Turkey reveals mockups for its first entirely indigenous aircraft carrier
The TCG Anadolu amphibious assault ship. The MUGEM is planned to be twice the size of the Anadolu. (Picture Credit: Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Jackson Adkins, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons)
The “MUGEM” or “National Aircraft Carrier” remains in its conceptual design phase despite the statement of intent from the Turkish Navy.
The Turkish Navy revealed concept images of the MUGEM, the nation’s first entirely indigenous aircraft carrier, at Saha Expo in Istanbul last week.
The project was first announced in February 2024, but the Navy used the Expo as a showcase for the mockups of the new vessel, which has remained in its early stages of conceptual design.
The MUGEM is expected to house up to 50 aircraft at any time (crewed and uncrewed), and have three runways, two for takeoff and one for landing. At 285 metres in length and displacing 60,000 tons, it has been predicted that the vessel would have a top speed of 25 knots, accommodation for 800 personnel and a range of 10,000 nautical miles. It has been predicted that the MUGEM would be twice the size of the most recently launched Turkish vessel of note, the amphibious assault ship TCG Anadolu.
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Following in the wake of other indigenous vessel reveals at the expo in the submarine sphere, the determination by the Turkish government that the MUGEM will be entirely domestically designed and built was a strong indictment of Turkey’s growing commitment to engineering independence in naval affairs.
The mockups of the MUGEM showed an optimised hull form, honed on internal simulation tools to deliver a robust and fuel-effective vessel. The bow design, in particular, has been rendered to deliver a 1.5% reduction in fuel consumption and improve underwater noise propagation, which is expected to enhance both the efficiency and operational stealth of the vessel.
No dates were given for the MUGEM to make the leap from conceptual design to steel-cutting, still less for becoming a real floating asset of the Turkish state. At Saha, it acted more as a statement of intent and direction than a genuine programme update.
Nevertheless, that statement of intent, coupled with developments in Turkey’s indigenous submarine design and construction, was clear. The Turkish Navy is focusing on designing and building its own naval resources long-term, whatever the exigencies of a new era of world conflicts may force upon it in the near future.
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