HAVELSAN Officially Confirms MATRA Is Operational in the Eastern Mediterranean
HAVELSAN said in an official post published at 21:39 on 11 November 2026, Türkiye time, that it had completed provisional acceptance of the Eastern Mediterranean Vessel Traffic Services (DAGTH) project, built with the Ministry of Transport and Infrastructure. The company named its MATRA system as the platform that will provide continuous surveillance, real-time tracking and digital port management in the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC) and the Eastern Mediterranean.
The announcement is the company’s public confirmation that the system is not only installed but formally accepted against the contract’s technical requirements, and is now in operational use under that status. We reported the completion of provisional acceptance on 8 November; the 11 November post is HAVELSAN’s own statement, and the first time the company has tied the project publicly to the MATRA product name.
What “operational” means on the water
According to the official post, MATRA is intended to do three things at once in the TRNC and the Eastern Mediterranean: keep watch without interruption, track vessels in real time, and manage port movements digitally. As reported by TRT Haber on 8 November, citing the company, the system shares identity, route, navigation and cargo data on vessels in its coverage area, in real time and securely, with both the TRNC Vessel Traffic Services (VTS) centre and the VTS centre in Mersin. The two centres therefore see the same maritime picture.
That picture is built from three traffic surveillance stations in Northern Cyprus, at Çayırova, Sadrazamköy and Dipkarpaz. After the sensors and subsystems were integrated, the network was fully linked to the Mersin centre on Türkiye’s Mediterranean coast. An integrated Port Management Information System is meant to track ships arriving at and leaving TRNC ports digitally.
HAVELSAN and the ministry have not published the number of vessels tracked, the sensor types at the three stations, the contract value, or a date for final acceptance. Those details remain unknown.
From contract to official announcement
- 2023: The Directorate General of Maritime Affairs, under the Ministry of Transport and Infrastructure, signed the contract with HAVELSAN.
- 2024: Field work began.
- 20 July 2026: The system was officially opened at the Gazimağusa (Famagusta) VTS centre, with Transport and Infrastructure Minister Abdulkadir Uraloğlu attending.
- 17 August–20 October 2026: Provisional acceptance testing ran and was completed on 20 October.
- 11 November 2026, 21:39 Türkiye time: HAVELSAN officially announced that provisional acceptance was complete and that MATRA would provide surveillance and digital port management in the TRNC and the Eastern Mediterranean.
MATRA and Türkiye’s indigenous VTS software
What the 11 November post adds is the product name. On HAVELSAN’s official product page, MATRA VTS is described as an IALA-compliant, web-based vessel traffic services platform. It fuses radar, Automatic Identification System (AIS), cameras and meteorological data to track ships in real time and support early detection of risks.
At the July opening, HAVELSAN said the system uses AI-supported analytics. General Manager Dr Mehmet Akif Nacar recalled that the company replaced foreign-origin software in the Turkish Straits VTS with an indigenous solution in 2023, and said the system commissioned in Northern Cyprus was developed with a higher degree of local content and designed to work with Türkiye’s existing national maritime systems.
The operational result is a shared, continuous traffic picture between Mersin and Gazimağusa — useful for navigation safety, port operations and incident response. A date for final acceptance has not been announced.
Sources
- HAVELSAN, official X post, 11 November 2026, 21:39 Türkiye time: x.com/HAVELSAN
- TRT Haber, 8 November 2026: trthaber.com
- HAVELSAN, “HAVELSAN’s AI-Powered Vessel Traffic Services System Enters Operation in the TRNC”, 31 July 2026: havelsan.com
- HAVELSAN, MATRA product page: havelsan.com
