Turkey set to deliver LPD Anadolu early next year to original design

Turkey plans to put the amphibious landing platform dock (LPD) Anadolu into service in early 2022 without further modifications, İsmail Demir, head of Turkey's Presidency of Defence Industries (SSB), has confirmed.

Addressing a media briefing at at the Global Strategies in Defence and Aerospace Industry Conference, held in Antalya, Turkey, on 4-5 December, Demir said Anadolu is planned to be delivered to the Turkish Navy Forces Command (TNFC) in its original design configuration in early 2022 and that the Bayraktar TB3 unmanned combat aerial vehicle (UCAV) would be integrated into the ship later when it is ready.

Anadolu is under construction at SEDEF's shipyard in Tuzla, southern Istanbul, in partnership with Navantia; it is based on the Spanish shipbuilder's Juan Carlos I-class design.

Commenting on Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan's remarks during a visit by Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez in November that the two countries had agreed on the construction of a second Spanish assault ship and possibly a submarine, Demir noted that Erdoğan had disclosed his target of acquiring an aircraft carrier a few years ago.

Anadolu is an LPD ship, he said. “There is an approach that it would be appropriate to consider a new, perhaps larger ship in a format that would accommodate several types of UAVs/UCAVs with jet engines and propellers. It [building an aircraft carrier] needs to be matured as a concept and preliminary studies should be done on the design processes, size and capabilities. It seems that this work has now entered our agenda and will be worked on more intensively and effectively,” he said.

Separately, Demir told the media on 5 December that construction of the first prototype of a Turkish type fast attack craft (FAC55) will start in 2022.