What Indigenous Systems Are on TCG Anadolu? Sensors, TB3 Capability and Specifications

TCG Anadolu (L-400) is the Turkish Navy’s largest and most symbolic platform, a multipurpose amphibious assault ship. Built by SEDEF Shipyard under an SSB-managed LHD programme, it was delivered on 10 April 2023 in a ceremony attended by President Erdoğan. It carries indigenous ASELSAN and ARMELSAN sensors, and is best known as the world’s first UCAV carrier, operating the Bayraktar TB3 from its ski-jump ramp.

Indigenous systems

ASELSAN’s PIRI infrared search-and-track system and AHTAPOT electro-optical system form the backbone of the ship’s sensor suite; ARMELSAN’s ARAS-2023 diver-detection sonar guards against underwater sabotage; five ASELSAN STOP 25mm remote weapon stations provide close-in defence. Main sensor radars (Thales Smart-S Mk2), precision approach radar (Leonardo SPN-720) and self-defence (two Phalanx Block 1B) remain foreign-supplied.

UCAV carrier role

Anadolu’s defining capability is launching and recovering the Bayraktar TB3 from its ramp: first fully autonomous landings came on 19 November 2024 off Aksaz, and on-deck sorties passed 100 during 2025. In February 2026, during NATO’s Steadfast Dart exercise in the Baltic, a TB3 launched from Anadolu struck a maritime target with a MAM-L munition in sub-zero conditions and returned to the ship — the first complete launch-strike-recovery cycle by a carrier-based Turkish UCAV in a NATO drill.

KIZILELMA and the future carrier

Baykar has clarified that its jet-powered KIZILELMA UCAV, while able to launch from Anadolu, would need further ship modification to land there; instead, the Turkish Navy is designing a separate, roughly twice-larger “National Aircraft Carrier” (MUGEM, ~285m) as KIZILELMA’s permanent home under a Baykar-TUSAŞ partnership. References to KIZILELMA operating from Anadolu are now outdated.

Sources

Anadolu Agency; Baykar Technology; Naval News, The Aviationist, ArmyRecognition (Steadfast Dart 2026); Cumhuriyet, DefenceTurk (Selçuk Bayraktar on KIZILELMA/MUGEM).

Part of the Indigenous Power of the Blue Homeland series.