TOLGA naval turret packs twin 20mm cannons capable of firing 3,200 rounds per minute

Makine ve Kimya Endüstrisi (MKE), the Turkish defense company, has unveiled the naval variant of its advanced TOLGA counter-drone system. Demonstrated at the prestigious Euronaval 2026 maritime exhibition in Paris, this cutting-edge turret is a locally produced CIWS solution designed to defend military warships and commercial vessels against aerial loitering munitions and unmanned surface vessels. These present the latest asymmetric threats emerging in today’s battleground.

The TOLGA 20mm Dual Weapon Revolver System is equipped with twin 20mm revolver-type automatic cannons. Its clever design affords the weapon system the flexibility required to fire either a single cannon or both concurrently based on the target and mission brief. This is aimed at providing maximum coverage against swarming attackers like drones and other unmanned crafts.

High-volume fire for drone swarm defense

When activated together, MKE notes that the TOLGA can unleash a combined fire rate reaching an impressive 3,200 rounds per minute. Moreover, the turrets engage with unique fragmentation ammunition, which forms a deadly shrapnel cloud during impact to take out these small, maneuverable unmanned aircraft. The TOLGA anti-drone weapon system’s effective range stands at up to 3,281 feet (1,000 meters), MKE notes.

The turret module of the weapon carries a ready-to-fire magazine capacity of 600 rounds, split into 300 rounds per weapon, according to leading defense intelligence firm Janes.​ The physical turret of TOLGA has been optimized to take into account erratic movements of drones. Its design relies on a fully stabilized platform, paired with an independent electro-optical (EO) sensor suite, allowing the targeting optics to track incoming threats irrespective of the direction in which the turret’s cannons are aligned. It features an elevation range from -30 degrees to +70 degrees, combined with a traverse speed of approximately 60 degrees per second.

This provides it the capacity to tackle sea-skipping drones by depressing its cannons at extreme angles to fire low, while maintaining the rapid traverse speed to track fast surface drones.

Live-fire testing and platform integration

​MKE recently moved quickly to prove the feasibility of the TOLGA system at sea. The naval version of the weapon system test-fired its cannons in live-fire scenarios during the late October naval drills, which ran as part of the TURNAs-2026 exercises. Mounted aboard the Turkish Navy corvette TCG Beykoz, the manufacturer reported that the system successfully tracked and engaged air and sea drone targets during this outing.​ The TOLGA architecture has a modular nature, using the foundation laid down by MKE itself.

In November 2025, the company also revealed specialized 12.7mm anti-drone ammunition. Moreover, the technologies related to weapon stabilization and smart targeting from the TOLGA program have since made their way into the BMP-1T TURAN infantry fighting vehicle produced jointly by Turkey and Azerbaijan.

Source: https://interestingengineering.com/military/tolga-20-mm-dual-gun-system