Starring in the FNSS stand was a diorama showing an amphibious assault operation, carried out with the company vehicles, the key element being the ZAHA amphibious tracked vehicles that allows transporting ashore naval infantry units protected by the vehicle armour. Turkey currently fields one Amphibious Brigade, but EDR On-Line understood that the service intends to boost its from-the-sea capability
Currently the Turkish fields one Amphibious Marine Brigade, based on three marine infantry battalions, one tank battalion, an artillery battalion, a support battalion, and a number of company-size specialised elements. How much Turkey intends to increase this capability is still unclear, but what EDR On-Line understood is that a second batch of ZAHA amphibious vehicles should be ordered soon.
The first batch, which included initially three variants for a total of 27 vehicles, 23 armoured personnel carriers (APC), two command and control, and recovery vehicles, which have been delivered, while mine-clearing version was added later.
The APC version is fitted with a remotely controlled weapon station that was purposely developed by FNSS to cope with amphibious requirements, the Çaka, armed with a 12.7 mm machine gun and a 40 mm automatic grenade launcher.
At IDEF 2025 FNSS unveiled two new versions of the Çaka, the Çaka 30/AT-O and the Caka AT-K, both providing an antitank capability to the ZAHA but with different ranges. Both are stabilised on two-axis, have a continuous 360° traverse, and an elevation arc from -7° to +45°, their armour level remaining classified.
As the name indicates, the Çaka 30/AT-O is armed with a 30 mm cannon firing 30×113 mm ammunition; the muzzle brake shows this is the Venom LR (Low Recoil) revolver cannon, which is produced by Samsun Yurt Savunma following the acquisition of British AEI Systems. The weapon has a rate of fire of 220-230 rounds per minute with a maximum operational range of 2,000 metres. The gun is installed on the left of the centreline, and at its left we find the ammunition magazine that contains up to 110 ready rounds.
To the right of the centreline, we find the two antitank missile; in the proposed version for the Turkish Navy these are OMTAS missiles provided by Roketsan, with a mass of 35 kg each, they have a 160 mm diameter, are usually fitted with a tandem shaped charge warhead, a fragmentation thermobaric warhead being also available, and have an operational range between 20 and 4,000 metres. The OMTAS has two attack modes, direct attack and to0p attack, and is effective against tanks, heavy armoured vehicles and, of course, lighter vehicles. The OMTAS is fitted with an imaging infrared (IIR) seeker that allows fire-and-forget operations, fire-and-update mode being also available exploiting the RF link between the missile and the launch platform.
The optronic suite, which is installed at the centre, under the weapons, includes a thermal imager, a day channel and a laser rangefinder, no details being provided.
The second version of the Çaka unveiled at the Istanbul exhibition is the Çaka AT-K, the last letter indicating the Karaok missile, also from Roketsan, which has a 125 mm diameter, a maximum range of 2.5 km. It is also fitted with an IIR seeker and a tandem shaped charge antitank warhead. The aim of the Çaka AT-K is to provide a good antitank capability without compromising too much the platform payload, therefore here we find a 12. 7 mm machine gun in place of the30 mm cannon. Here the two missiles are located on the right, with the machine gun on the left, the optronic package under it. The automatic weapon has 400 ready-to-fire rounds. While maintaining the same turret ring diameter, 780 mm, which allows quick replacement, the Çaka AT-K is lighter, no figures being available.
Both the Çaka 30/AT-O and the Çaka AT-K have already gone through firing tests, FNSS considering them at TRL 7. The company is awaiting the contract signature for a second batch of ZAHA vehicles, which might include some new variant fitted with the above-described unmanned turrets. The Ankara-based company is obviously looking with interest at the export market, both for the marine assault vehicles fitted with Çaka family turrets, as well as for the turrets themselves. EDR On-Line understood that this amphibious capability has raised interest in the Gulf and Middle-East area, in the Far East, Qatar and Indonesia being currently considered the most probable potential customers. Of course should FNSS obtain contracts from export, it is ready to integrate the missiles required by customer.
Photos courtesy FNSS and P. Valpolini