Turkey’s First Amphibious Assault Ship Begins Sea Trials

Turkish Navy’s multipurpose amphibious assault ship TCG Anadolu has embarked on its sea trials.

Sedef Shipyard Defense Industry Projects Manager Selim Buldanoğlu revealed to Daily Sabah the construction of the ship has been completed and that the sea tests have begun.

TCG Anadolu is a landing helicopter dock (LHD) type vessel modeled on Spain's LHD Juan Carlos. It is expected to enter service by the end of 2022.

For its airpower, AH-1W attack helicopters are expected to be deployed initially, before Turkish Aerospace Industries (TAI)-made ATAK-2 helicopters tailored for naval platforms replace those particular choppers.

For land platforms, one of the domestic products that come to the fore is the amphibious assault vehicle, the ZAHA developed by the FNSS. The vehicle is set to operate like an armored combat vehicle when on land, offering ballistic and mine protection. The 21-personnel-capacity ZAHA marine assault vehicle (MAV) was designed to facilitate the rapid movement of naval troops to mission locations and allow marines to reach shorelines in the shortest time possible to tackle enemy threats. It is currently in the testing process.

TCG Anadolu is also likely to house drones. According to the Turkish Defense Industry 2022 Targets announced by the Presidency of Defense Industries (SSB), Bayraktar TB3 unmanned combat aerial vehicles (UCAV) are under development by Turkey’s Baykar. It will have the ability to take off from ships with short runways. The UCAV will make its first flight in 2022 and is planned for the flag-ship-to-be LHD. It will have a higher payload capacity than the now world-famous Bayraktar TB2, at 280kg versus 150kg, along with foldable wings to save space during transportation.