The TCG Anadolu—the Turkish navy’s new flagship, and its largest warship ever—was commissioned under cloudy skies. Aboard the ship were both helicopters and drones, including drones designed for direct combat missions.
A Multi-Purpose Ship
Anadolu is based on Spain’s Juan Carlos I-class amphibious assault ships. The 27,000-ton, 761-foot-long ship is equipped with a full-length flight deck for air operations, a well deck for floating out landing craft to sea, and can transport several hundred marines drawn from Turkey’s Amphibious Marine Infantry Brigade. It’s roughly similar to the U.S. Navy’s America-class amphibious assault ships.
One thing that Anadolu has that the America class does not is a ski ramp, a holdover from Juan Carlos and the need to support Spain’s fleet of Harrier jump jets. Ski ramps are an alternative to the catapults on U.S. and French carriers, helping them build up lift to get airborne. Turkey does not have Harriers or the other aircraft qualified to use jump jets, like the F-35 Lightning II, so it built its own.
A Familiar Name
At the commissioning ceremony on April 10, Turkey had four types of aircraft on its flight deck. Two of the aircraft were manned: a pair of AH-1W Cobra attack helicopters and two S-70 Seahawk helicopters. Two were not: a Bakyar TB-3 drone, also known as the Bayraktar, and a new stealthy drone, the Kizilelma (“Red Apple”).
Turkey’s TB-2 Bayraktar drone is a popular Turkish export, and has been sold to nearly two-dozen countries around the world, including Ukraine. Ukraine used the drones to dramatic effect early in the Russian invasion in the winter of 2022, locating targets for artillery and dropping small precision-guided bombs on Russian targets. TB-3 is essentially the same as the TB-2, but optimized for carrier operation.
Chocolate and Peanut Butter
According to Overt Defense, Anadolu should be able to operate a mixed complement of helicopters or drones, plus marines and landing craft. In an all-drone configuration, however, it can carry up to 30 TB-2 or TB-3 Bayraktars. That will make it the world’s first all-drone aircraft carrier, a capability the Turkish navy believes should be operational by the mid-2020s.
Drones are dramatically cheaper and easier to maintain than crewed aircraft, making it much easier to field and operate air forces. In this case, Turkey had a ship with a ski ramp and small, combat-proven drones. The idea of combining the two to create a drone aircraft carrier was obvious. While the ship is nowhere near as capable as the U.S. Navy’s 11 nuclear-powered carriers, it still provides the ability to conduct reconnaissance and precision-strike missions anywhere Anadolu can sail.
The Takeaway
Turkey’s navy has shown other middle-sized naval forces worldwide that naval air power is now available on a shoestring budget. While Anadolu’s carrier capability won’t be online until 2025, the vision is here, and other regional navies like Japan, Brazil, Australia, India, and others will likely follow suit.
The world of 2050 will likely have dramatically more aircraft carriers than the world of 2023, but it may not have any more pilots.
Source: Popular Mechanics