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Türkiye’s Aselsan Marlin USV Brings New EW and ISR Power to NATO Navies.
ASELSAN introduced its Marlin unmanned surface vehicle (USV) with advanced electronic warfare and ISR systems during a media event in Ankara on October 7, 2025. The platform marks a milestone as the first NATO-tested USV with a fully integrated operational EW suite.
On 7 October 2025, during a press day at ASELSAN’s Gölbaşı facilities near Ankara, an event in which Army Recognition Group was honored to participate, ASELSAN presented the latest status of its indigenous Marlin unmanned surface vehicle (USV) program and hosted a meeting session with the company’s CEO, followed by an exclusive tour of key production and test areas. Built in Türkiye by ASELSAN in cooperation with Sefine Shipyard, Marlin has emerged as a reference platform for multi-mission unmanned naval operations, with a particular emphasis on electronic warfare (EW) at sea. As presented to media during the event and supported by program documentation, Marlin is positioned as the first USV to field an integrated and operational EW suite and is the only system of its kind to have demonstrated these capabilities in a NATO exercise environment.
As navies seek to distribute risk and effects, the Marlin USV concept (multi-mission, networked and EW-competent) illustrates how unmanned craft can transition from niche trials to routine fleet operations (Picture source: ASELSAN)
Marlin’s claim to uniqueness rests on two pillars proven in NATO’s Dynamic Messenger 2022 exercise off southwestern Portugal: simultaneous multi-mission execution and an onboard, ship-grade EW package. During the six-day drill, which assembled about 100 unmanned systems from air and maritime domains alongside roughly 20 surface combatants, Marlin operated in open-ocean sea states, integrating with higher-echelon command-and-control nodes and coordinating with sea, air and subsurface assets. Turkish industry officials emphasized that the platform performed reconnaissance, surveillance, and information relay while withstanding rough conditions, validating autonomy, station-keeping and data link resilience. These demonstrations have reportedly sparked follow-on interest from allies and confirmed Marlin’s role as a NATO-interoperable node capable of surface, subsurface and electromagnetic tasks within the same sortie.
Technically, Marlin’s EW core combines passive electronic support measures with active electronic attack. The ARES-2NC ESM provides radar signal detection, analysis, identification and precise direction finding, enabling the USV to build an electronic order of battle and cue other sensors or effectors. Complementing this, the AREAS-2NC ECM supports sophisticated deception and denial techniques, including false single or multiple target generation, range and angular deception, and multi-modulation modes for scenario-tailored jamming. The platform couples these effects with a MARTI 200-N EO/IR imaging system for long-range day/night identification and an optional SMASH 200/12.7-L stabilized weapon station where rules of engagement require an armed posture. Marlin’s communications architecture spans wideband and narrowband SATCOM, RF line-of-sight data links and 4G/LTE, giving operators multiple pathways for beyond-line-of-sight control and resilient ISR and EW data dissemination.
Marlin’s naval-grade handling and navigation suite is designed to keep the sensor and EW apertures on target in contested littorals. The USV integrates inertial navigation, a dynamic positioning system and active stabilization to maintain track quality, and it carries marine radar and AIS for traffic deconfliction, plus an obstacle-avoidance sonar for close-in safety. ASELSAN’s autonomy stack fuses multi-sensor inputs for safe autonomous transit, detects both static and moving hazards, and performs dynamic path planning by day and night, even under GNSS disruption, supported by the KARETTA anti-jam GNSS system. The mission system supports planning, payload control and live video/data streaming from a mobile, containerized control station, enabling deployment directly from port infrastructure, logistic support vessels or amphibious ships.
Endurance and payload margins give Marlin the flexibility to scale from ISR/EW patrols to more kinetic tasking if authorized. The 15-meter craft has a beam of 3.85 meters, a displacement of about 21 tons, a top speed of at least 35 knots and endurance up to 72 hours, driven by twin 600-horsepower diesel engines. A payload capacity of four tons accommodates the EW suite alongside ISR turrets, effectors and additional mission kits. In line with the growth path highlighted by Turkish industry, Marlin is planned to integrate Kuzgun medium-range guided munitions for surface warfare, extending its utility from sensing and shaping the electromagnetic environment to delivering selective kinetic effects within distributed maritime operations.
Operationally, the platform’s value proposition is its ability to act as a self-deployable, networked effector that can both sense and shape the battlespace while cooperating with manned and unmanned teammates. In congested straits, exposed anchorages or amphibious approach lanes, Marlin can screen for adversary emitters, spoof hostile fire control chains, and pass targeting-quality tracks to higher headquarters, all while keeping human operators at standoff. The system’s hybrid-swarm and joint-operations logic, as described by ASELSAN, is designed to scale through multiple USVs under single-operator supervision, improving coverage and resilience against jamming or attrition and contributing a maritime EW layer to broader multi-domain command-and-control constructs.
With its performance in Dynamic Messenger and its industrial maturation underscored during ASELSAN’s press day, Marlin is consolidating a role for Türkiye in NATO’s evolving unmanned maritime ecosystem. For Army Recognition, which was honored to be part of the 7 October 2025 event at Gölbaşı, the key takeaway is that an operationally proven EW-enabled USV now exists as a modular, endurance-class platform with the communications resilience, autonomy and payload capacity to execute complex surface and subsurface tasks while shaping the electromagnetic spectrum. As navies seek to distribute risk and effects, the Marlin concept (multi-mission, networked and EW-competent) illustrates how unmanned craft can transition from niche trials to routine fleet operations.
Written by Teoman S. Nicanci – Defense Analyst, Army Recognition Group
Teoman S. Nicanci holds degrees in Political Science, Comparative and International Politics, and International Relations and Diplomacy from leading Belgian universities, with research focused on Russian strategic behavior, defense technology, and modern warfare. He is a defense analyst at Army Recognition, specializing in the global defense industry, military armament, and emerging defense technologies.