Türkiye develops smart bottom mine MALAMAN PHOTO

Turkish defence company MKE A.Ş. will present the MALAMAN smart bottom mine developed on the basis of the Mk84 bomb at the IDEF-23 exhibition.

MKE A.Ş. General Director Ilham Keles said that the sea mine was developed jointly with KELEŞ, KoçSavunma and TÜBİTAK-SAGE, Caliber.Az reports, citing SavunmaSanayiST.com on Twitter.

Mk84 temelli MALAMAN Akıllı Dip Mayını ilk kez görülecekhttps://t.co/igXsnPswwK

— SavunmaSanayiST.com (@SavunmaSanayiST) July 18, 2023

According to him, the MALAMAN mine will be able to be launched from aerial platforms such as F-16 and AKINCI, and with the help of guidance kits such as KGK, HGK and LGK, it can be precisely placed at the right point.

With the MALAMAN project, the contract for which was signed in 2011, the Turkish Navy Command's need for smart bottom mines will be met and Türkiye's territorial waters will become safer.

The mine will be able to be dropped into the desired area by warships as well as underwater platforms. It will be attached to the cargo on the seabed with a chain. Sensors with sophisticated technology will be used on the mine, which will have a body made of fibreglass (fibreglass-reinforced polyester), which is one of the most effective soundproofing materials. It will be safe for allied ships and equally dangerous for the enemy.

Pressure, vibration, magnetic anomaly and sound sensors will be installed on the mine, which will have an underwater acoustic identification system for "friend and foe". Due to the working architecture of such systems, the data received from all the sensor units are merged into a single data, then this data is compared with the data in the SAM unit, and when separated from the circuit, the dump ports of the tanks with compressed CO2 gas, which acts as a thruster + directional rudder, destroying it by turning it towards its target.

The mine can operate in deep waters, but will also have the ability to operate in partially shallow waters such as the Aegean and Black Sea.

A mine with a 25-30 kg warhead will destroy a target element by volumetric charging (expansion/expansion damage). The development of warheads for underwater explosions is very challenging in terms of exothermic reactions. If desensitisation requirements are added to this challenge, the complexity doubles. The filler must be protected from moisture and water.

Otherwise, organic salts such as ammonium perchlorate, which is necessary for efficient combustion underwater, which is used as a booster and releases oxygen during combustion, will melt, preventing the formation of areas called hot spots, and a weak ineffective explosion will occur. In this situation, the pressure underwater overcomes the burst pressure and only hot water rises to the surface.