Türkiye’s largest warship, the multipurpose amphibious assault ship Anadolu, is set to be delivered to the Naval Forces Command on Monday, marking a significant milestone for the country’s defense industry, the head of the top defense body said Thursday.
Ismail Demir, head of the Defense Industries Presidency (SSB), spoke during a signing ceremony to construct three new frigates under the MILGEM (National Ship) project.
The MILGEM project was initiated in 2000 to locally design and build a new line of multi-purpose frigates and corvettes to replace the older ones. So far, the commissioning of four corvettes and one frigate, the Istanbul frigate, has been carried out.
Demir previously said that Türkiye was planning to simultaneously build the three new I-class frigates designed by Turkish engineers.
Demir said at the time that business partnerships had been signed with the Anadolu, Sedef and Sefine shipyards, along with the Joint Venture Commercial Enterprise of TAIS, which is a consortium of Türkiye’s top five leading shipyards, and state-run defense firm STM, for the three I-class frigate projects.
Anadolu, meanwhile, is a landing helicopter dock (LHD) type amphibious assault ship that was modeled on the Spanish LHD Juan Carlos.
The Turkish LHD will be able to host a battalion-sized force along with flight and command personnel. Although its flight deck is not long enough for classic warplanes to land and take off, the Anadolu has six spots where medium-load transport, assault, or general-purpose helicopters can land and take off, along with two other spots that provide a landing platform for heavy cargo transport helicopters.
The Anadolu can carry many light and heavy armored vehicles, including wheeled and tracked ones. It can carry up to 30 wheeled vehicles on its lightweight deck, including armored amphibious vehicles and armored personnel carriers. The vessel’s hangar enables at least 12 medium-load helicopters to be transported. At the same time, the number can be increased with additional helicopters carried on the light vehicle deck, depending on the vessels’ mission. The heavy vehicle deck at the top of the carrier’s pool provides the transportation of heavy and tracked vehicles, such as tanks, along with other heavy armored vehicles.
The Anadolu provides the transportation of up to nearly 45 tanks, again, depending on how the vehicles are positioned on it and the vessel’s mission-ranking from amphibious war to power transfer, along with the non-military tasks such as humanitarian aid, search and rescue, medical assistance or natural disaster support in a variety of areas.
The launchpad constructed on the Anadolu’s deck provides a vertical landing for aircraft, such as Lockheed Martin’s STOVL (Short Take-Off / Vertical Landing) F-35Bs. However, this proved to be a deadlock issue between the U.S. and Türkiye as it was announced previously by then-U.S. President Donald Trump that Türkiye was expelled from the joint F-35 program over disputes between Washington and Ankara.
Yet, the flagship-to-be vessel will allow the landing and taking off of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), specifically designed for the Turkish defense industry, marking a global first.
During Thursday’s ceremony, Demir said that integrating this drone, the Bayraktar TB3 developed by Turkish drone magnate Baykar, into Anadolu is expected to be completed this year.
The Bayraktar TB3 is the short-runway-capable version of Baykar’s world-renowned drone Bayraktar TB2.
The TB3 will be displayed and make its first public appearance on the sidelines of this year’s edition of Türkiye’s largest aviation, space, and technology festival, Teknofest, scheduled to begin in late April.