Turkey on the deck of
TCG Anadolu In February 2021, President of the Turkish
Presidency of Defense Industries (SSB) Ismail Demir made public a new type of UAV being developed by Baykar that is planned to be stationed on Turkey's made world's first drone carrier, TCG
Anadolu. The new aircraft
Baykar Bayraktar TB3 developed for the drone carrier equipped with a local engine developed by
TEI. According to the initial plans, the ship was expected to be equipped with
F-35B fighter jets, but following the removal of Turkey from the procurement program, the vessel entered into a modification process to be able to accommodate UAVs. Mr. Demir stated that between 30 and 50 folding-winged Bayraktar TB3 UAVs will be able to land and take off using the deck of
Anadolu. On 19 November 2024, Baykar Bayraktar TB3 UAV successfully landed and took-off from TCG
Anadolu. It was the first time a fixed-wing unmanned aircraft of this size and class had successfully landed on a short-runway of a carrier ship. On 18 February 2026, the Bayraktar TB3 successfully performed a flight demonstration from the TCG Anadolu in the Baltic region during NATO's Steadfast Dart 2026 exercise. The drone operated effectively in strong winds, freezing temperatures and heavy snowfall. The drone also successfully hit surface targets at sea with two
MAM-L precision-guided munitions. After this, the Bayraktar TB3 also completed an eight-hour joint sortie with multiple
Eurofighter Typhoon fighters of the
German Air Force in
Baltic Sea during the exercise. During this exercise with the Eurofighter Typhoons, the Bayraktar TB-3 was covered 1,700 kilometers on its mission. The drone also captured aerial video of the Eurofighter Typhoon using its ASELFLIR 500
electro-optical reconnaissance, surveillance and targeting system made by the Turkish company
Aselsan. This mission marked a significant integration of unmanned aerial vehicles with advanced fighter jets in a multinational drill with performing
manned-unmanned teaming. The operation demonstrated the drone carrier TCG Anadolu's capability to operate effectively within high-intensity long-range alliance maneuvers.
China On May 18, 2022, the first Chinese unmanned drone carrier named
Zhu Hai Yun ("
Zhuhai Cloud"), an
oceanography research vessel, was launched in
Guangzhou,
Guangdong Province in
China, intended to advance marine research and economics. In May 2024, a possible drone carrier, with a catamaran layout and low flight deck, was spotted in the Jiangsu Dayang Marine Shipyards. Confirming the speculative role of the UAV carrier, Captain Chi Jianjun, a Chinese Navy official, announced that the recently launched
Type 076-class Sichuan warship will operate UAVs, as will many other vessels in the PLAN.
Iran of the
Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Navy, which was previously the
container ship Perarin Iran also built a drone carrier (named
Shahid Bagheri) with an estimated 160 to 180m long flight deck by converting a container ship. It is reported that several kinds of drones (60 drones) and helicopters can take off from and land on the said carrier. She also carry several anti-ship and anti-air missiles for protection and 30 (50 speedboats)
Ashura-class missile speedboats with herself.
Portugal Portuguese navy plans, for the second half of 2026, to deliver the NRP
D. João II, a platform ship capable of operating aerial, surface and underwater drones, as well as medium (
Sikorsky UH-60 Black Hawk) and heavy (
EH101 Merlin) helicopters of the
Portuguese air force.
South Korea On 12 November 2024, the
South Korean Navy conducted a
Gray Eagle STOL UAV take-off test aboard the amphibious assault ship
ROKS Dokdo to test the ship's ability to carry fixed-wing UAVs. The Gray Eagle UAV took off from
Dokdo, flew twice close to her port side to perform a "simulated landing procedure", but did not land on the ship. The Korean company Hanwha Ocean has presented several concepts for the production of UAV carrier or carriers of other unmanned vehicles in its proposed project called Ghost Commander. On 9 June 2021, at the Korean maritime exhibition MADEX, two companies, Daewoo Shipbuilding and Marine Engineering (DSME) and Hyundai Heavy Industries (HHI), exhibited a mock-up of a light aircraft carrier as a new design for
CVX-class aircraft carrier. However, on 11 May 2025, the South Korean Navy announced revisions to its light aircraft carrier plan and announced that it would carry UAVs instead of F-35B fighters. At the exhibition "Seoul ADEX 2025", which was held from October 17 to 24, 2025, Hanwha Ocean unveiled the mockup Ghost Commander II, which attracted attention as the South Korean Navy used the CVX concept as a UAV mothership. The company also exhibited a mock-up of the same type of ship at MADEX 2025, and as at that time, the displacement was set at 42,000 tons, which is comparable to the displacement of various CVX proposals.
United Kingdom In 2000s, in the UK the
UXV Combatant, which would have been a ship dedicated to
UCAVs, was proposed for the
Royal Navy. The Royal Navy intends to operate fixed-wing drones from its two s to boost their combat mass. In trials, it successfully launched and recovered a
Qinetiq Banshee Jet 80+ target drone, a
W Autonomous Systems made UAV and a General Atomics Mojave prototype. Under Project Ark Royal, it is considering the installation of
catapults and arrestor systems to launch and recover larger drones which are being procured under
Project Vixen. Royal Navy briefings have used a carrier-based variant of the
MQ-28 Ghost Bat as a representative of Vixen, and General Atomics has proposed its
Gambit 5. It is reported that HMS Prince of Wales’ flight deck would require an overhaul to deploy bigger combat drones. ==See also==