TSAMTO, November 18. The Spanish company Navantia offers Turkey to exercise an option for the construction of the second Anadolu-class UDC, developed on the basis of the project of the universal landing ship L-61 "Juan Carlos I" of the Spanish Navy.
As reported by Infodefensa.com with reference to the newspaper El Pais, the new vessel can be configured as a light aircraft carrier.
This proposal was one of the topics that Spain and Turkey discussed at the 7th Summit. The bilateral summit was held on November 18 in Ankara under the chairmanship of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez.
As previously reported by TSAMTO, in December 2013, the Executive Committee of the Turkish Defense Industry decided to select the shipbuilding company SEDEF Gemi Insaati as the preferred candidate to win the tender for the supply of the country's Navy with a new UDC under the Havuzlu Cikarma Gemisi (HCG) program. The contract for the construction of the ship was signed by the Defense Industry Secretariat of the Ministry of Defense of Turkey (SSM) with SEDEF Gemi Insaati in May 2015. The construction is carried out on the basis of the project of the universal landing ship (UDC) L-61 "Juan Carlos I" developed by the Spanish company Navantia. SEDEF and Navantia signed the corresponding contract on July 30, 2015. The total cost of the project is estimated at 1 billion. euro.
Navantia provides project development, technology transfer, equipment and provides technical assistance to SEDEF during the construction of the ship in Turkey. The agreement includes the supply of 5 diesel generators manufactured by Navantia, as well as an integrated platform management system.
Steel cutting for the construction of the Anadolu UDC began on April 30, 2016. According to the contract, the delivery must be completed within five and a half years after the conclusion of the contract.
The ceremony of laying the keel of the Anadolu UDC took place at the SEDEF Gemi Insaati enterprise in Tuzla (Istanbul) on February 7, 2018, the launching ceremony took place on May 4, 2019. Currently, the ship is being equipped with additional equipment and after conducting comprehensive tests, according to the current schedule, it will be transferred to the Turkish Navy in 2022.
The contract provided for an option to supply a second UDC, Thracia, which has not yet been implemented. The Spanish company submitted an updated proposal for the construction of a second UDC to SEDEF in 2020.
