The MUGEM has now moved from the drawing board to the shipyard. Ankara is planning a 285-metre aircraft carrier capable of carrying up to 52 manned and unmanned aircraft, while in Athens the strengthening of the Hellenic Navy is taking on even greater significance.

Turkey is no longer limiting itself to acquiring new frigates, submarines, drones and missile systems. It is now building the largest warship ever designed in the country, and one of the most ambitious defence procurement programmes in its history.

MUGEM, short for Milli Uçak Gemisi, meaning “National Aircraft Carrier”, has now entered a genuine construction phase.

In June 2026, the first completed section of the hull was unveiled, confirming that the programme has moved beyond the model and early design stage. The latest official Turkish timeline places the ship’s entry into service in 2032.

This is perhaps the most significant point: MUGEM is no longer simply a statement of intent from Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan. It is a programme actually under construction.

Admittedly, the timetable has already slipped. Earlier Turkish statements spoke of delivery before 2030, but the most recent official date has been pushed back to 2032, underlining just how complex building a genuine aircraft carrier really is.

A giant ship with 52 aircraft

According to the latest technical specifications released by the Turkish Navy, MUGEM will be around 285 metres long, with a maximum beam of 72 metres and a displacement of roughly 60,000 tonnes.

Its top speed is expected to exceed 26 knots, while at a cruising speed of 14 knots its range is estimated at around 10,000 nautical miles.

It will be able to accommodate up to 2,500 people, a figure that includes not only the ship’s crew but also personnel for its air wing and other operational units.

The real interest, however, lies on the flight deck. The Turkish Navy’s latest presentation envisages the capacity to operate up to 52 aircraft.

The current design includes the naval version of the manned HÜRJET jet trainer, the unmanned Kızılelma combat drone, the stealth ANKA-3 unmanned combat air vehicle and the Bayraktar TB3 drone.

HÜRJET itself is already undergoing development of a dedicated naval variant, with a reinforced undercarriage, an arrestor hook and the modifications needed for operations at sea. This marks an important departure from earlier assessments of the programme.

Turkey does not appear to be simply copying American or French aircraft carriers. It is essentially designing a hybrid, drone-era carrier, in which manned aircraft will operate alongside large numbers of unmanned systems.

The ship will use a STOBAR configuration, meaning aircraft will take off via a ski-jump ramp and land with the help of an arrestor system.

This means MUGEM will be considerably more complex and operationally powerful than the existing TCG Anadolu, which was originally designed as an amphibious assault ship before evolving into a drone operations platform.

MUGEM’s design also envisages cooperation with unmanned surface vessels and underwater systems, indicating the direction in which Turkey’s military leadership sees naval warfare heading over the coming decades.

Crucially, though, the ship’s air wing does not yet exist in its final form.

The naval HÜRJET is still under development, many of the unmanned systems remain in testing, and a possible naval version of the KAAN fighter jet remains a much longer-term prospect, one that is not included in the officially presented line-up of 52 aircraft.

MUGEM should not, therefore, be treated as a fully mature operational threat that is imminent. On the other hand, it would be equally wrong to dismiss it as mere show.

Turkey has already built one of the largest defence industrial bases in the region and is now trying to convert that manufacturing capacity into the ability to project power far beyond its own coastline.

What this really means for Greece

For Greece, MUGEM will not change the balance in the Aegean overnight. Nor does an aircraft carrier operate on its own.

To have real operational value, it requires escort frigates and destroyers, submarine protection, supply ships, air cover, early warning systems, trained personnel and, above all, years of operational experience.

What is more, the Aegean itself is a particularly confined geographical space, where aircraft can operate from land bases over very short distances. The real advantage of a ship like MUGEM emerges mainly in the Eastern Mediterranean and beyond, where it can project air power hundreds, or even thousands, of kilometres from mainland Turkey.

That is precisely where its strategic significance lies.

In future, Ankara wants to be able to deploy a fully integrated naval force off the coast of Libya, in the central and eastern Mediterranean, in the Red Sea or even in the Indian Ocean, without relying solely on airfields belonging to third countries.

Athens, meanwhile, is watching this shift while already embarking on its own major renewal.

The first of the new French-built FDI HN frigates, the Kimon, has already joined the Hellenic Navy since January 2026, and will be followed by the Nearchos, Formion and Themistoklis. At the same time, the modernisation of Greece’s four MEKO-class frigates has been approved.

And there is another highly significant development. In Rome, Greece and Italy signed the implementing agreement for the acquisition of two Bergamini-class FREMM frigates, with the first due to be delivered in the first half of 2028 and the second in the first half of 2029. There is also the possibility that further vessels could be acquired in future.

Over the same period, the picture in the air will also begin to change radically. Greece has signed a contract for 20 F-35A jets, with an option for a further 20, with the first deliveries scheduled to begin in 2028.

The answer to Turkey’s naval build-up, then, is not for Greece to acquire an aircraft carrier of its own. Modern deterrence works differently.

FDI and FREMM frigates, modernised MEKO ships, submarines, F-35 and Rafale jets, manned and unmanned systems, air and missile defence, long-range weapons and a single integrated sensor network can together create an extremely difficult operational environment for any major naval power seeking to act in the region.

MUGEM, then, is not simply another new Turkish warship. It is perhaps the clearest sign yet that Ankara is not designing its navy with the Aegean alone in mind. It is designing it to operate much further afield.

For Greece, this means the naval rivalry of the next decade will not be decided only by how many ships each side has, but by who can detect first, strike from greater range and more effectively link ships, submarines, aircraft, drones and missile systems into a single battle network.

MUGEM still has several years to go before it enters the water as a fully operational aircraft carrier. But Turkey’s direction of travel is now clear. And 2032 is not as far away as it sounds.

Source: NewsAuto