The Turkish company Roketsan and the German firms ThyssenKrupp Marine Systems and Diehl Defence signed a cooperation agreement to develop and supply the submarine-launched interactive defence and attack system for submarines (IDAS) missile.

The accord was inked at the IDEF International Defence Industry Fair in Istanbul. The signature ceremony took place in the presence of Eberhard Pohl, Ambassador of the Federal Republic of Germany in Turkey, Thomas Kossendey, Member of the German Parliament (Deutscher Bundestag) and Parliamentary Secretary of the Federal Minister of Defence as well as the German Armament Director Detlef Selhausen.

IDAS provides new self-defence and asymmetric warfare capabilities for submerged submarines to engage threats from the air, naval vessels as well as coastal targets. The submarine can launch the multi-role missile from a torpedo tube under water by means of a launching container. Aided by an innovative fibre-optic data link, the operator in the submarine is capable of controlling the missile during the entire flight offering the opportunity of target change, correction of the target impact point or mission abort. The system can also be refitted into existing submarines with minor effort.

Currently the IDAS Consortium is conducting an initial development programme (IDP) with the objective of developing a verified product. Verification will be proven with successful firings from a submerged submarine scheduled for 2014. According to the cooperation agreement, Roketsan will be responsible for development, qualification and series production of the IDAS warhead, support testing of CAS (control actuation system), participate in system level design activities and perform a work share in the series production of the CAS. A further partner is the Norwegian company Nammo, which is developing and producing the rocket motor.

IDAS has performed successful test firings from an underwater test facility in Northern Germany as well as from a class 212A submarine of the German Navy in the Baltic Sea. The project was awarded the Technology Prize of the German defence industry.