Qatar Deploys Armed ULAQ USVs for Live Port Security Operations.

Qatar has quietly fielded its first armed ULAQ unmanned surface vehicle, now operational with the Qatar Coast Guard after local trials and acceptance. The deployment highlights a regional shift from experimental autonomy toward armed, persistent maritime security platforms that mirror trends underway in U.S. and allied naval planning.

Qatar quietly crossed an important threshold in unmanned maritime security at the end of 2025, taking delivery of its first ULAQ armed unmanned surface vehicle, now fielded by the Qatar Coast Guard Command following local trials and operational acceptance.  Army Recognition is present at DIMDEX 2026 in Doha, where the Qatari-configured ULAQ is displayed not as a conceptual demonstrator but as a deployed capability already integrated into the country’s coastal security architecture. The move signals a clear transition from experimental autonomy toward a practical, armed platform designed for persistent patrol, surveillance, and interdiction missions inside Qatar’s territorial waters, with remote weapon employment embedded from the outset.
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ULAQ armed USV equipped with a stabilized 12.7 mm remote weapon station, combining day-night sensors, precision fire control, and 360-degree coverage to counter fast craft and protect ports and critical maritime infrastructure (Picture source: Army Recognition Group).

The delivered craft is the ULAQ 11 ISR/PSV (port security) variant developed by ARES Shipyard and Meteksan Defence, with a hull form optimized for high-speed coastal work: 11 m length, 2.6 m beam, 0.6 m draft, twin diesel propulsion, 35-knot maximum speed, about 400 km range, and up to 10 hours endurance at cruise. Those numbers matter less as brochure metrics than as a patrol math problem: they place the platform in the sweet spot for persistent “laps” around port approaches, offshore exclusion zones, and fixed critical infrastructure, while keeping enough sprint speed to close and shadow suspect contacts in congested littorals.

The centerpiece of the Qatari armament fit is the Aselsan SARP-DUAL remotely operated weapon system, configured here with a 12.7 mm class heavy machine gun for surface engagements. In SARP-DUAL’s baseline architecture, the “dual” element is not marketing fluff: the turret family is designed to accept two coaxial weapons, typically pairing a primary weapon (12.7 mm HMG, 7.62 mm MG, or a 40 mm automatic grenade launcher) with a secondary 7.62 mm MG to broaden response options. For coast guard rules of engagement, that matters because escalation control is a weapon feature, not just a policy line. A lighter coax option supports warning and precision disabling fire, while the 12.7 mm provides the mass and standoff needed to stop fast craft, punch through light protection, and maintain effectiveness in sea clutter.

SARP’s fire-control features turn the gun from a “mounted weapon” into a stabilized engagement system. The SARP family is built around gyro-aided stabilization, day-night imaging, laser range finding for ballistic solutions, automatic target tracking, and computer-based fire-control functions, enabling accurate fire while the host platform is moving. Mechanically, the station supports full 360-degree traverse and wide elevation coverage (approximately -30 to +60 degrees, depending on weapon), useful for close-in targets that appear suddenly at high relative angles in a port environment. Ammunition capacity is also operationally relevant in long security patrols, with the SARP family cited as supporting on the order of hundreds of 12.7 mm rounds and larger 7.62 mm loads depending on configuration, reducing the frequency of returns to base during high-tempo alert periods.

On the DIMDEX show floor, the weapons fit is clearly meant to work as part of a sensor-to-shooter chain rather than a standalone turret. The Qatar Coast Guard variant is complemented by naval radar, electro-optical and infrared sensors, encrypted communications, and Meteksan-developed autonomous navigation software, with operators controlling missions from a shore-based station that also manages weapon engagement. The displayed Qatari configuration integrates additional sensing such as synthetic aperture radar and LIDAR, underlining Qatar’s priority on detection and classification in cluttered waters where small contacts, floating hazards, and dense traffic can overwhelm conventional watchstanding.

An armed USV like ULAQ 11 gives Qatar a scalable way to thicken the “inner ring” of maritime security without putting crews in every interception. In routine posture, it is a persistent ISR node that can shadow contacts, cue manned interceptors, or form a moving tripwire in restricted areas. In a sharper scenario, the stabilized 12.7 mm remote mount allows controlled, repeatable engagements against fast inshore attack craft-style threats, armed smugglers, or sabotage teams approaching energy infrastructure, while the shore operator remains inside a hardened control environment. The combination of sprint speed, autonomy modes (remote, semi-autonomous, autonomous), and a stabilized weapon station is particularly suited to the Persian Gulf’s tactical reality: rapid contact development, short engagement timelines, and a premium on identification before escalation.

Qatar’s choice is also about hedging and growth. The original export order was linked to critical facility protection and ISR missions, with Qatar’s Ministry of Interior awarding a reported QAR 21.3 million contract and explicitly signaling that operational evaluation would shape any follow-on buys. At DIMDEX 2026, Qatar Coast Guard officials described ambitions to build an unmanned fleet over time, suggesting ULAQ is a first doctrinal step, not a one-off gadget. In a region where harassment by small craft, gray-zone probing, and infrastructure risk sit alongside conventional naval modernization, an armed USV offers a cost-effective, politically flexible tool: it strengthens day-to-day sovereignty enforcement while complicating adversary planning by adding unmanned, remotely armed “presence” that can be surged, networked, and replaced faster than manned patrol craft.

Qatar is not buying a missile boat in miniature, at least not in this first configuration. But the ULAQ family’s modularity is the quiet subtext: other variants have been publicized with anti-surface missile and guided rocket fits, and an ASW pathway, meaning the same industrial ecosystem can scale from port security to higher-end strike roles if Qatar’s threat calculus shifts. For now, the decisive takeaway from Doha is simpler and more consequential: Qatar has moved unmanned maritime security from aspiration to an armed, sensor-linked capability ready for real patrol lines.

Written by Evan Lerouvillois, Defense Analyst.

Evan studied International Relations, and quickly specialized in defense and security. He is particularly interested in the influence of the defense sector on global geopolitics, and analyzes how technological innovations in defense, arms export contracts, and military strategies influence the international geopolitical scene.