Developed by Turkish MKE Company (and 3 subcontractor companies) and Istanbul Naval Shipyard, the 76/62 mm National Naval Gun has passed harbor and sea trials successfully. Yasin Akdere, General Manager of MKE Inc, announced the event on his Twitter account on 19 August 2022.
“On the orders of our President and with the support of our Defence Minister, we’ve manufactured the 76/62 mm Naval Gun with indigenous resources and it successfully passed all live-firing tests.”
Yasin Akdere, MKE General Manager
Naval News learned that the trials were conducted aboard the Burak-class corvette TCG Beykoz in the Saros Bay firing range, but the dates of the trials weren’t disclosed by officials.
After the production of the 76/62 naval gun was completed in 12 months, the first (land) firing trials were conducted at the Konya/Karapinar firing range in November 2021. After completion of the land trials, the gun was fitted aboardTCG Beykoz at the Istanbul Naval Shipyard facilities in July 2022. About one month latr, harbor and sea acceptance tests were completed.
Now that the qualification tests have been completed, nothing stands in the way of the decision to mass-produce the Italian OTO Melara “Oto Compact” equivalent naval gun. Numerous naval vessels of the Turkish Navy (Gabya-class frigates, all FACs, Milgem-class corvettes, etc.) are armed with 76 mm guns. The production of this gun domestically is therefore an important step for the Turkish defence industry.
About the Turkish 76 mm Naval Gun Project
Turkiye has procured 76mm guns from Leonardo for decades, and cooperation between the Italian OEM and MKE dates back at least to 2009 with an agreement for the Turkish company to produce 76mm gun barrels.
The project was initiated in 2020 due to the high procurement costs and long delivery time for the 76 mm guns. According to a statement made by MKE’s managing director during an event sponsored by the SAHA Istanbul Defence and Aerospace Cluster Association in 2021, Leonardo was asking for €8.2 million for a 76mm gun (This claim is denied by Leonardo officials). He also revealed that the Turkish 76-mm gun costs far less, €4.7 million.
The state-owned company MKE is the primary contractor for the project. Three private sector companies have been working on the project as subcontractors. In addition to costing the project half the price, MKE claims that it will extend the barrel’s life with a special coating applied to the barrel of the gun.
The company also stated that the indigenous 76mm Naval Gun stands out with its features such as the ability to fire a wider variety of ammunition compared to the Italian product, the ability to use special fused bullets, and its electro-mechanical structure that allows digital control.
Key Data:
- Firing rate – 80 fires per minute
- Ready to fire ammo – 80 rounds
- Empty weight – 7500 kilograms
- Vertical limit – -15°/+85°
- Horizontal Speed / Acceleration – 60-65°/s / 72°/s²
- Vertical Speed / Acceleration – 35-40°/s / 72°/s²
- Range – 16 km (standard ammo) 20 km (with extended range ammunition)
- Barel Cooling – Sea Water (washed with fresh water after cooling)
