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NATO Deploys Turkish Drone Carrier TCG Anadolu to Latvia for Eastern Sentry Air Surveillance and Defense.
NATO Allied Joint Force Command Brunssum confirmed on 20 February 2026 that the Turkish drone carrier TCG Anadolu is deploying toward Latvia’s coast under Operation Eastern Sentry. The move places the ship under NATO Air Command to reinforce air surveillance and air defense amid continued airspace violations attributed to Russia.
On 20 February 2026, NATO Allied Joint Force Command Brunssum announced that the Turkish drone carrier TCG Anadolu is being deployed toward the coast of Latvia as part of the Eastern Sentry operation. In its communication, JFC Brunssum underlined that the ship will operate under NATO Air Command, strengthening air surveillance and air defense along the Alliance’s eastern frontier in the context of repeated airspace violations attributed to Russia. The announcement focused on the drone carrier itself and did not mention the wider Anadolu Task Group, even though previous Army Recognition reporting has shown that Anadolu is at the head of a multi-ship Turkish formation committed to NATO exercises from the Mediterranean to the Baltic. This deployment makes TCG Anadolu a central maritime node in the Alliance’s response to persistent air and drone incursions on its most exposed flank.
NATO has deployed Turkey’s drone carrier TCG Anadolu to waters off Latvia under Operation Eastern Sentry to strengthen allied air surveillance and air defense along the Baltic flank amid ongoing Russian airspace pressure (Picture Source: Anadolu Agency / Britannica)
From a naval standpoint, sending the world’s first dedicated UAV-focused amphibious assault ship to the Baltic places a highly capable, self-contained air-surveillance platform directly off the coast of Latvia. TCG Anadolu, based on the Spanish Juan Carlos I design but adapted by Türkiye as a drone carrier, displaces over 27,000 tons and combines a full-length flight deck, large command spaces and a well deck for amphibious operations. Army Recognition has previously detailed how the broader Anadolu Task Group, including the frigates TCG Istanbul and TCG Oruçreis and the fleet replenishment ship TCG Derya, has been assigned a year-long NATO mission spanning European waters, assuming key roles in Allied amphibious and rapid-reaction planning. Even if JFC Brunssum’s latest announcement mentions only Anadolu, the ship is in practice the flagship of a task group able to operate as a mobile command and control hub from the Mediterranean to the Baltic Sea.
Within this formation, TCG Istanbul (F-515) serves as a modern I-class frigate providing extended-range air-defense and sensor coverage for the task group. Displacing around 3,100 tons, Istanbul is equipped with a 3D air-search radar, a low-probability-of-intercept surface radar, fire-control radars and a hull-mounted sonar, all managed by the GENESIS-ADVENT combat management system. A 16-cell vertical launching system configured for national surface-to-air missiles, combined with a 76 mm main gun, a Gökdeniz close-in weapon system, remote-controlled gun stations and electronic-warfare suites, enables the ship to engage multiple aerial threats while sharing its tactical picture over secure data links. Its embarked Seahawk helicopter and unmanned aerial vehicles expand detection and tracking beyond the radar horizon, allowing TCG Istanbul to operate as a forward air-defense and surveillance picket in support of Anadolu’s drone operations.
TCG Oruçreis (F-245), a Barbaros-class frigate recently modernized with an updated combat management system, further strengthens this layered posture. Its long-range air- and surface-search radars, fire-control directors and medium-range surface-to-air missiles launched from a Mk 41 vertical system provide area coverage against aircraft and incoming missiles, while close-in weapon systems and decoy launchers add last-ditch protection for the group. The fast combat support ship TCG Derya (A-1590) contributes more than logistics: fitted with a modern 3D surveillance radar, self-defense close-in weapon systems and its own combat management suite, it can feed additional tracks into the shared tactical picture and host multiple helicopters for replenishment, liaison and secondary ISR tasks. Together, these escorts turn the Anadolu Task Group into a distributed surveillance and air-defense network able to remain on station for extended periods in the Baltic Sea.
TCG Anadolu’s capacity to contribute autonomously to air surveillance and air defense starts with its sensors and combat system. The ship is fitted with a SMART-S Mk.2 S-band 3D radar providing medium to long-range air and surface surveillance, a precision approach radar for aircraft recovery, and an infrared search and track suite that enables passive detection of low-signature aerial contacts. These sensors are fused through the GENESIS-ADVENT combat management system, which integrates Identification Friend or Foe, multiple tactical data links, satellite communications and a dedicated data distribution system into a single tactical picture. In practical terms, Anadolu can maintain an independent recognized air and surface picture around the task group, contribute that picture in real time to NATO’s Integrated Air and Missile Defence network under AIRCOM, and receive cueing from allied ground-based radars, AWACS and fighter patrols.
