In an interview with Defensehere.com at IDEF 2023, KoçSavunma Managing Director Hakan Öktem explained the Malaman Sea Bottom Mine they produced to meet the Smart Bottom Mine needs of the Turkish Naval Forces Command.
Stating that mass production will begin after the live explosion demonstration to be held at sea, Öktem pointed out that they have terminated a bottom mine project that is unique in the world.
Giving information about the next process of the project, Öktem said:
"We are moving to the mass production phase for our bottom mine project, which will keep alive the surname of Marine Colonel Selçuk Malaman, who lost his life while serving as a Commodore in the Naval Forces Mine Fleet Command in the 1999 Gölcük earthquake. With this project, we have developed a brand new modern smart mine that settles on the seabed but also contains plastic explosives that are not caught in sonar and are insensitive, which means that they’re insensitive to bullet impact or fire, that do not explode, that only explode when fired by the intelligent ignition unit and that have the ability to destroy the enemy."
"It’s very difficult deceive and mislead it"
"The Malaman Sea Bottom Mine basically consists of 3 main parts. First, let me talk about its intelligence. A smart bottom mine recognizes its target from a great distance by means of acoustic magnetic and pressure sensors on it. After recognition, it classifies and automatically generates the explosion decision only for targeted enemy ships. In summary, a very advanced intelligent sea bottom mine is very difficult to deceive and mislead. As KoçSavunma we played a role especially in this mental part. We are proud to offer a capability that is in the hands of perhaps a few countries in the world to the use of our Navy."
"There are very few countries in the world that produce in this way"
"Malaman is the first sea bottom mine developed with national resources. There is no other such sea mine in Türkiye, and there are also very few countries in the world that can produce these mines. With Malaman, we are entering this league and we are now in the process of finishing this mine project. We are moving the project to the mass production stage. The project will be completed in a few months with a demonstration of a live explosion in a sea. After that, the first prototypes developed will be delivered to our Navy. In this way, it will enter the inventory and then mass production will begin."
