MKE's TOLGA Dual 20 mm Close Air Defense System Signals Türkiye’s Shift Toward Layered Naval Drone Defense.

Türkiye has moved its TOLGA counter-drone system from land into naval point defense, with MKE demonstrating the dual 20 mm configuration from TCG Beykoz during TURNAs-2026 on 25 October 2026 against both aerial and maritime targets. MKE says the twin-revolver installation delivers a combined 3,200 rounds per minute and can use NATO-standard ammunition or fragmentation rounds developed for counter-drone missions, giving the Turkish Navy a high-rate-of-fire inner defensive layer against small UAVs and unmanned surface vessels during the short engagement windows typical of close-range attacks.

MKE’s twin 20 mm TOLGA system demonstrated Türkiye’s expanding layered naval defense strategy by engaging both airborne drones and unmanned surface threats from TCG Beykoz (Picture Source: MKE / Edited By Army Recognition Group)

Türkiye has taken another step toward extending its indigenous counter-drone architecture from land to sea, demonstrating MKE’s high-rate-of-fire TOLGA configuration from a Turkish Navy warship. During TURNAs-2026 on 25 October 2026, the TOLGA Close Air Defense System’s 20 mm twin-weapon revolver configuration fired from TCG Beykoz against aerial and maritime targets. MKE announced the milestone through its official channels, describing it as the first integration of the twin-gun configuration aboard a warship.

The demonstration marks an important transition for TOLGA as the 20 mm weapon moves beyond a land-based counter-UAS role into the more demanding environment of naval point defense. According to MKE, the twin-gun revolver system delivers a combined 3,200 rounds per minute, with the company claiming a firing rate approximately three times higher than comparable systems worldwide. The weapon uses 20×102 mm ammunition and can employ MKE-developed fragmentation anti-drone rounds with an effective range of up to 1,000 meters in the counter-UAS role. MKE lists the 20 mm revolver weapon itself with an effective range of up to 2,000 meters when using other ammunition types. At its stated combined firing rate of 3,200 rounds per minute, the twin installation corresponds to about 53 rounds per second at maximum rate, providing a high volume of fire for short-range engagements against small aerial targets.

Related Topic: MKE Reveals Türkiye’s Emerging Ecosystem for Layered Air Defense and Rapid Mobile Artillery in Modern High-Intensity Warfare

At TURNAs-2026, that firepower was demonstrated from TCG Beykoz (F-503) against threats arriving through two different domains. MKE reported that the system engaged and destroyed an unmanned aerial vehicle and an unmanned surface-vessel target, extending TOLGA’s role beyond conventional counter-drone defense toward protection against asymmetric threats approaching both above the ship and at sea level. That dual-domain requirement is becoming increasingly relevant for warships operating near coastlines, naval bases and constrained waters, where small UAVs, FPV drones and explosive USVs can approach with limited warning. MKE General Manager İlhami Keleş had previously highlighted this challenge, arguing that small, slow and low-radar-cross-section targets can fall outside the optimum engagement conditions of systems primarily designed for faster conventional threats. In such a role, TOLGA could provide an inner defensive layer alongside longer-range shipborne missile and gun systems, while offering commanders a potentially more economical means of engaging low-cost unmanned threats.

The maritime demonstration came at the next stage of a test sequence that had placed the same twin-20 mm concept on the firing line during Ateş Serbest-2026 at Polatlı. Test footage showed the dual 20 mm remotely controlled weapon station engaging a rotary-wing drone at close range, with concentrated fire rapidly bringing the target down. MKE subsequently stated that the twin-revolver configuration had neutralized the drone in a short period. The progression from a controlled land firing environment to a stabilized installation aboard a naval platform gives the program a clear development path: validate the weapon and ammunition ashore, transfer the configuration to a moving ship, and then demonstrate engagement against representative aerial and surface threats at sea. The 3,200-round-per-minute figure should not be interpreted as a continuous sustained-fire rate, however, as MKE has not publicly disclosed the naval installation’s ready-ammunition capacity, burst limits or reload cycle.

TCG Beykoz was already central to MKE’s navalization plans before TURNAs-2026. In August 2026, Keleş confirmed that stabilized 20 mm TOLGA turrets had been installed aboard the Burak-class corvette and integrated so they could operate through TOLGA’s radar and command-and-control architecture. Single-weapon versions were installed first before work shifted toward the twin-weapon configuration demonstrated during TURNAs. The repeated use of TCG Beykoz for indigenous weapon trials has given the Burak-class corvette an expanding role in Türkiye’s at-sea validation of new naval combat systems. The ship has previously supported trials involving MKE’s indigenous 76/62 mm naval gun, the GÖKSUR naval point-defense missile and LEVENT. Rather than describing the vessel as formally redesignated as a test ship, the available evidence supports a more precise characterization: TCG Beykoz is increasingly being used as a common naval technology-validation platform for Türkiye’s expanding portfolio of domestically developed weapons.

A second question reaches beyond the gun itself: how much of TOLGA’s wider sensor and command architecture has now been navalized. MKE presents TOLGA as an integrated counter-UAS system combining the GÖKBÖRÜ AESA radar, electro-optical sensors, electronic warfare elements, command-and-control functions and multiple hard-kill effectors. Keleş previously said the weapons installed aboard Beykoz would operate through TOLGA’s radar and command architecture, but publicly released footage from TURNAs-2026 does not yet establish the exact sensor fit carried by the ship during the exercise or the degree of integration with the corvette’s broader combat-management system. This distinction is central to assessing operational maturity: firing successfully from a stabilized naval mount demonstrates one part of the capability, while full shipboard integration also requires sensor cueing, target classification, fire-control coordination, ammunition management and reliable operation across varying sea and weather conditions.

The TCG Beykoz firing moves the naval TOLGA program from announced integration into an at-sea live-fire demonstration against both aerial and surface unmanned threats. Coming shortly after the twin 20 mm system destroyed a drone during Ateş Serbest-2026, the TURNAs demonstration shows a rapid transition from land testing to maritime operation and positions TOLGA as a potential inner-layer defense against UAVs, FPV drones and explosive USVs.

The exercise should still be viewed as a capability demonstration rather than proof of full operational qualification. Publicly available information does not yet reveal ready-ammunition depth, reload arrangements, performance against simultaneous multi-axis attacks, behavior in adverse sea states or the extent of combat-system integration. Seen alongside earlier testing of Türkiye’s indigenous 76 mm naval gun, GÖKSUR and LEVENT aboard TCG Beykoz, the TOLGA firing points to a broader Turkish effort to build and validate an increasingly domestic, layered ship self-defense architecture covering conventional gunfire, missile interception and very-short-range protection against emerging unmanned threats.

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Written by Teoman S. Nicanci – Defense Analyst, Army Recognition Group

Teoman S. Nicanci holds degrees in Political Science, Comparative and International Politics, and International Relations and Diplomacy from leading Belgian universities, with research focused on Russian strategic behavior, defense technology, and modern warfare. He is a defense analyst at Army Recognition, specializing in the global defense industry, military armament, and emerging defense technologies.