French President Emmanuel Macron has ordered work to begin on a replacement for his country’s flagship, the nuclear-powered Charles de Gaulle aircraft carrier.
Sunday’s announcement comes at the end of a year where President Donald Trump constantly told Europe to take more responsibility for its own defence and protection and to rely less on U.S. assets.
AFP reports the current French aircraft carrier, the only such nuclear-powered carrier warship the U.S. Navy, entered service in 2001 following more than a decade of construction.
“In an age of predators, we must be strong in order to be feared, and especially strong at sea. This is why, in line with the last two military programming laws, and after a thorough and careful review, I have decided to equip France with a new aircraft carrier. The decision to launch the construction of this very large-scale program was taken this week,” Macron told French troops stationed in Abu Dhabi.
France first launched studies into replacing the Charles de Gaulle in 2018, with preliminary work beginning two years later.
The planned vessel is due to be ready in 2038, replacing the aging Charles de Gaulle aircraft carrier, which came into service in 2001.
French aircraft carrier Charles-de-Gaulle sails in the Mediterranean Sea after its departure for a multi-month mission that will take it to the Red Sea, then on to the Indian Ocean and the Pacific, on November 28, 2024. France has formally decided to proceed with the construction of a replacement next-generation nuclear-powered aircraft carrier. (CLEMENT MAHOUDEAU/AFP via Getty Images)
It will have a displacement of about 78,000 tons and a length of 310 meters (1,017 feet), compared to 42,000 tons and 261 meters (856 feet) for the Charles de Gaulle.
The new carrier will be able to engage in heavily armed, long-range deployments at short notice, repeatedly and for extended periods of time, the French defense ministry said on its website.
With a crew of 2,000, it will be able to hold 30 French Rafale M fighter jets.
While the future ship will still be dwarfed by the 11 vast supercarriers of the U.S. Navy, which each displace more than 100,000 tons, only China and Britain’s Royal Navy currently operate similarly sized carriers, all of which are conventionally powered.