Turkish shipbuilder DEARSAN has held the steel-cutting ceremony for its Next Generation Mine Hunting Vessel (YMAG) program at its shipyard in Istanbul, marking the official start of construction.
Dearsan press release
On September 19, 2025, Dearsan Shipyard successfully carried out the first steel cutting ceremony of the Next Generation Mine Hunting Vessel (YMAG – Yeni Nesil Mayın Avlama Gemisi), with the participation of distinguished representatives from our Naval Forces and the Presidency of Defense Industries. This marks a historic milestone for our defense industry.
This vessel, which represents a highly advanced level of engineering and science in the shipbuilding sector and has no equivalent in the world, will assume a strategic role in ensuring the safety and security of our seas. Equipped with cutting-edge capabilities and deploying Unmanned Surface and Underwater Autonomous Vehicles, YMAG will significantly strengthen our maritime defense posture.
This special shipbuilding project is not only the beginning of the construction of a vessel, but also a symbol of our national engineering competence, self-confidence, and determination to maintain dominance at sea.
May our Next Generation Mine Hunting Vessel bring success to the Turkish Nation and our glorious Navy.
– End –
Naval News comments
According to the Turkish Navy’s activity report issues in March 2025, as part of the YMAG (Yeni Tip Mayın Avlama Gemisi or New Type Minehunting Vessel) project, the decision to proceed with the design and construction of the prototype vessel was made by the Defence Industry Executive Committee (SSİK) on January 3, 2024.
With the contract signed on August 9, 2024, DEARSAN will become the first private shipyard in Türkiye to design and build this high-tech New Generation MCM Vessel. DEARSAN unveiled the first model of the ship at IDEF 2025 exhibition held in Istanbul in July 2025.
The vessel has a length of 80 meters, a beam of 16.60 meters and a draft of 3.50 meters. Both the hull and superstructure are made of non-magnetic steel. The crew complement consists in about 60 sailors while the design can accommodate up to 90 people.
The vessel features the characteristic shape of modern “mine warfare mothership” boats which use various UxV drones (UAV, USV, UUV) to conduct operations: The motherships (and sailors aboard) remain outside of the minefield while the UxV enter the minefield, which is much safer for the crew.
The design features two large boat bays that can each host a new type of MCM USV currently being developed by DEARSAN. The model shows that these USVs are themselves fitted with drones:
- two shallow water AUVs (STM NETA),
- two mid-water AUVs (ASELSAN DERINGÖZ),
- two multi-purpose ROVs (STM),
- and two single/multi shot ROVs (STM).
The ship will be fitted with two cranes aft to launch and recover these underwater vehicles when use of the USV is not required.
In terms of weapons the MCM vessel is fitted with an Aselsan SMASH 25mm main gun and two Aselsan STAMP-2 12.7mm remote weapon stations (RWS). The sensor suite consists ASELSAN-made mine hunting sonar (probably MATESS) that will be integrated to ADVENT combat management system by HAVELSAN.
You can watch our coverage on YMAG at IDEF 2025 exhibition held in Istanbul between 22-27 July 2025.
