Türkiye has launched the simultaneous construction of three warships
5 January, 2025 Model of the Turkish aircraft carrier MUGEM "Milli Ucak Gemisi." October 2024. Turkey. Photo: armyrecognition.com
The Turkish Naval Forces have launched a program to strengthen the country's fleet by simultaneously constructing an aircraft carrier, a destroyer, and a submarine. The Turkish Naval Forces reported on this. Steel cutting for the new ships took place at two shipyards: the submarine at the Golcuk shipyard and the destroyer and aircraft carrier at the Istanbul shipyard.
Thus, this ceremony launched the construction of the MUGEM project aircraft carrier, which is Turkiye's national effort to develop and build the first Turkish aircraft carrier. The 285-meter-long ship with a displacement of 60,000 tons will demonstrate the achievements of Turkiye's naval potential, surpassing its predecessor, the Anadolu aircraft carrier, which was developed on the basis of the Spanish Juan Carlos I project.
The future aircraft carrier's ability to reach a maximum speed of 25 knots and a range of 10,000 nautical miles will allow it to participate in both regional and global open ocean operations.
Schematic representation of the MUGEM aircraft carrier. Photo credits: Global Defence News
The aircraft carrier is designed to accommodate 50 air platforms, including unmanned aerial vehicles. Of these, 30 aircraft can be stored in its hangar and 20 on the flight deck.
This number can be increased if necessary. The Istanbul shipyard also hosted a steel-cutting ceremony for the future TF-2000 project missile destroyer. In total, it is planned to build eight destroyers of this type, which will become a strong support for the surface component of the Turkish fleet.
TF-2000 missile destroyer.
Photo credits: Naval News
The ships, with a displacement of 8,600 tons and a length of 149 meters, will have 96 vertical cells for medium- and long-range SIPER anti-aircraft missiles and Gezgin cruise missiles. It is also expected that American anti-aircraft weapons will be used, namely SM-2/3/6 missiles, SeaRAM/RAM, VL ASROC and other anti-aircraft systems. The vessel's anti-ship capabilities will be enhanced by the Turkish Atmaca anti-ship missile.
The ceremony also launched the construction of submarines of the MILDEN project, which is Turkiye's national program for the construction of indigenously designed submarines.
To date, the exact characteristics of the submarine have not been officially announced.
It is reported that the submarine will be over 80 meters long and have a surface displacement of approximately 2,700 tons.