>> Turkey Started the Construction of its future LHD TCG Anadolu.
Turkey began the construction of its first LHD / amphibious assault ship on Saturday, April 30th. The first steel cut ceremony was held at Sedef shipyard in Tuzlay Bay close to Istanbul. During the ceremony President of Turkish Republic Recep Tayyip Erdogan declared that "TCG Anadolu will be the first ship in the navy from which F-35B SVTOL will be operate and would be delivered in 4 years (compared to the originally planned 5 years and a half).
>> Let's have a look at Turkish Navy LHD Specifications
Length overall: 231 meters
Maximum beam: 32 meters
Draught: 6.8 meters
Height: 58 meters
Maximum speed: 21 knots
Range: 9,000 miles @ economical speed
Electric propulsion with 2x 11 MW Siemens eSIPOD; 5x MAN 16V32/40 Diesel GenSets and 2x bow thrusters
Complete hospital and sick bay
>> Combat systems:
Genesis Advent CMS with amphibious and joint operations capability
Link 11/16/22/JRE/VMF
1x SMART-S Mk2 3D Search Radar
2x LPI radars
2x Navigation radars
1x Air traffic and control radar
1x PAR radar
4x 25mm Aselsan STOP
3x 12.7mm Aselsan STAMP
2x Raytheon Phalanx CIWS
Aselsan R-ESM
Aselsan jammers
Chaff/IR Decoy launching system
Aseslan TORK torpedo countermeasure system
IRST
HF/VHF/UHF and satellite communication systems
>> Amphibious capacity and force projection:
Garage for heavy loads: 1410 m² (MBTs, AAVs, TEU containers...)
Dock: 1165 m² (4x LCMs or 2x LCACs)
Light cargo garage: 1880 m² (AAVs, ZPTs, TEU containers...)
Aviation hangar: 900 m² (S-70B, AW-149, CH-47 etc.)
Flight Deck: 5440 m² (6 landing spots)
>> Turkish Navy LHD Mission Profiles and Capabilities
The ship is to be designed for four mission profiles:
» Amphibious ops: Capable of transporting a marine infantry force to carry out landing and support operations.
» Force Projection: Transporting forces to a theatre of operations.
» Aircraft Carrier: A platform for carrier-based naval aircrafts, acting as a flight deck for strategic projection airborne vectors (Navy's Air Wing).
» Humanitarian air ops: MOOTW (Military Operations Other Than War), humanitarian assistance, evacuation of crisis area, hospital ship in areas affected by natural disaster, etc.
The future LHD would serve as an aircraft carrier capable to deploy the F-35B, the short takeoff and vertical landing (STOVL) variant of the Lockheed Martin built Joint Strike Fighter. The vessel should be delivered to the Turkish Navy by 2019.
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