Spanish amphibious assault ship Juan Carlos I

Following a lengthy design contest that pitted the design against the similar but smaller French Mistral-class amphibious assault ship, the Prime Minister of Australia announced on 20 June 2007, that Australia would purchase and build two ships of the same design to become the Canberra-class landing helicopter docks. Navantia was responsible for construction of the ships from the keel to the flight deck in Spain, after which the hulls were transported to Australia for completion by BAE Systems Australia. The first of these ships HMAS Canberra was commissioned on 28 November 2014, the second ship HMAS Adelaide was commissioned on 4 December 2015. Both commissioning ceremonies took place at the Garden Island naval base in Sydney.

In September 2009, Russia invited Navantia to take part in the competition to supply Russian Navy with the new generation of amphibious assault ships to compete against the French Mistral-class ships. In January 2011 Russia chose the Mistral design over the Spanish concept.

The amphibious assault ship (LHD/light aircraft carrier) TCG Anadolu of the Turkish Navy at Sedef Shipyard in Istanbul. The construction of an identical sister ship, to be named TCG Trakya, is currently planned.[13][14]

Navantia will provide design, technology transfer, equipment and technical assistance to Sedef Shipyard of Turkey for the design and development of TCG Anadolu, a modified Turkish derivative of the Juan Carlos-class LHD. The derivative is classified as a "Light Aircraft Carrier/LHD" by Turkish Lloyd.[15][16] The Turkish Navy variant will be built in Turkey by Sedef and feature Turkish command and control systems.[17][18][19] The combat system will be integrated by ASELSAN and HAVELSAN.[20] In December 2013, the Turkish LPD/LHD program was estimated to cost €375 million (US$500 million).[21] According to the original plan, the Turkish Navy wanted a slightly shorter flight deck without the ski-jump ramp in front, to be optimized for use with only helicopters.[22]

However, the Turkish Navy later changed its plan and opted for a fully equipped flight deck with the ski-jump ramp in front, after deciding to purchase F-35B STOVL aircraft.[22][23][24][25][26] Turkey was a Level 3 partner in the Joint Strike Fighter program and the Turkish Air Force was due to get the F-35A CTOL version. On 17 July 2019, the US removed Turkey from the F-35 program for purchasing the Russian S-400 missile system.[27] The Turkish version of the LHD will be capable of operating up to 14 helicopters in "light aircraft carrier" configuration.[22][28] The dimensions of the final design are: 232 m (761 ft 2 in) (length), 32 m (105 ft 0 in) (beam), 6.9 m (22 ft 8 in) (draught), and 58 m (190 ft 3 in) (height).[22] Its displacement will be 24,660 tons (in "light aircraft carrier" mission configuration) or 27,079 tons (in "LHD" mission configuration).[22] Its maximum speed will be 21.5 knots (39.8 km/h; 24.7 mph) (in "light aircraft carrier" configuration) or 29 knots (54 km/h; 33 mph) (in "LHD" configuration);[22] while its maximum range will be 9,000 nautical miles (17,000 km; 10,000 mi) at economical speed.[22] It will have a 5,440 m² (58,600 sq ft) flight deck and a 990 m² (10,700 sq ft) aviation hangar which can accommodate either 12 medium-sized helicopters or 8 CH-47F Chinook heavy-lift helicopters.[22] (When the aviation hangar and the light cargo garage are unified, the ship can carry up to 25 medium-sized helicopters.[22] Alternatively, the ship can carry up to 12 helicopters and possibly 12 F-35 fighters operated by NATO allies.[22] Six more helicopters can be hosted on the flight deck of the ship.[22]) Additionally, the ship will have a 1,880 m² (20,200 sq ft) light cargo garage for TEU containers and 27 Amphibious Assault Vehicles (AAV);[22] a 1,165 m² (12,540 sq ft) dock which can host four Landing Craft Mechanized (LCM) or two Landing Craft Air Cushion (LCAC), or two Landing Craft Vehicle Personnel (LCVP);[22] and a 1,410 m² (15,200 sq ft) garage for heavy loads, which can host 29 Main Battle Tanks (MBT), Amphibious Assault Vehicles and TEU containers.[22] The ship's crew will consist of 261 personnel: 30 officers, 49 NCOs, 59 leading seamen and 123 ratings.[22]

The final contract for the construction of the ship was signed with the Navantia-Sedef consortium on 7 May 2015.[22][23][29][30] The commissioning of the ship is scheduled for 2021,[22][23][29][30] and the estimated cost of the ship according to the final specifications is $1 billion in 2015.[22] The construction works began on 30 April 2016 at the shipyard of Sedef Shipbuilding Inc. in Istanbul.[24][25][31][26]

The construction of an identical sister ship, to be named TCG Trakya, is currently planned.[13][14]