-metre wave heights.

The company says the vessel can also conduct firing activity in approximately three-to-four-metre wave conditions, subject to course and speed limitations.

That matters because a high-speed craft capable of impressive performance only in calm coastal water would offer considerably less operational utility.

The prototype’s eventual sea trials will therefore need to validate seakeeping and weapons employment alongside headline maximum speed.

Milli Hücumbot Extends the MİLGEM Design-Sovereignty Model

The programme fits a wider pattern in Türkiye’s naval-industrial strategy.

MİLGEM created domestic capability in warship design, system integration and serial production across the Ada-class corvette and İ-class frigate families.

Defence Agenda’s Türkiye Naval Modernisation: Type 214, ULAQ and MİLGEM analysis tracks how this model has expanded into submarines, autonomous systems and export programmes.

The National Fast Attack Craft applies the same industrial principle to another vessel category: domestic control over the basic ship design allows weapons, sensors and propulsion architecture to be adapted over the vessel’s service life without depending completely on a foreign design authority.

Türkiye Is Simultaneously Building Seven More İ-Class Frigates

The launch target comes while STM is also managing a high workload across other naval programmes.

Güleryüz told AA that production of seven additional İ-class frigates for the Turkish Naval Forces was continuing intensively and that the vessels were progressing on largely parallel schedules.

This is relevant to the fast attack craft because it demonstrates the broader industrial environment into which the new programme is entering.

Türkiye is no longer progressing one major indigenous surface combatant at a time. Several frigates, patrol vessels, auxiliary ships, destroyers and export programmes are moving through different yards simultaneously.

The emerging high-end of that portfolio is analysed in Defence Agenda’s MUGEM and TF-2000 Warship Projects.

STM’s Export Work Adds Production Pressure and Opportunity

The same interview also highlighted STM’s expanding export workload.

Güleryüz pointed to three Malaysian Littoral Mission Ship Batch 2 corvettes launched within approximately four months, describing the pace as close to a record for the company.

STM is simultaneously managing Ukrainian corvette work and two replenishment and logistics-support ships for the Portuguese Navy.

That export activity strengthens the company’s shipbuilding supply chain and programme-management experience, but it also makes capacity management more important.

The National Fast Attack Craft will compete for specialist labour, combat-system integration capacity and suppliers within an industry already processing a historically large order book.

Fast Attack Craft Still Have a Role in Networked Naval Warfare

The persistence of the category itself is strategically noteworthy.

Larger frigates and destroyers offer greater endurance, air defence, aviation capacity and survivability, but they are also substantially more expensive and manpower intensive.

A fast attack craft provides another option where geography favours shorter-range, high-speed and heavily armed surface units.

For Türkiye, the Aegean, Turkish Straits and portions of the Eastern Mediterranean create operational environments where a smaller combatant can exploit coastal geography while remaining linked to larger ships, helicopters, UAVs and shore-based sensors.

The value of the new design will consequently depend less on reproducing the tactics of older missile boats and more on integrating it into a distributed sensor-to-shooter network.

Counterargument: Speed Alone No Longer Guarantees Survivability

The fast attack craft concept also faces a more difficult surveillance environment than previous generations.

Persistent UAVs, space-based sensors, modern maritime patrol aircraft, networked coastal radars and long-range precision weapons make it increasingly difficult for a surface combatant to rely on speed and small size alone.

This places greater importance on the National Fast Attack Craft’s reduced signatures, electronic warfare suite, point defence and tactical-data-link integration.

The real question is therefore not whether the vessel can exceed 39 knots, but whether it can remain difficult enough to find, classify and engage while contributing to a networked maritime strike operation.

Prototype Trials Will Be More Important Than the Launch Ceremony

The planned launch will be visually significant, but the more consequential technical milestones will follow.

Propulsion and manoeuvring trials will need to validate the four-engine, four-waterjet configuration.

Combat-system testing must demonstrate that radar, electronic warfare, navigation, communications and weapon-control systems operate as an integrated architecture.

Weapons trials will then be required to validate the main gun, surface-to-surface missile and point-defence chain in realistic maritime conditions.

The published seakeeping requirements will also need to be demonstrated rather than assumed from design values.

Implications / Next

The first milestone to watch is the prototype launch. STM currently places this between late 2026 and early 2027.

The second is outfitting completion. The period after launch will show how quickly propulsion, weapons, sensors and combat systems can be brought together into the completed ship.

The third is sea trials. Maximum speed, manoeuvrability, range and performance in difficult sea conditions will need to be demonstrated with the completed prototype.

The fourth is weapons integration. ATMACA, the 76 mm gun and the final point-defence configuration will determine the practical surface-warfare and survivability envelope.

The fifth is follow-on procurement. STM confirms that discussions with SSB are continuing, but no serial-production quantity has yet been publicly announced.

Finally, the programme will provide another test of Türkiye’s naval-production capacity. The prototype is progressing while the same industrial ecosystem is simultaneously building frigates, export corvettes, auxiliary ships and several much larger national naval programmes.

Conclusion

Türkiye’s National Fast Attack Craft is approaching the point at which an indigenous design becomes a physical naval platform in the water.

The programme has moved from its 31 August 2020 design contract through prototype contracting in September 2024, first steel in July 2025 and keel laying in October 2025. STM now expects the first ship to be launched by the end of 2026 or in early 2027.

At approximately 700 tonnes, the vessel combines more than 39 knots of manufacturer-stated maximum speed with long-range surface-strike missiles, a 76 mm gun, point defence, electronic warfare and tactical-data-link connectivity.

Its strategic significance is therefore not simply that Türkiye is building another missile boat.

The programme gives the Turkish naval industry indigenous design authority in another combatant category and creates the basis for a future family of fast attack craft if current follow-on discussions result in serial procurement.

The launch will be the next visible milestone. Sea trials, weapons integration and a follow-on production contract will determine whether Milli Hücumbot becomes a significant new component of the Turkish Naval Forces’ surface-warfare architecture.

Further Reading