An aircraft carrier is a warship that serves as a seagoing airbase, equipped with a full-length flight deck and facilities for carrying, arming, deploying, and recovering aircraft. Typically it is the capital ship of a fleet, as it allows a naval force to project air power worldwide without depending on local bases for staging aircraft operations. Carriers have evolved since their inception in the early twentieth century from wooden vessels used to deploy balloons to nuclear-powered warships that carry numerous fighters, strike aircraft, helicopters, and other types of aircraft. While heavier aircraft such as fixed-wing gunships and bombers have been launched from aircraft carriers, these aircraft have not landed on a carrier. By its diplomatic and tactical power, its mobility, its autonomy and the variety of its means, the aircraft carrier is often the centerpiece of modern combat fleets. Tactically or even strategically, it replaced the battleship in the role of flagship of a fleet. One of its great advantages is that, by sailing in international waters, it does not interfere with any territorial sovereignty and thus obviates the need for overflight authorizations from third-party countries, reduces the times and transit distances of aircraft and therefore significantly increases the time of availability on the combat zone.
A landing helicopter dock (LHD) is a multipurpose amphibious assault ship that is capable of operating as a helicopter carrier and also has a well deck for supporting landing crafts. LHD vessels are built with a full flight deck similar in appearance to a light aircraft carrier to operate VTOL rotorcrafts such as utility and attack helicopters, and can also support tiltrotor aircraft and VSTOL fixed-wing aircraft. Some future designs might even support CATOBAR operations for light aircraft and UCAVs via aircraft catapults and arresting gears.
The Mistral class is a class of five landing helicopter docks built by France. Also known as helicopter carriers, and referred to as "projection and command ships" and "porte-hélicoptères amphibie" (PHA) since 2019, a Mistral-class ship is capable of transporting and deploying 16 NH90 or Tiger helicopters, four landing craft, up to 70 vehicles including 13 Leclerc tanks, or a 40-strong Leclerc tank battalion, and 450 soldiers. The ships are equipped with a 69-bed hospital, and are capable of serving as part of a NATO Response Force, or with United Nations or European Union peace-keeping forces.
Juan Carlos I is a multi-purpose aircraft carrier-landing helicopter dock (LHD) in the Spanish Navy. Similar in role to many aircraft carriers, the amphibious landing ship has a ski jump for STOVL operations, and is equipped with the McDonnell Douglas AV-8B Harrier II attack aircraft. The vessel is named in honour of Juan Carlos I, the former king of Spain.
A helicopter carrier is a type of aircraft carrier whose primary purpose is to operate helicopters. It has a large flight deck that occupies a substantial part of the deck, which can extend the full length of the ship like HMS Ocean of the Royal Navy (RN), or extend only partway, usually aft, as in the Soviet Navy's Moskva class or in the Chinese Navy's Type 0891A. It often also has a hangar deck for the storage and maintenance of rotorwing aircraft.
The Ivan Rogov class, Soviet designation Project 1174 Nosorog (Rhino), is a class of landing ships built in the Soviet Union. The ships were built as a part of expansion of the Soviet Navy's amphibious warfare capabilities in the 1970s.
The Amphibious Assault Ship Project was a proposed procurement project by the Government of Canada for the Royal Canadian Navy (RCN). However, no such project was incorporated into the Government's defence plan Strong, Secure and Engaged released in 2017 and cost challenges with other naval procurement projects under the National Shipbuilding Procurement Strategy has led to no movement on the idea.
An amphibious assault ship is a type of warship employed to land and support ground forces on enemy territory during an armed conflict. The design evolved from aircraft carriers converted for use as helicopter carriers. Modern designs support amphibious landing craft, with most designs including a well deck. Like the aircraft carriers they were developed from, some amphibious assault ships also support V/STOL fixed-wing aircraft and have a secondary role as aircraft carriers.
The Ivan Gren class, Russian designation Project 11711, is a class of landing ship that is being built for the Russian Navy. The class was to be composed of two vessels, Ivan Gren and Pyotr Morgunov, but later it was announced that the Russian Navy intends to acquire several more vessels of a modified design.
Project 11780 Kherson was a 1980s-era Soviet LHD program derived from the Kiev-class aircraft carrier design comparable to the US Tarawa-class amphibious assault ship. The ship would have been about 25,000 tons displacement, with steam turbine power plants and carried about 12 helicopters and four Ondatra-class landing craft or two Tsaplya-class LCACs. It was cancelled with the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991.
ROKS Dokdo (LPH-6111) is the lead ship of the Dokdo-class amphibious assault ship of the Republic of Korea Navy, launched on 12 July 2005 at the shipyard of Hanjin Heavy Industries & Constructions Co. in Busan. ROKS Dokdo was the flagship of the Fifth Component Flotilla of the Korean Navy until the launch of ROKS Marado in 2018. Previously, this title was held by the 9,000-ton at-sea Underway Replenishment (UNREP) support vessel ROKS Cheonji.
ENS Gamal Abdel Nasser (L1010) is an Egyptian Navy amphibious assault ship, a type of helicopter carrier, of the French-designed Mistral class. She was originally built for the Russian Navy and underwent sea trials. Subsequently, the contract was cancelled by France and agreement on compensation reached with the Russian government. Egypt and France concluded the deal to acquire the two former Russian Mistral for roughly 950 million euros.
Following the dissolution of the Soviet Union at the end of 1991, the Russian Navy struggled to adjust Cold War force structures while suffering severely with insufficient maintenance and a lack of funding. However, there were improvements in the Russian economy over the first decade of the twenty-first century. The economy and standard of living grew rapidly during the early period of Putin's regime, fueled largely by a boom in the oil industry. This led to a significant rise in defence expenditure and an increase in the number of ships under construction.
The procurement of Landing Platform Docks (LPD) by the Indian Navy, formerly known as the "Multi-Role Support Vessel Program" (MRSV) - is an initiative of the Indian Navy (IN) to procure a series of landing platform docks, specific vessels dedicated to amphibious warfare, as part of the service's strategy to augment its capabilities of amphibious warfare, disaster-response, humanitarian assistance and auxiliary duties.
ENS Anwar El Sadat (L1020) is an Egyptian Navy amphibious assault ship, a type of helicopter carrier, of the French Mistral class. It was originally built in France for the Russian Navy as part of a contract for two of these warships and underwent sea trials. The contract with Russia was subsequently cancelled by France and an agreement on compensation was reached with the Russian government. Egypt and France eventually concluded a deal to acquire the two warships for roughly 950 million euros. Egypt is considered the first and only country in Africa and the Middle East to possess a helicopter carrier of such type.
ROKS Marado (LPH-6112) is the second ship of the Dokdo-class amphibious assault ship of the Republic of Korea Navy.
Russian Navy 
