Babur Han
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Just What the Middle East Needs: Turkey’s Getting an Aircraft Carrier
Ankara is about to greatly expand its military reach—and up the ante in the region’s dangerous arms race.
ISTANBUL — Turkey is getting ready to widen the reach of its military considerably by building a multipurpose aircraft carrier with “trans-continental” capabilities.
The 225-meter ship dubbed the Anadolu (or Anatolia), set to enter service in 2021, is designed to take fighter aircraft, attack helicopters, tanks, troops, and landing vessels to areas around the Mediterranean and as far as the Atlantic and the Indian Oceans, officials say. While some analysts say Turkey needs a carrier like this, some regard the project as an expensive expression of prestige and grandeur that far exceeds the country’s limits.
The move is a sign of NATO member Turkey’s determination to become a leading power in the Middle East and beyond, an ambition that has been ruffling feathers. In a region shaken by the Syrian war, a heated row between Turkey and naval superpower Russia over the downing of a fighter jet and an increased naval presence by rival Iran to the southeast have heightened tensions even more.
Just What the Middle East Needs: Turkey’s Getting an Aircraft Carrier - The Daily Beast
This could mean TN is capable to show Presence and Conduct Operations in an Area which have for Spain strategic importance. Or have they sold Juan Carlos I Class to Turkey to Resque Navantia from getting insolvent ?