TR Aircraft Carrier and Amphibious Ship Programs

dBSPL

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It seems 1 angled landing deck and 3 take-off lines. Even in this STOBAR configuration, showing that high sortie density is targeted. Definitely not a flag display ship, but a strategic force multiplier ship is coming. The article envisages a capacity of around 50 manned and unmanned combat aircraft, and the deck layout shows that this fleet is intended to be used at high capacity.

TB-3, KE and Hürjet-N are illustrating on the deck. Probably ANKA-3 and or derived variant will also catch up. The fact that fixed-wing reconnaissance and combat platforms will be ready before the aircraft carrier itself will be an important plus factor. The article also mentions that a study could be conducted on KAAN in the future.

The configuration of 4 CIWS and 32-cell MIDLAS indicates that the ship will have a countermeasure capability above the usual, which, as dear Uçuyorum said, could be a plus factor in task force planning.
 

boredaf

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It seems 1 angled landing deck and 3 take-off lines. Even in this STOBAR configuration, showing that high sortie density is targeted. Definitely not a flag display ship, but a strategic force multiplier ship is coming. The article envisages a capacity of around 50 manned and unmanned combat aircraft, and the deck layout shows that this fleet is intended to be used at high capacity.

TB-3, KE and Hürjet-N are illustrating on the deck. Probably ANKA-3 and or derived variant will also catch up. The fact that fixed-wing reconnaissance and combat platforms will be ready before the aircraft carrier itself will be an important plus factor. The article also mentions that a study could be conducted on KAAN in the future.

The configuration of 4 CIWS and 32-cell MIDLAS indicates that the ship will have a countermeasure capability above the usual, which, as dear Uçuyorum said, could be a plus factor in task force planning.
It also looks like the design has 2 or 3 STAMP or STOP on either side.
 

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Additional notes: In the first phase, the National Aircraft Carrier will not include a catapult system since there is still no national/indigenous capability in this field, but the ship design will include a Modular Ramp System, and if it is possible to produce a domestic catapult in the future, this modular ramp will be dismantled and the flight runway/deck will be converted into a flat structure and the catapult system can be integrated into the ship. For this purpose, a space has been reserved for the catapult in the interior layout design of the National Aircraft Carrier, in case it may be installed in the future.

 

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Additional notes: In the first phase, the National Aircraft Carrier will not include a catapult system since there is still no national/indigenous capability in this field, but the ship design will include a Modular Ramp System, and if it is possible to produce a domestic catapult in the future, this modular ramp will be dismantled and the flight runway/deck will be converted into a flat structure and the catapult system can be integrated into the ship. For this purpose, a space has been reserved for the catapult in the interior layout design of the National Aircraft Carrier, in case it may be installed in the future.


That is a sensible approach. But they can also try to get it from US like France did.
 

Anmdt

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It also looks like the design has 2 or 3 STAMP or STOP on either side.
Those are Gökdeniz (The ship has an enormous size even Gökdeniz appears to be STOP)
It will likely have 4 Gökdeniz, 2 Nazar, 8 STOP, 32 Cell MIDLAS
 

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1713970973559.jpeg


Source: Defence Turkey
 

boredaf

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Those are Gökdeniz (The ship has an enormous size even Gökdeniz appears to be STOP)
It will likely have 4 Gökdeniz, 2 Nazar, 8 STOP, 32 Cell MIDLAS
No, I'm not talking about the ones on the corners which are obviously Gökdeniz. Take a look at the pics that show the models from the side, it looks like there are at least 2 more turrets there.
 

Anmdt

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No, I'm not talking about the ones on the corners which are obviously Gökdeniz. Take a look at the pics that show the models from the side, it looks like there are at least 2 more turrets there.
Those are STOP / SMASH. Hard to distinguish.
 

dBSPL

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There is another important detail in the draft drawing: both aircraft elevators are shown in huuge dimensions. To emphasize this, it is even shown that it can carry 2 aircrafts to the deck at once. These details, and especially the optional retention of CATOBAR in the main design, make me think that we are definitely designing this ship for a future variant of KAAN.
 

