Indigenous Aircraft Carrier Platform

The MUGEM (Milli Uçak Gemisi — National Aircraft Carrier) program represents Turkey's ambition to build a purpose-designed aircraft carrier, expanding beyond the TCG Anadolu light helicopter carrier/drone carrier. Steel cutting began on January 2, 2025. The carrier is designed to operate the Kizilelma jet-powered UCAV and future unmanned combat aircraft, pioneering a UCAV-carrier concept that no nation has yet fielded.

The TCG Anadolu, originally designed as an LHD for F-35B operations, was repurposed after Turkey's exclusion from the F-35 program. It became the world's first drone carrier, designed to operate TB3 and Kizilelma UCAVs. MUGEM builds on this operational concept with a larger, purpose-built hull that can support sustained jet UCAV operations including higher launch and recovery rates.

This UCAV-carrier paradigm may prove more consequential than traditional carrier aviation. A carrier air wing of unmanned fighters costs a fraction of manned aircraft, doesn't risk pilot lives, and can be attrited and replaced rapidly. Turkey is pioneering a naval aviation model that medium powers could adopt — one that doesn't require the trillion-dollar investment of US-style carrier strike groups.