MKE Unveils PİRANA Armed USV at EURONAVAL 2026: A 1,000 kg Payload Swarm Command Boat
Turkish state manufacturer Mechanical and Chemical Industry Corporation (MKE) added a new member to its PİRANA unmanned surface vessel family at EURONAVAL 2026, held November 3-6 at Paris Nord Villepinte: an Armed USV (AUSV) variant. The model displayed on MKE’s booth carried a payload bay loaded with eight tube-launched drones; according to Naval News, the exact type of these drones was not disclosed, though the company said the bay could eventually carry other mission packages.
Per an MKE fact sheet shown at the show, the AUSV is roughly three times heavier than the earlier kamikaze variant of PİRANA and carries about ten times the payload, with a stated capacity of 1,000 kilograms. The vessel is fitted with a communications suite combining RF, SATCOM and LTE links. Reported range is 400 nautical miles, with a top speed above 35 knots.
A relay node, not a strike weapon
PİRANA’s first publicly known version, the Kamikaze Unmanned Surface Vehicle (KUSV), is built to ram a target directly with a 100-kilogram warhead. In September 2026, during the Denizkurdu-2026 exercise, that variant destroyed a surface target using a live warhead. The new AUSV takes on a different job: Naval News describes it as “designed to enable enhanced control of kamikaze drone swarms,” functioning as a command-and-control node rather than a strike platform.
That split marks a shift for the PİRANA line, from a single strike boat to a family divided by mission. The Defense News reports that the AUSV is meant to handle payload delivery, communications relay and swarm control, with coastal patrol and electronic-warfare roles also envisioned. The underlying goal is to support saturation attacks, in which many small unmanned craft are coordinated against a target at once.
From TCG Anadolu to the Euronaval floor
PİRANA’s development has leaned heavily on exercises with the Turkish Navy. In June 2025, operators aboard the amphibious ship TCG Anadolu (L-400) first controlled a PİRANA directly, then handed control to a relay carried by a Bayraktar TB3 drone — demonstrating that the boat could be operated beyond direct line of sight. The concept first appeared publicly at IDEF 2025, where the model on display was built to carry a single loitering munition or small drone.
The EURONAVAL 2026 unveiling is the first time MKE has paired the concept with concrete payload and range figures. The show drew 694 exhibitors from roughly 40 countries this year, and MKE’s stand doubles as a showcase for Türkiye’s export ambitions in unmanned naval systems.
A wider pattern in swarm tactics
Naval forces worldwide have increasingly explored swarming unmanned surface vessels in recent years, an approach shaped in part by Ukraine’s use of kamikaze sea drones in the Black Sea, where remote, beyond-line-of-sight strikes by many small craft at once were tested under combat conditions. MKE’s AUSV fits this pattern as a “carrier-relay” platform: rather than packing all the firepower into one expendable hull, it distributes communications and payload delivery across a mothership that can support several smaller units at once.
The main novelty is positioning a single hull as both payload carrier and communications relay, a role distinct from the disposable, narrowly built kamikaze USVs already fielded. What remains unclear is when operational testing will conclude and which drone types the bay will be certified to carry.
Sources:
- Naval News, “Türkiye’s MKE Debuts PIRANA Armed USV Variant with Drone Payload” (Aaron-Matthew Lariosa, November 3, 2026) — used for technical specifications, the displayed model, range and payload figures. Link
- The Defense News, “Turkey’s MKE Showcases Larger PIRANA Armed USV Variant at Euronaval With Swarm Drone Payload” (November 3, 2026) — used to corroborate the eight-drone payload configuration and the mission description. Link
