The Turkish aircraft carrier "Anadolu" has been in a semi-stop state since it was launched at the Sedev Shipyard in Istanbul on May 8, 2019. It was not until recently three years later that it began sea trials. Although compared with the Indian domestic aircraft carrier, the The

The Turkish aircraft carrier "Anadolu" has been in a semi-stop state since it was launched at the Sediv Shipyard in Istanbul on May 8, 2019. It was not until recently three years later that it began sea trials. Although compared with The eight years it took for India's domestically produced aircraft carrier to go from launch to sea trial is "little in comparison", but it can be regarded as setting a small slow record. One of the reasons why its progress is so slow is that the "cooked duck" of the carrier-based aircraft suddenly flew away. The supply of the F-35B in the United States was cut off, making it temporarily unable to adapt.

The Turkish aircraft carrier on trial

"Anadolu" is an aircraft carrier, but compared with the amphibious assault ship , it has an extra ski jump deck. Its prototype is the Spanish "Juan Carlos" "I" strategic delivery ship is sister to Australia's two "Canberra" class amphibious assault ships . The F-35B is what it calls the "soul" of the aircraft carrier. Now that the "soul" has been taken away, it is natural to find ways to "resurrection".

Originally prepared to equip the F35B

Turkey once thought about putting a manned Hürjet trainer on the ship, but even the trainer requires a lot of hardware support to take off and land on the aircraft carrier, such as arresting cable , which is not what Turkey can currently do. developed, so we had to settle for the next best thing and prepare to let the TB-2 drone , which had dominated the limelight in several wars, eat the "crab" first. After the aircraft was put on the ship, its wings were changed to foldable, so it was again Called TB-3.

Even the trainer aircraft cannot board the ship.

The TB-2 drone can board the ship.

However, even the TB-3 needs external help to take off from the ski jump deck of the "Anadolu". For this reason, Turkey has racked its brains and plans to install an antique pulley-type catapult on the bow of the aircraft carrier, which is similar to a rubber band slingshot to launch the drone into the sky. It can be said that it is an indigenous method, regardless of whether it can succeed. , can all be recorded in the history of world aircraft carriers.

It’s also a weird thing

The launch of TB-3 is just the first step. Turkey is currently developing a stealth drone that looks very similar to a smaller version of J-20. It has a confusing name "Red Apple" ”, preparing to also equip it on aircraft carriers. It is said that it has a take-off weight of 6 tons, can carry a load of 1.5 tons, and is even prepared to be equipped with phased array radar .

Red Apple UAV, this name is really weird

At present, "Red Apple" has demonstrated full-size prototypes many times, and the first prototype has started construction. Turkey has a lot of ideas about it. On the one hand, it can be put on the ship. After the ship is mature, it will also prepare to change it to a manned fighter. At the same time, it will test its ability to design a stealth fighter. If it succeeds, it can also develop a fifth-generation fighter on the basis of it. It can be said that It is "killing four birds with one stone".

Turkey has a good idea

However, if the "Red Apple" is to be put on the ship, it will face the same problems as the Hürjet training aircraft. There is no arresting rope, and with its size, it will not be as big as the "Anadolu" of more than 20,000 tons. Scheduling on the Internet will be a very troublesome thing. It is impossible for Turkey to develop a truly stealthy drone. It is estimated that its final stealth effect will be worse than South Korea's KF-21.

It is estimated that stealth is just symbolic.

Many people see that the "Anadolu" is mainly equipped with drones and think that it will become the world's first drone aircraft carrier. However, in fact, it is forced to equip drones. , and proactively equipping drones are two different things. Turkey only thought of using them to replace the vacant seats after the F-35B flew away. It did not think of repositioning and improving the role of drones on the aircraft carrier. In order to give full play to the role of these drones, Its role is not to simply put them on the ship, but requires the construction of a comprehensive system of sea, land, air and space. Therefore, the "Anadolu" is at most an amphibious assault ship equipped with drones, not an unmanned aerial vehicle. aircraft carrier.

There are quite a lot of drones that want to be put on the ship.

In fact, for Turkey, the most realistic option is to put the T-129 armed helicopter on the ship. Its firepower delivery capability in short distances is no less than F-35B, in this small "bathtub", T-129 is enough. There is no need to do things that you can't do for the sake of the vanity of the aircraft carrier.

T129 is the right choice to ship with