What to replace the F-35C, naval and embedded versions of the Lockheed Martin aircraft with when your country was kicked out by the United States?
For Turkey, the search for an answer has become an urgent need: for almost a decade the country has been developing the largest ship in its fleet, the amphibious assault ship, and by the way, the aircraft carrier TCG Anadolu, which initially revolved around American aircraft.
As Insider points out, the ship is a relatively large stuffed animal: 232 meters long, it has a 5,440 square meter deck. As an expression of the Turkish government’s will to project, TCG Anadolu should be accompanied by other amphibious boats (TCG Bayraktar and TCG Sancaktar), whose task will be to project men and heavy tanks.
But what are you supposed to project from the deck of an aircraft carrier if you don’t have ad hoc equipment? Since the F-35Cs were restrained in the United States, despite Turkey’s active participation in the program, and Ankara had acquired a Russian S-400 anti-aircraft system, the TCG Anadolu could have turned into a carrier helicopter.
Catapulted Power
But that was not enough for the projection ambitions of the Turkish armies. Ankara can also count on a rapidly developing defense industry, and aviation in particular. Its military drones, we are thinking in particular of the Bayraktar TB2, work wonders, for example in Ukraine.
The logic was all there then: the TCG Anadolu will be an unmanned aircraft carrier, an oddity of modern warfare that could be emulated by many. Instead of the F-35C, the ship was to carry Bayraktar TB3, the shipboard version of the TB2, which is still under development.
However, the TB3 is not the only possible option for equipping the TCG Anadolu with armed aircraft. The Kızılelma, much more muscular than the TB3 with a cruise speed of Mach 0.6, a payload capacity of 1.5 tons and some degree of stealth, completed its second controlled flight in late December 2022, then a second a few weeks ago.
According to Haluk Bayraktar, head of the company of the same name, it should be able to be catapulted like a conventional aircraft from the deck of the TCG Anadolu, on which it can also land.
In total, including the few helicopters scheduled to outfit her deck, the Anadolu should be able to carry ninety-four aircraft, according to Turkish Defense Minister Hulusi Akar. Ten to fifteen drones could be operated simultaneously by specialized teams on board.
A more than remarkable capacity for projection as the country seeks to expand its sphere of influence in the Mediterranean and beyond. “We will continue these efforts until we become the largest fleet in the region and the world,” Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said after major exercises in the Mediterranean, Aegean and Black Seas, illustrating the country’s new naval doctrine dubbed “Blue Homeland”.