Last week, the Turkish Navy’s largest warship, the multi-purpose amphibious assault ship "Anadolu" (hull number L400), once again conducted sea trials. At present, the construction and equipment installation of this warship have been completed and will undergo several rounds in the future. After the sea trial, this giant ship with a displacement of 28,000 will enter the Turkish Navy and become the largest ship of the Turkish Navy. This is also the second time that there is an aircraft carrier in the coastal area of the Black Sea since the "Leningrad" helicopter carrier was retired from the Russian Black Sea Fleet. (" quasi-aircraft carrier ") entered service.
The Turkish multi-purpose amphibious assault ship "Anadolu" is about to enter service, which once again confirms the saying "Thirty years in the east of Hedong and thirty years in the west of Hexi". At one time, the Russian Black Sea Fleet was the only fleet with aircraft carriers in the Black Sea coastal area, except for the following In addition to the two Type 1123 helicopter carriers under its jurisdiction, the short-term testing phase of several "Kiev" class aircraft carriers was also completed in the Black Sea. With the decommissioning of the "Leningrad" in 1991 (picture below), the Black Sea Fleet no longer has an aircraft carrier. In addition, the cruiser "Moscow" has long since sunk. The strength of the Turkish Navy now ranks above the Russian Black Sea Fleet.
The amphibious assault ship "Anadolu" is the Turkish version of the Spanish "Juan Carlos I" strategic delivery ship (pictured below), and the design template of the "Juan Carlos I" is in addition to In addition to exporting to Turkey, Australia currently has two amphibious assault ships that are almost identical to the "Juan Carlos I".
The "Juan Carlos I" is a hybrid of an aircraft carrier and an amphibious assault ship, trying to achieve all the functions of an aircraft carrier and an amphibious assault ship in one warship. Although the amphibious warfare capabilities of this warship cannot be compared with the larger "Wasp" class, and the aircraft carrier "Juan Carlos I" is at best a light aircraft carrier, for a small country's navy, it is This warship can achieve the functions and cost-effectiveness of two warships. After the "Juan Carlos I", Italy also used this design idea to launch its own amphibious assault ship "Trieste" ( The following figure).
"Anadolu" and "Juan Carlos I" are sister ships, and the ship sizes are almost the same. "Anadolu" started construction in 2016, with a length of 232 meters, a width of 32 meters, and a height of 58 meters. meters, with a standard displacement of 24,000 tons and a full load displacement of 28,000 tons. The "Anadolu" had a fire during construction in 2019 (picture below). Fortunately, the fire area was not large and the fire was quickly controlled. The fire did not delay the construction plan of the warship much.
"Anadolu", like the "Juan Carlos I", can carry more than ten helicopters of various types when performing amphibious operations , and the ship also has an aircraft cabin with an area of 990 square meters. The warehouse can accommodate 12 medium helicopters or 8 heavy helicopters. The ship also has a dock at the rear, which is 69.3 meters long and 16.8 meters wide. It can carry 2 NATO standard LCAC air cushion landing craft or four LCM-1 amphibious landing craft . It is also designed with a vehicle deck and hangar. It can carry 100 light vehicles or 46 "Leopard" 2A4 or "Altai" main battle tanks equipped with Turkish equipment, and can carry up to 1,200 landing troops. However, Turkey is not equipped with LACA, so the ship can only carry Turkey's old mechanized universal landing craft. In addition, the ship can also carry the ZAHA amphibious assault vehicle independently developed by Turkey (the Turkish version of AAV7, Figure 2 below).
The "Anadolu" and the "Juan Carlos I" both have a ski-jump flight deck and can carry dozens of short takeoff and landing fighters for use as a light aircraft carrier. The Spanish "Juan Carlos I" has carried "Harrier" fighter jets (pictures 1 and 2 below), and the ship also has the ability to carry F-35B, but Spain currently does not have F-35B.
Turkey, as the developer of the F-35 project, could easily obtain the F-35 at first. However, since Turkey’s attempted military coup in 2016 led to the deterioration of U.S.-Turkey relations, Turkey insisted on purchasing Russian-made S-400s despite U.S. opposition. Air defense missile system (Figure 1 below), the United States immediately canceled the plan to sell the F-35 to Turkey (Figure 2 shows Turkey’s first F-35, which was subsequently detained by the United States). Therefore, the "Anadolu" without the F-35B cannot function as a light aircraft carrier.
Turkey once displayed a model of the "Anadolu". The F-35B on the bow is quite eye-catching. Since there is no LCAC, the dock can only carry displacement-type mechanized landing craft
Although it has been made things difficult by the United States, it has great ambitions. Turkey, which dreams of being a great power, will not give in. Turkey soon began to convert the "Anadolu" into the world's first drone aircraft carrier. Turkey plans to develop a carrier-based version of the Bayraktar TB-3 drone based on the TB-2 UAV that became famous due to the 2020 Second Nagorno-Karabakh War and the current Russo-Ukrainian War. (the picture below is an imaginary picture of the TB-3 unmanned carrier-based aircraft). The size of this UAV is the same as the TB-2, with the addition of a wing folding device. The aircraft weighs more than one ton and has good low-speed performance. It can easily ski jump from the "Anadolu" deck by relying on its own power. Take off.
Even Turkey wants to put the more advanced "Red Apple" (Kızılelma) stealth drone developed by Baykar Company onto the flight deck of the "Anadolu", although the "Red Apple" drone is currently only A full-size model is on display. It is reported that this UAV has certain stealth capabilities, is equipped with an active phased array radar, has a maximum take-off weight of 6 tons, and can carry 1.5 tons of weapons. The canard layout also gives this UAV excellent maneuverability. However, it is unclear when this drone will be built.
Of course, converting the "Anadolu" amphibious assault ship into a drone aircraft carrier still needs to solve the problem of how to land the drone. Turkey has not yet given a reasonable plan, so although Turkey has not developed the above-mentioned drone However, it remains to be seen whether these plans will really be implemented or whether this is Turkey's attempt to spread the pie. However, judging from Turkey's comprehensive national strength, the latter is more likely. .
Turkey has planned a variety of carrier-based aircraft configuration plans for the "Anadolu"