The ship’s defensive fit allows it to protect itself and nearby units against a spectrum of aerial threats. It is equipped with a Rolling Airframe Missile launcher for point air defense, close-in weapon systems and remote-controlled gun stations providing hard-kill coverage against incoming missiles, aircraft and small surface targets. These kinetic systems are backed by a torpedo defense system, electronic-support and laser-warning receivers and chaff/infrared decoy launchers, creating layered soft- and hard-kill options against anti-ship missiles and low-flying aircraft in the immediate vicinity of the vessel. While Anadolu is not an area air-defense destroyer, this self-defense suite, linked to its 3D radar and combat system, allows the ship to survive and continue operating as a sensor, command and launch platform inside a contested Baltic environment, particularly when complemented by the air-defense frigates that escort the Anadolu Task Group.
The decisive contribution of TCG Anadolu to NATO’s air surveillance mission off Latvia, however, lies in its unmanned air wing. The ship has been reconfigured to operate Turkish-made UAVs such as the Bayraktar TB3, alongside helicopters, with capacity for several dozen UCAVs on and below the flight deck. The TB3, a carrier-capable medium-altitude long-endurance UCAV, offers more than 24 hours of endurance, a substantial payload and folding wings optimized for short-deck operations. Equipped with a modern electro-optical/infrared turret, the platform can conduct day-night intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance, target designation and precision strike. Recent Baltic exercises have already demonstrated that a TB3 launched from TCG Anadolu can complete a full mission profile, striking a surface target with guided munitions and recovering to the ship under NATO control procedures. This proved not only the UCAV’s strike potential but also its ability to act as a persistent airborne sensor directly plugged into allied command-and-control.
Under NATO AIRCOM authority, the combination of Anadolu’s organic sensors and its embarked TB3s effectively extends the Alliance’s radar and electro-optical horizon over the Baltic Sea. Deployed near the Latvian coast, the ship can maintain TB3 orbits along likely approach corridors used by Russian aircraft or drones transiting between Kaliningrad and mainland Russia, while the SMART-S Mk.2 radar and infrared search and track system build a continuous track file of manned and unmanned contacts. These tracks, shared via tactical data links, can be correlated with feeds from shore-based radars, Baltic Air Policing fighters and NATO AWACS aircraft to refine identification and engagement decisions. In the event of suspicious flights approaching or violating Allied airspace, Anadolu can support the full cycle: early detection at long range, classification using its own ISR drones, and, if necessary, contribution to the engagement sequence by cueing fighters or ground-based air defense systems deployed under Eastern Sentry.
Positioning a Turkish drone carrier off Latvia closes a gap in NATO’s deterrent posture that Eastern Sentry was designed to address after Russian drone incursions into Polish and Baltic airspace. Persistent low-altitude intrusions and hybrid tactics, including unmanned platforms approaching civilian airports and critical infrastructure, have highlighted the limits of relying solely on land-based radars and fighter jets for response. By moving a maritime UAV carrier into the Baltic, the Alliance adds a flexible platform able to shift its patrol patterns rapidly, operate outside the constraints of national airspace and maintain continuous ISR above maritime and coastal areas that are otherwise difficult to cover. The fact that this platform is contributed by a non-Baltic Allied navy underlines that the defense of the eastern flank is a collective responsibility, not a regional one, and sends a direct political signal to Moscow that maritime and airspace probes will be met by an integrated, multinational response.
The Anadolu Task Group’s recent activities further reinforce this message. Army Recognition has documented how the group has already supported a major Baltic amphibious landing during Steadfast Dart 26, with Turkish Marines deploying ZAHA amphibious assault vehicles under a dense allied air and naval umbrella, and how TCG Anadolu served as the launch platform for the first operational TB3 precision strike from a ship during the same exercise. In that context, the latest decision to place Anadolu under NATO AIRCOM control for an air-surveillance and air-defense mission off Latvia represents a logical evolution: the ship and her drones are transitioning from demonstration of concept to routine integration into NATO’s Eastern Sentry architecture. The task group’s escorts contribute additional sensors, anti-air and anti-submarine capabilities, but it is Anadolu’s ability to host and coordinate a sizeable unmanned air wing that makes it uniquely valuable as a forward, maritime extension of NATO’s integrated air picture in the Baltic region.
The deployment of TCG Anadolu to the Latvian coast under Eastern Sentry marks a qualitative shift in how NATO defends its eastern skies. A Turkish-built drone carrier, equipped with modern 3D radar, advanced combat management systems and a growing complement of carrier-capable UCAVs, is being used as a floating air-surveillance and air-defense node directly integrated into Allied command structures. In an environment shaped by repeated airspace violations and hybrid pressure from Russia, this move shows that the Alliance is not only reinforcing its posture numerically, but also adapting technologically and doctrinally by bringing unmanned naval aviation into the core of its deterrence and defense on the Baltic front line.
Written by Teoman S. Nicanci – Defense Analyst, Army Recognition Group
Teoman S. Nicanci holds degrees in Political Science, Comparative and International Politics, and International Relations and Diplomacy from leading Belgian universities, with research focused on Russian strategic behavior, defense technology, and modern warfare. He is a defense analyst at Army Recognition, specializing in the global defense industry, military armament, and emerging defense technologies.