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There is another important detail in the draft drawing: the hangar aircraft elevators are shown in huuge dimensions. To emphasize this, it is even shown that it can carry 2 aircrafts to the deck at once.
I think those are made to lift one MMU in dimensions, so 1 MMU = 2 KE/Hürjet/ANKA3 or 4/5 TB3
 

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Considering that a catapult system is not being considered for the first Turkish AC an electric powered wheeled tow system can be considered to move the planes around and also possibly help gain initial speed for like 30-40 meters along the runway. This will speed up operations and save fuel for the planes.
 

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Turns out they are making the Turkish AC ski-jump upgradable to a catapult system, a feature that was in my wishlist.
 

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While the future “upgradeability” is nice to have, it comes with additional costs. QE was also to be modular like that, but projected costs from before the ships were built were tiny and they decided to not follow up on a CATOBAR retrofit after having a second look.

US did hundreds to maybe thousands of trial runs for EMALS. A catapult system is not easy to implement. It also costs a lot to design it. French just opted to have EMALS and will pay billions. As far as I know, there are no modern non nuclear powered carriers with CATOBAR.

Imagining a carrier that may or may not be upgraded during its life to its full potential may be a misuse of the budget. First design should be able to match the requirements laid out for it.

This in its current first stage design looks to be a carrier for Hürjet-N, which will be very short of breath with its single F404 and will always require a buddy tanker fill up before going for a sortie; a TB3, that is defenseless against any enemy aircraft and nearly all SAMs, and KE, a future fighter that is at the beginning of its development phase and not clear whether it will ever match what we envision for it.

Development of this carrier and its air wing will cost us billions of dollars. Capabilities it will bring needs to match the money we will pour into it.
 

Zafer

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Small planes launched by small catapults come with a small price tag. Good thing we have made a good start with unmanned planes.
 

Sanchez

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Small planes launched by small catapults come with a small price tag. Good thing we have made a good start with unmanned planes.
Hürjet is not a small plane. Kaan is huge. And these are manned aircraft, which brings huge safety requirements. Possible TCG-CV(Trakya?) will be a one off design and to develop a catapult for it would take years of ground tests and then tears of onboard tests. We would need to build the thing by paying billions and then take it offline for years again to retrofit it.

I do agree that we have come far with UCAVs but we are sometimes forgetting that the road between RC controlled toy planes and UCAVs like Akıncı are shorter than the road between UCAVs and real unmanned fighter jets. We have years to go, tech is not even here yet.

This is the cost of being a future super power. We have grand projections and dreams, but not the capabilities or the budget befitting our needs.

A carrier is a generational program. We can’t go at it as with our usual ventures. A two year delay on it is billions of dollars, not tens of millions. Design and project phase must be rock solid before we start it. It shouldn’t be hopes, dreams and best case scenarios but solid data and capabilities we already have and will have in the short term that guide us, not future plans that may or may not work.
 

Anmdt

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A carrier is a generational program. We can’t go at it as with our usual ventures. A two year delay on it is billions of dollars, not tens of millions. Design and project phase must be rock solid before we start it. It shouldn’t be hopes, dreams and best case scenarios but solid data and capabilities we already have and will have in the short term that guide us, not future plans that may or may not work.
I believe Navy is adequately sane on the matter and not rushing the project to catch up with a schedule.
While the future “upgradeability” is nice to have, it comes with additional costs.
Upgrade-ability cost less than upgrading without a notice or plan, therefore it exists. I also question the need for a catapult on MUG to begin with, but we also should keep in mind the ship is meant to be in service in late 2030s, and serve for 40 years at minimum, we are speaking of 50s for an MLU and if necessary space for the catapult is not envisioned from the start then it will cause more issues. And i, and likely Navy, has no clear projection for 2050 what technologies may be available nationally, or not. We shall also keep this in mind, if we truly intend to hold power projection capability then we will need a sistership to MUG.
 

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