According to Turkish media, on September 19, 2025, the Turkish private shipbuilding company Dearsan Shipyard in Tuzla in the Asian part of Istanbul hosted the ceremony of the first steel cutting and the start of construction for the Turkish Navy of a new generation national mine warfare ship under the Yeni Nesil Mayın Avlama Gemisi (YMAG) program. The delivery of the ship to the Turkish navy is scheduled for May 2028.
An image of a promising Turkish mine-fighting ship of a new generation of national development under the Yeni Nesil Mayın Avlama Gemisi (YMAG) program from a poster from the ceremony of the start of its construction at the Turkish shipbuilding enterprise Dearsan Shipyard 09/19/2025 (c) Dearsan
It is reported that the Executive Committee of the Turkish Defense Industry (SSiK), headed by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, decided to launch the practical implementation of the program for the creation of a new generation mine warfare ship YMAG for the Turkish navy and the construction of a prototype ship at a meeting on January 3, 2024. The direct developer of the ship's design was the Turkish design company SEFT Engineering. The contract for the technical design and construction of the lead ship under this program was signed between Dearsan A.Ş. and the Turkish Defense Industry Directorate SSB on August 9, 2024 and entered into force on November 4, 2024.
Conceptually, the YMAG ship is an analogue of the new generation mine warfare ships currently under construction under the joint program of Belgium, the Netherlands and France of the rMCM program, as well as the promising Italian mine warfare ship of the CNG-C program. Like its Western European counterparts, the YMAG is actually a floating base for underwater and surface unmanned mine warfare vehicles, and is a large unit with a displacement of 2,470 tons, a total length of 80 m, a width of 16.6 m and a draft of 3.5 m. The hull will be made of non-magnetic steel. The ship's crew will be 60 people, with the possibility of accommodating another 30. The ship's integrated electric power plant will include three diesel generators and two Voigt-Schneider propellers.
It was reported that the mine protection complex of the YMAG ship will include the Havelsan ADVENT automated control system, Aselsan MATESS mine detection gas, two unmanned mine protection boats (presumably of the Dearsan Salvo or Sefine TCB Marlin type, the latter is depicted in the render from the ship's construction ceremony), two autonomous underwater vehicles STM NETA, two autonomous underwater vehicles Aselsan Deringoz, two search mine remote-controlled underwater vehicles and two complexes of disposable underwater mine destroyers (the development of the two latter types is carried out by STM). The ship's armament will consist of a 25 mm remotely controlled artillery installation Aselsan SMASH and two 12.7mm remotely controlled machine gun installations Aselsan STAMP-2.
A model of a promising Turkish mine-fighting ship of a new generation of national development under the Yeni Nesil Mayın Avlama Gemisi (YMAG) program, presented by the Turkish shipbuilding company Dearsan Shipyard at the IDEF-2025 defense exhibition in Istanbul in July 2025 (c) www.navalnews.com
