Last week news reports said that Turkey and Spain signed a
contract for the construction of what was reported to be an aircraft carrier.
The ship in question is however a variant of the Spanish amphibious landing
ship Juan Carlos I. It is true that
this ship has a flight deck to support short take off-vertical landing (STVTOL)
operations and can be used as a small aircraft carrier. Given the strategic
missions the Turkish navy sets for it is unlikely that Turkey is seeking to
construct a Juan Carlos I class ship
just to act as an aircraft carrier.
In the past years Turkey stated the intention to modernize
and expand its fleet to support its role as a regional player in the eastern
Mediterranean. Part of the modernization and expansion involves the building of
its own corvettes (Ada class) and frigates (TF-100 class) under the MILGEM
project. Since 2006 the Turkish government also approved the acquisition of a Landing Helicopter Dock (LHD) and this is
where the Juan Carlos I comes into
play.
Turkey already operates a small fleet of landing ships.
These ships are mostly used in humanitarian operations, more specifically
disaster relieve. Earthquakes are a common phenomenon in Turkey and its poor
infrastructure prevents the rapid deployment of forces to assist in the
disaster relieve. Its fleet of landing ships provides the necessary mobility
for disasters in the coastal area by being able to land forces and supplies in
a harbor or even on a shore. An LHD would greatly improve this capability because
it transports more men, vehicles and supplies and even allows the deployment of
helicopters from the ship itself. It is this capacity that Turkey seeks to
acquire. However, the possession of an LHD would also help Turkey to boost its
expeditionary capabilities.
Turkey recognizes the northern, Islamic, part of the isle of
Cyprus while Greece and the EU recognize the southern part. Both sides seek to
have political control over the whole island and this situation resulted in an
uneasy truce between both sides after several years of violence. If violence
flares up on Cyprus and Turkey seeks to support the northern part by military
means an LHD would allow a faster insertion of troops and equipment compared to
its current fleet of small and aging landing crafts.
Finally a Juan Carlos
I class ship can indeed be used as a small aircraft carrier. The ship is
however only capable of serving STOVL-planes like the Harrier jump jets and
F-35B jets. None of these planes are currently in service in the Turkish Air
Force. Turkey does however participate in the F-35 program and intends to
replace its F-16s with F-35s. It is not clear if Turkey is opting to buy F-35Bs
to be placed on its amphibious landing ship unlike as the US and Italian Navy
are planning to do.
Production of Harrier jump jets ended in 2003. Any Harrier
jets turkey wishes to place on board would have to be second hand planes. In
Europe the Italian Navy deploys Harrier jump jets on its Cavour class aircraft carrier. Since Italy plans to replace its
harriers by F-35Bs in 2014 it could be possible for Turkey to buy these planes
from Italy. One also has to take into account that Turkey seeks to construct a
variant of the Juan Carlos I. Details
are still unclear about the final design of the ship and it could be possible
that Turkeys amphibious ship could end up without a ski jump necessary to
launch planes but since STOVL planes can also take of vertically this wouldn’t
present a problem.
In the end it also no surprise that Turkey buys a Juan Carlos I class ship. Only a few
countries build these kinds of ships and the choice on the European market is
mainly limited between the French Mistral
class and the Spanish Juan Carlos I class.
Australia and Russia each had a tender
for an LHD that saw the Juan Carlos I
and Mistral class ships compete in
both countries; Australia selected the Juan
Carlos I class, renamed the Canberra
class, and has already seen two of these ships delivered, while Russia opted
for the Mistral class.
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