A new unmanned surface vessel (USV) design from ARES Shipyard has surfaced on Türk Patent’s database for design submissions.
The filing points to a larger, more modular addition to the Turkish builder’s uncrewed fleet, well beyond the compact armed boats it is known for.
A catamaran hull built around a 40 ft container
The design features a catamaran hull large enough to accommodate a single 40 ft shipping container.
At 22.5 metres in length, the vessel is considerably larger than ARES’s existing monohull ULAQ series, which measures 11 metres.
The catamaran configuration leaves a generous amount of free space on the vessel’s flatbed section relative to its size.
The ability to carry a standard 40 ft container makes the design viable for logistics support missions.
It also opens the possibility of embarking containerised weaponry aboard the vessel, letting an operator swap mission payloads by container rather than rebuilding the boat.
The additional space could let the design carry larger unmanned underwater vehicles (UUVs) than ARES’s earlier USVs, supporting anti-submarine warfare missions.
It could similarly accommodate more capable electronic warfare systems than smaller ARES designs allow.
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ARES Shipyard’s unmanned vessel record
ARES Shipyard has prior experience building catamaran platforms, most notably the ARES 17 CF.
Founded in 2006 by the Kalafatoğlu family, ARES operates out of the Antalya Free Zone and builds composite, aluminium, and steel vessels.
The shipyard’s production facility spans roughly 40,000 square metres and can accommodate vessels up to 90 metres in length.
The company’s most recent USV work is the Tufan kamikaze vessel, co-developed with ASELSAN, which supplies its software, sensors, and electronics.
Turkey selected Tufan as one of three designs for the Turkish Navy’s 100-unit expendable USV programme in February 2026, alongside STM’s Yaktu and Havelsan’s entrant.
The order, decided by Türkiye’s Defence Industry Executive Committee, splits production across three teams to maintain parallel supply chains, with the ASELSAN–ARES team taking 40 of the 100 vessels.
The fleet is intended for autonomous swarm-strike operations against maritime and coastal targets.
Unveiled at SAHA 2026, the roughly 8-metre Tufan carries about 227 kg of explosive – a warhead mass comparable to a Mk 82 bomb – in a low-profile hull built for swarming attacks.
The ULAQ, developed jointly with Meteksan Defence, was Turkey’s first armed unmanned surface vessel.
It carries Roketsan’s Cirit and L-UMTAS guided munitions, and completed its first live-fire test in May 2021.
ARES and Meteksan have since expanded the ULAQ family, adding a naval base-protection variant in late 2021 and the ULAQ KAMA loitering variant at IDEF 2023.
Two European navies have previously shown interest in the ULAQ, which can be deployed from combat ships and controlled from mobile vehicles or command centres.
ARES has also promoted the family at regional naval exhibitions, including DIMDEX in Doha.
ARES has separately built out its export base in the Gulf, delivering patrol craft to Oman’s coast guard and, in 2022, three fast interceptor craft to Qatar.
The company established a joint shipbuilding venture in Saudi Arabia earlier this year – ARES Naval, formed with the local firm Satel Al-Arabiya – and signed a memorandum with the Saudi Ministry of Industry covering yards at Dammam and Jeddah.
The new catamaran design remains a patent filing at this stage.
No production timeline or customer has been disclosed.
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