In January this year, there was news that Iran was building an aircraft carrier on the basis of a 40,000-ton container cargo ship, and at that time there were still people who did not believe it, believing that the so-called "floating structure" was just the deck of the cargo ship, which happened to have just been hoisted to that position, and due to visual misalignment, it looked like the angled deck of the aircraft carrier.
Remember this picture? There is a sequel
Now through the latest exposed pictures, it can be determined that Iran is really building aircraft carriers! And in addition to the outer floating structure and angled deck, it is also ski-jump takeoff, and the bow adopts an open structure similar to the aircraft carrier of World War II.
The bow ski-jump deck and open structure are clearly visible
This time the aircraft carrier is really built
In fact, this is not the first time Iran has built an "aircraft carrier", as early as 2020, Iran built an "aircraft carrier" similar to the "Nimitz" class, and then towed it to the sea to sink. It turned out that it was just a target ship simulating an American aircraft carrier and a large floating model at sea, and the question arises, who can guarantee that what Iran built today will not be another target ship?
Remember this model of the Iranian Nimitz aircraft carrier?
was sunk as a target ship, this time it won't be a target ship again, right?
Very simple, the key is on its ski-jump deck, and it is a full-deck ski-jump platform, only the mainland, Russia and India are currently equipped with this full-deck ski-jump platform-type aircraft carrier, does it mean that Iran wants to target these three countries and practice the tactics of hitting aircraft carriers? Obviously, it is impossible, and it is not necessary to be so fine that even the ski-jump deck is built, so there is only one answer, that is, this aircraft carrier is real, not a target or model.
The ski-jump deck and the outer drifting structure can also be seen here
In fact, media reports have already revealed the answer, although Iran's domestic aircraft carrier has not yet been completed, but the name is already there, called "Shahid Bagheri", the prototype is the 40,000-ton freighter "Perelin", the sponson number 110-3, is currently being modified near Cruise Abbas.
Footage from January
The current retrofit progress
It was changed on this ship
Previously, in 2021, Iran also modified an aircraft carrier on an oil tanker called "Mokran", with an even larger displacement, reaching an unprecedented 121,000 tons, known as the "world's largest aircraft carrier". But in fact, it is more similar to the US military's "expeditionary base" ship, which can only carry 7 helicopters and some small UAVs. And this time, the "Shahid Bagheri" is a real aircraft carrier, at least in the shape of a real aircraft carrier, many people can't help but imagine, can they see the day when the F-14 takes off from the aircraft carrier again?
The 121,000-ton "Moklan" is actually a base ship
The deck arrangement has nothing to do with the aircraft carrier
And this smaller one, which is also a base ship
The only problem is that the "Shahid Bagheri" still retains the stern building of the freighter, if not demolished, let alone F14, that is, the Lightning 80 these light fighters, don't think about it, so now speculate that the Iranian aircraft carrier may have two next actions: the first is of course to dismantle the stern building and move it to the side, many escort aircraft carriers during World War II were changed in this way, but the chimney diversion may be more troublesome, and in any case, the F-14 will definitely not go up, everyone is just a fantasy.
F14 just don't think about it anymore
Secondly, that is, the stern building of the cargo ship is retained, and the takeoff and landing of carrier-based aircraft go to the angled deck, but in this case, it can only carry UAVs, to put it bluntly, a long crooked Turkish UAV carrier. Of course, due to the inconsistency of the direction of landing and the direction of hull navigation, there are more difficulties in landing Iranian aircraft carrier UAVs, but the advantage is that there is no need for blocking cables, maybe like Turkey, a pulley blocking cable can be installed in the bow to allow the drone to take off.
Iranian aircraft carriers are similar to Turkey's
You can imagine that in the future, Iran's aircraft carrier will take off a copycat version of the RQ-170, as well as the F313 modified drone, how similar it is to Turkey's Anka-3 and "Red Apple", plus a large number of helicopters, it can be regarded as a war I power. Although it is not comparable to a real aircraft carrier, it is still much stronger than amphibious assault ships such as the French "Mistral", and it is a good choice for Iran.
The Iranian copycat version of the RQ170 is expected to be on an aircraft carrier
F313 is quite suitable to change the drone to the ship, what do you think?