Industrial Scale as Strategy

Türkiye’s naval shipbuilding program is consolidating around volume, variety, and continuity rather than single-platform prestige.

Statements on Dec. 20, 2025 by Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and Navy Commander Ercüment Tatlıoğlu set out a fleet roadmap spanning aircraft carriers, air-defense destroyers, submarines, and patrol vessels, with shipyards building 39 military hulls simultaneously.

The emphasis is production depth and schedule density across multiple classes.

Erdoğan presided over documentation marking the induction of several platforms into service, including patrol and submarine assets for the Turkish Navy and a surface combatant delivered to Pakistan.

The ceremony underscored parallel objectives: domestic fleet renewal and sustained export output.

“300 Meters, Larger Than Anadolu”

At the center of the naval portfolio is a new aircraft carrier project.

Erdoğan said construction processes have begun for a carrier measuring 300 meters in length, explicitly positioned as larger than TCG ANADOLU.

While technical specifications were not disclosed, the announcement formally moves the carrier effort from concept to build phase and places it alongside other major surface combatant programs already underway.

Tatlıoğlu confirmed that construction of the national aircraft carrier is proceeding in parallel with the TF-2000 program, known as the Tepe-class air defense destroyer.

The concurrency is notable: capital ships, high-end escorts, and undersea platforms are being advanced together rather than sequentially.

Submarines, Destroyers, Patrol Ships

Below the carrier tier, the Navy outlined steady progress across core combatants.

Tatlıoğlu said Türkiye has begun building its national submarine ATILAY, adding that the country is now among 10 states capable of designing and constructing submarines domestically.

The REİS-class submarines are intended to operate with high stealth and to employ indigenous weapons, including ATMACA and GEZGİN guided munitions, the AKYA torpedo, and the MALAMAN naval mine.

Surface construction extends to lower-displacement hulls.

The HİSAR-class offshore patrol vessels are planned at 10 ships.

The first has been delivered; construction continues on 4 units, and work has begun on 4 more as of Dec. 20, 2025.

Taken together with TF-2000 and carrier work, the mix illustrates a layered fleet architecture rather than a single flagship focus.

Exports and Throughput Pressures

Shipbuilding scale is reinforced by export demand and financial metrics.

Erdoğan said Türkiye ranks 11th globally in defense exports, with revenues exceeding $8.6 billion as of the morning of Dec. 20, 2025, and a stated 2028 target of $11 billion.