Defense Industry Naval Forces

Azerbaijan and Turkey Start Joint Naval Drone Production

Lead

Azerbaijan has begun domestic production of two Turkish-designed naval drones, the armed SALVO uncrewed surface vessel and the KAYRA kamikaze surface vessel, at a joint facility run by the Azerbaijani Ministry of Defence’s MIRAS Military-Industrial Company and Turkish shipbuilder DEARSAN Shipyard. President Ilham Aliyev toured the plant and watched live testing of both platforms on September 6, 2026, according to Azerbaijan’s presidential press service. The move gives Baku its first indigenous unmanned naval strike capability and extends Turkey’s drone-export relationship with Azerbaijan from finished airframes into local shipbuilding, at a moment when Azerbaijan is expanding the forces protecting its Caspian Sea oil and gas infrastructure.

What Happened

According to the official readout of the visit, Aliyev, accompanied by First Lady Mehriban Aliyeva and Defence Minister Colonel General Zakir Hasanov, inspected the MIRAS-DEARSAN production line and observed the two drone types undergo practical, in-water testing. The president then chaired a closed military-development meeting on the results. Azerbaijani outlet Azernews and the presidential website confirmed the date and attendees; regional outlet JAM News and Defence Blog separately reported the same production-line details, giving the story more than one independent line of confirmation beyond the government’s own account. No Western wire service had reported the development as of publication, despite its significance for a state that borders both Russia and Iran across the Caspian.

The Product/System

SALVO is described as a 14.79-meter armed uncrewed surface vessel (AUSV) with an aluminum hull, a top speed above 35 knots and a range of roughly 400 nautical miles. It is intended for patrol, surveillance, reconnaissance and search-and-rescue duties, and can be fitted for armed missions; reporting on earlier Turkish trials of the platform lists compatibility with Roketsan’s Cirit laser-guided rockets and ASELSAN 12.7mm remote weapon stations, though Baku has not disclosed the specific weapons fit for its own units. It can be operated from shore stations, command centers or other naval vessels.

KAYRA is a smaller, composite-hulled kamikaze (one-way-attack) surface vessel, 7.6 meters long, with a top speed cited at over 60 knots and a range of about 300 nautical miles. It is designed to strike enemy ships, naval bases, ports, coastal infrastructure and logistics routes. Neither Azerbaijani nor Turkish officials have disclosed KAYRA’s warhead size, guidance method or degree of autonomy, and independent analysts note those details, along with production volumes and unit costs, remain undisclosed.

DEARSAN, a private Turkish shipbuilder that has previously supplied fast attack craft and patrol vessels to the Turkish Navy and export customers, ran earlier at-sea trials of the SALVO design in 2022 before the technology was transferred into joint production with MIRAS, the state-owned defense-industrial arm of Azerbaijan’s Ministry of Defence.

Who Uses It

Azerbaijan is the platforms’ first confirmed operator, with units assigned to the Azerbaijani Navy for testing and, pending further confirmation, eventual fleet integration. Turkey’s own navy and DEARSAN’s broader customer base are the platforms’ design origin, though public reporting has not identified additional confirmed foreign SALVO or KAYRA operators beyond Azerbaijan at this stage. Any wider export uptake would need to be confirmed through separate Turkish or DEARSAN disclosures.

Export/Procurement History

The SALVO/KAYRA program marks a shift in the Azerbaijan-Turkey defense relationship from Baku purchasing finished Turkish hardware, such as Bayraktar TB2 combat drones used extensively during and after the 2020 Second Karabakh War, toward co-development and local manufacturing under technology transfer. DEARSAN tested the SALVO hull in Turkey in 2022; the September 2026 facility visit is the first official confirmation that both SALVO and KAYRA are now being built jointly on Azerbaijani soil through MIRAS. Neither government has published a contract value, delivery schedule or the share of components sourced domestically versus imported from Turkey, and those figures should be treated as pending official disclosure.

Global Competitors

Azerbaijan’s move follows a wider trend of Caspian and Black Sea states building or acquiring uncrewed surface vessels after Ukraine’s Magura and Sea Baby USVs demonstrated the effectiveness of low-cost naval drones against Russia’s Black Sea Fleet. Comparable systems include Ukraine’s own kamikaze USV family, Iran’s various armed unmanned boats deployed in the Persian Gulf, and a growing number of Turkish-origin export designs, including ASELSAN’s and Sefine’s uncrewed platforms, that Ankara has marketed to African and Gulf navies alongside its established UAV export business.

Why It Matters

For Azerbaijan, the program addresses a specific strategic need: protecting offshore oil and gas platforms, pipelines, ports and maritime borders on the Caspian Sea, a body of water Baku shares uneasily with Russia, Iran, Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan. Fielding both a multi-role armed patrol drone and a one-way-attack strike drone signals Baku is hedging with an asymmetric naval option alongside its conventional surface fleet, mirroring doctrine that Ukraine popularized in the Black Sea. For Turkey, localizing SALVO and KAYRA production in Azerbaijan deepens an already close defense-industrial relationship built on the “one nation, two states” partnership and gives Ankara a template for exporting naval-drone manufacturing capacity, not just finished hulls, to other partners.

What Happens Next

Key unknowns that would confirm the program’s trajectory include whether Azerbaijan discloses a formal production target or delivery timeline, whether KAYRA and SALVO enter operational Azerbaijani Navy service rather than remaining in testing, and whether Baku or Ankara pursue export sales of the jointly built platforms to third countries. Any of those developments would be reported as they are officially confirmed.

FAQ

What are SALVO and KAYRA?

SALVO is a Turkish-designed armed uncrewed surface vessel for patrol, surveillance and armed missions; KAYRA is a smaller one-way-attack (kamikaze) uncrewed surface vessel. Both are now being built jointly in Azerbaijan.

Who is building the drones?

Azerbaijan’s state-owned MIRAS Military-Industrial Company, under the Ministry of Defence, is producing them jointly with Turkish shipbuilder DEARSAN Shipyard, which originally designed and trialed the SALVO hull.

Has Azerbaijan used naval drones before?

Azerbaijan has previously relied on imported Turkish systems, most notably Bayraktar TB2 combat drones, but SALVO and KAYRA mark its first confirmed domestic naval-drone production rather than a straight purchase.

Are SALVO and KAYRA operational yet?

As of the September 6, 2026 facility visit, both platforms were shown undergoing testing rather than confirmed as fully operational; officials have not published a service-entry date.

Why does Azerbaijan need these drones on the Caspian Sea?

The Azerbaijani Navy’s core mission includes protecting offshore oil and gas infrastructure, ports, pipelines and maritime borders on the Caspian, a task both the patrol-oriented SALVO and the strike-oriented KAYRA are designed to support.

Sources

Azerbaijan presidential press service, “President Ilham Aliyev visited Azerbaijani Navy,” September 6, 2026 (mod.gov.az news relay) — official confirmation of the visit, date and attendees.
Azernews, “President Ilham Aliyev visits Azerbaijani Navy [PHOTOS/VIDEO],” September 6-7, 2026, azernews.az — corroborates date, attendees and testing of both platforms.
JAM News, “Azerbaijan is building drone fleet on Caspian sea: what will SALVO and KAYRA change?”, September 2026, jam-news.net — independent technical detail on both platforms and analytical context.
Defence Blog, “Azerbaijan starts local production of naval drones,” September 2026, defence-blog.com — independent confirmation of joint MIRAS-DEARSAN production.
ArmenPress, “Azerbaijan and Türkiye begin joint production of naval drones,” September 2026, armenpress.am — third-party regional confirmation.