South Korean shipbuilder HD HHI held on 18 June the launching ceremony for the 3,200-ton Philippine Navy Corvette ‘BRP Miguel Malvar’ at its shipyard in Ulsan. The event was attended by high-ranking military officials from both the Philippines and the Republic of Korea.
In photos taken of the ship before the launching ceremony, spotters noticed the Gökdeniz CIWS covered. In a video shared by HD HHI on social media after the launching ceremony, Gökdeniz was introduced as the close-in defence system while presenting the ship’s systems. Aselsan’s announcement marked the first official confirmation of the export of Gökdeniz to the Philippines.
“The Launching of the Philippine Navy BRP Miguel Malvar Corvette, built by HD Hyundai Heavy Industries, on which ASELSAN Gökdeniz is installed, was conducted successfully in South Korea. Being capable to fire ATOM programmable smart ammunition as well as HEI and TP, 35 mm twin barrel Close-In Weapon System Gökdeniz, creates a difference in world armies with its integrated Fire Control Radar and Electro-Optic Suite and embedded balistics calculation.”
Aselsan on social media
You can watch our interview about Gökdeniz CIWS with Aselsan’s representative at NAVDEX 2023 in Abu Dhabi, UAE. During the interview, Naval News gave the initial clues about this export.
About Gökdeniz CIWS
Gökdeniz CIWS along with 35 mm Airburst Ammunition (ATOM) developed by ASELSAN is a close-in weapon system (CIWS) highly effective against anti-ship missiles. The system with the Automatic Linkless Ammunition Feed Mechanism allows loading both HEI and Airburst Ammunition at the same time and switching between ammunition types as needed. In addition to anti-ship missiles, GÖKDENİZ is also effective against helicopters, fighters, UAVs and asymmetric surface naval threats.
The GÖKDENİZ prototype was tested on a Turkish Navy ship in May 2018, demonstrating its capabilities with a high-speed target drone (>180 m/s) representing an anti-ship missile in a sea-skimming scenario, featuring fully autonomous target detection, tracking, and firing, and achieving a kill at long range.
The launch customer of Gökdeniz is the Turkmenistan Navy, which mounted this gun on the Deniz Khan corvette built by Dearsan. It is also installed to TCG Istanbul, the lead ship of the I-class frigates.
Gökdeniz features automatic target tracking with an integrated tracking platform that includes both tracking radar and E/O sensors. It also offers an optional 3-D search radar and can be integrated with a combat management system. The turret has a fully autonomous operation capability and a high firing rate with a 35 mm twin gun system, capable of firing 1100 rounds per minute. Additionally, it has the ability to load both airburst (ATOM) and HEI ammunition and switch between ammunition types using the Automatic Linkless Ammunition Feed Mechanism (ALAFM).
