Founded in January 2018, ASFAT(Askeri Fabrika ve Tersane İşletme, Military Factory and Shipyard Management) manages 27state-owned ordnance factories and three naval shipyards. At SAHA Expo 2024 it exhibited two models, one of the future indigenous aircraft carrier and one of the latest design of the future destroyer
Compared to the earlier models of the TF-2000 the one exhibited at the Istanbul event was pretty different, marking a change in mission for this new class of ships. Originally a multi-role platform, with a Flexible Mission Space (FMS) capable to host up to 10 20-foot containers, and armed with 64 MIDLAS (Milli Dikey Atım Sistemi, National Vertical Launch System) able to operate air defence missiles as well as land attack missiles, the ship was 166 metres long, with a 21.5 metres beam, a 5.4 metres draft, and an 8,500 tonnes displacement. Powered by two gas turbines and two diesel engines in a CODOG (Combined Diesel Or Gas) configuration, its dash speed was planned to be 28+ knots. This was a redesign of the project of a smaller ship, seen four years earlier, which had a 7,000 tonnes displacement and only 32 VLS.
What should be the final configuration, the first steel cut is expected soon, sees a 149 metres long unit with an 8,300 tonnes displacement, a 21.3 metres beam, and a maximum speed of 26+ knots, while maintaining the same propulsion configuration, which ensures a range of 5,000 NM at cruise speed.
The main reason for the hull shortening comes from the Turkish Navy decision to abandon the FMS, which cuts the overall length by 17 metres. While reducing the multirole capacity of the unit, the service decided to increase its core capability, which is air defence, bringing the total number of VLS cells from 64 to 92, 12 MIDLAS eight-cell modules, of which four modules behind the 127/54 mm main gun on the bow, and eight modules amidship, between the bridge superstructure and the one containing the engines exhausts, the latter having been completely redesigned. These will be able to launch different types of missiles, all of national origin, some already available while some other at in full development. Among the former we find the HISAR-D medium range surface-to-air and the Atmaca anti-ship missiles, which in the previous design were launched from angled tubes located behind the chimney superstructure, while long range air defence will be ensured by SIPER missiles, still under development. The Gökdeniz close-in weapon system is located over the helicopter hangar, which can host an SH-60 Seahawk helicopter. The second Gökdeniz CIWS that was seen in the past on the front superstructure has been replaced by what looks very much as a Roketsan Levent missile-based CIWS. Four 25 mm remotely controlled weapon stations are installed at the four corners of the overall superstructure. Two three-tube torpedo launchers allow to employ Orka and Tork light torpedoes.
The main sensor is the Aselsan Çafrad radar which flat panel antennas are installed on the main pyramidal mast. On top of the mast we find a radome protecting the X-band SATCOM antenna, then going down we find the active, non-rotating IFF Antenna which has a 450 km range, followed by the X-band active phased-array multifunction antennas capable to track over 1,000 targets at 150 km range, while the X-band active phased-array illumination radar antennas have been removed, as all air defence effectors will feature radiofrequency or infrared imaging seekers; the S-band active phased-array long-range search radar antennas capable to detect, track and classify over 2,000 targets at 40 km range, ate installed on the lower part of the superstructure, front and rear, port and starboard. Two X-band Aselsan Alper low-probability of intercept navigation radars with ai instrumented range of 36 NM are also installed. Underwater sensors include a towed low-frequency active sonar and a bow mounted sonar. Two Aselsan’s SeaEye AHTAPOT-S electro-optical reconnaissance, surveillance and targeting system are installed, front and rear, the PIRI infrared search and track system from the same company completing the sensor suite, while an electronic warfare suite ensures full coverage of the spectrum.
While the TF-2000 destroyer is about to start being built, what is defined for the time being as the Indigenous Aircraft Carrier will not materialise for at least a decade.
While preliminary design started in 2022, ASFAT needs five years from now to finalise the design before shifting to building, EDR On-Line was told by Navy representatives. Also known in short as MUGEM, from Milli Uçak Gemisi, national aircraft carrier in Turkish language, the ship will be 285 metres long, with a 72 metres beam, a 10.1 metres draft, and a displacement of 60,000 tonnes. Four gas turbines arranged in a COGAG (COmbined Gas turbine And Gas turbine) configuration providing 23 MW of power will allow the ship to reach a maximum speed of over 25 knots, a key parameter when launching aircraft; cruising speed will be 14 knots, with a 10,000 NM range at that speed.
Fitted with an Advent combat management system by Havelsan, its self-protection suite includes six Aselsan Stop 25 mm remotely controlled weapon stations, located at the front, midship and rear on each side of the carrier, four Gökdeniz CIWS at the four corners of the ship, and four 8-cell MIDLAS vertical launch systems, in two clusters of two on the port side of the flight deck.
The MUGEM is equipped with a ski-jump to allow aircraft take-off; two yellow-dotted lines mark two different take-off runways, one along the ship axle while the second goes from port towards the ski-jump, both being fitted with blast deflectors at the staring point. The landing runway is angled going diagonally from starboard to port, and is equipped with arrest cables, the future Turkish aircraft carrier being built around the STOBAR (Short Take-Off But Arrested Recovery) concept.
The air component will include a mix of 50 manned and unmanned platforms. The only manned aircraft on board will be a navalised version of the Hürjet which armed version was due to fly a few days after the end of the exhibition. Aircraft carrier operations will certainly require some modification to the jet, as it will certainly need a different landing gear and the addition of the hook for cable arrest landing. Three types of unmanned platforms will be embarked, the TAI Anka-III and Baykar’s Bayraktar Kizilelma and TB-3, all combat unmanned air vehicles. Helicopters, usually SH-60s, will also be part of the aviation detachment. According to information gathered at the show 30 platforms will be hosted in the hangar, the remaining 20 being lashed on the flight deck.
Once launched, production should take around five years, some sources considering this an optimistic timing.
