The Turkish Navy started to test a new towed sonar array on board of TCG Sokullu Mehmet Paşa.
Previously the Rhein class auxiliary ship was used as the test bed for the Aselsan made Gökdeniz CIWS system. Photos, recently taken show that the Gökdeniz CIWS turret was removed from the ship. The aft of the ship is now occupied with a metal shelter, one large cable spool a winch and some davits like metal construction.
It was previously reported that the testing of the DÜFAS towed array system would commence in 2022. While the initial reporting mentions the test would be conducted on board of a Gabya class frigate, it is possible that these tests are now conducted on board of TCG Sokullu Mehmet Paşa as the photographic evidence suggests.
DÜFAS is a towed low frequency active sonar project initial by the Research and Development department of SSB and being developed by Aselsan, Armelsan and Nanotech.
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