Turkey puts into operation the world’s first “light aircraft carrier” with attack drones

On April 10, Turkey accepted the first aircraft-carrying universal landing ship Anadolu (TCG Anadolu) into its navy. In terms of its configuration, it is actually a “light aircraft carrier” and the world’s first ship to carry attack drones of the Bayraktar family. The ship was built in Istanbul’s Sedef shipyard. More than 130 local subcontractors took part in the project, about 70% of the ship’s components are of domestic origin. The President of the Republic Recep Tayyip Erdogan took part in the ceremony of accepting the new warship. informs press service of the Turkish leader.

“This ship has the characteristics that will allow us to carry out military and humanitarian operations in any corner of the world, when necessary,” the Turkish leader said, speaking at the event. He stressed that the inclusion of the ship in the Turkish Navy is a vivid example of the import substitution program in the military-industrial complex, launched in 2004.

The vessel is capable of receiving 11 of the latest Turkish Bayraktar TB3 attack drones or advanced Kızılelma jet drones under development, as well as up to 10 combat helicopters on deck (Turkish attack T-129 ATAK, American Chinook military transport) and up to 30 UAVs plus 19 helicopters in the hangar .

The Turkish side replaced the originally planned key component of the Anadolu air wing, the carrier-based version of the American fifth-generation F-35 fighter, with combat strike drones (Turkey was excluded by the United States from the program due to the purchase of Russian S-400 air defense systems). In addition to the combat drones that have become the ship’s strike base, the “light aircraft carrier” is capable of receiving the Turkish HÜRJET combat training attack aircraft (an analogue of the Russian Yak-130). It was developed by Turkish Aerospace Industries and is currently being tested.

“Anadolu” will also be able to serve as a landing ship. According to the manufacturers, the vessel has its own logistical support and can transfer at least one battalion of personnel of the Turkish armed forces to a potentially conflict zone in the basins of the Aegean, Black and Mediterranean seas. In total, the ship can take on board 94 armored vehicles, including 13 tanks and 33 armored personnel carriers and infantry fighting vehicles.

The vessel is equipped with Turkish-developed systems for combat control, electronic warfare, navigation, anti-torpedo protection, and laser warning. If necessary, “Anadolu” can be used to eliminate the consequences of natural disasters and evacuate refugees. A full-fledged hospital and two operating rooms are located on board the ship.

Anadolu is capable of speeds up to 20.5 knots (38 km/h). Its maximum displacement is 27,000 tons. For comparison: the largest displacement of the world’s largest American active warship, the Nimitz aircraft carrier, and its classmates is more than 106,000 tons, and the only actual aircraft carrier (aircraft carrying cruiser) in service with the Russian Navy “Admiral Kuznetsov” (under repair since 2019) – 61,000 tons.

The closest in class “Anadolu” to the light aircraft carrier (universal landing aircraft carrier) of the Spanish Navy “Juan Carlos”, adapted for the carrier-based versions of the AV-8 Harrier II and F-35, said IMEMO RAS researcher, military expert Ilya Kramnik. According to him, a feature of both Anadolu and Juan Carlos is the use of a significant amount of aggregates and civil shipbuilding solutions.

Also, the Turkish landing ship can generally be considered a “classmate” with the French Mistral UDC (displacement 21,000 tons), which was offered in the 2010s. for the Russian Navy (Paris terminated the contract in 2015 due to the conflict in the Donbass) and being built since 2020 in Kerch to replace it with the already purely Russian UDC 23900 “Ivan Rogov” and “Mitrofan Moskalenko” (displacement 40,000 tons), military expert says.

If the ship is classified as a light aircraft carrier, then Turkey, thus, becomes the 13th country in the world that has such ships that fit the general class of “aircraft carrier”. At the same time, Kramnik notes that the Anadolu should still be considered primarily as a landing ship, since the ship was deprived of full-fledged heavy aircraft weapons in the form of the F-35.

According to the military expert, the saturation of the air group with attack drones is a necessary measure due to the exclusion of Turkey from the fifth-generation American fighter program, and it is too early to talk about how the Bayraktars are comparable in terms of strike potential in landing operations to a traditional combat operation.

“The potential area of ​​​​use of the ship is the Mediterranean and Red Sea to strengthen the possible expeditionary forces of Turkey against armed groups and armies of third world countries, in particular, in Libya. Supported by destroyers, Anadolu is well positioned to support and protect amphibious assaults with attack helicopters and drones. In any case, the potential for the projection of Ankara’s power in the southern direction has increased,” Kramnik believes. He added that the combat use of the ship in the Black Sea basin is possible only in the event of a hypothetical conflict with Russia (most of the other countries in the region are NATO allies or alliance partners), which is impossible in the current conditions, and even such a hypothetical scenario is not justified, given the composition Russian forces in the Black Sea region.

The introduction of a new combat vessel into the Turkish Navy will not only strengthen Turkey’s military capabilities abroad, but also improve the electoral prospects of the incumbent president in the upcoming elections on May 14, said Pavel Shlykov, associate professor at the Institute of Asian and African Countries at Moscow State University.

“The development of its own national military-industrial complex has been one of Turkey’s important strategic tasks since the beginning of Erdogan’s rule. As early as April 11, the plans include the launch into space of its first military-civilian satellite for remote optical sensing of the Earth. These projects are a source of pride for the Turks. Therefore, it is no coincidence that the ruling power is trying to time the achievements in industry to coincide with its election campaign,” the expert continues.

In this way, the ruling party, according to the expert, promotes the thesis that the result of Erdogan’s rule was not only double-digit inflation and devaluation of the national currency, but in fact the Turkish economy entered a new technological order, included in the club of developed countries. “Pro-government TV channels and print media primarily focus on this,” Shlykov concluded.