The Charles de Gaulle is the only nuclear-powered carrier built and operated by a nation other than the United States.

Earlier this week, the French carrier strike group, consisting of its sole carrier, the Charles de Gaulle, and associated escort ships, returned home to France after a successful five-month deployment known as Clemenceau 25. Over the course of the underway, the Charles de Gaulle transited through the Mediterranean to the Pacific, taking part in multiple training and joint operations. Throughout, the ship and crew demonstrated the capability of the carrier and its embarked air wing—consisting of Dassault Rafale jet fighters, E-2C Hawkeyes, and several helicopters.

The Charles de Gaulle Aircraft Carrier

Apart from being the flagship of the French Navy, the Charles de Gaulle has several unique features. Perhaps most significantly, she is currently the only nuclear-powered carrier built and operated by a nation other than the United States, although with the Chinese Navy currently constructing its Type 004, the Charles de Gaulle may not hold that distinction long.

As the U.S. Navy realized decades ago, nuclear-powered aircraft carriers have several distinct advantages. They can steam for extended periods and to extended ranges, limited only by resupply for their crews. Additionally, the abundance of power produced by the reactors can be used to generate steam for catapult launch operations which allow the carrier to launch and recover larger and heavier aircraft.

The incorporation of steam catapults and arresting gear meant the Charles de Gaulle was the only Catapult Assisted Takeoff But Arrested Landing (CATOBAR) vessel outside the United States. This has allowed the U.S. and French Navies to carry out joint exercises and U.S. F/A-18E/F Super Hornets as well as E-2D Hawkeyes have even landed aboard the Charles de Gaulle, most recently on this Clemenceau 25 deployment. However, more recently, the Charles de Gaulle has been joined in this category by the Chinese Type 003 carrier.

French Naval Air Assets

No carrier would be complete without its airwing, and the Charles de Gaulle is no exception. The Dassault Rafale fills the role of strike fighter. Originally designed in the late 1980s and early 1990s, the M variant is a single-seat, twin-engine, multirole naval fighter. Designed and built with almost entirely homegrown French systems and technology, it is the premier fighter of the French military.

The Rafale comes with a fully glass cockpit and a multitude of modern sensors including the REB2 AA AESA radar and Damocles laser target designator pod. In its strike-fighter role, it is capable of carrying SCALP EG cruise missiles, Exocet maritime strike missiles, and Meteor air-to-air missiles.

In order to manage the battlespace, the Charles de Gaulle hosts two E-2C Hawkeye airborne early warning aircraft. Developed by Northrop Grumman and in service with the U.S. Navy, the Hawkeye uses a powerful radar to sanitize the area and direct fighters onto the target. Finally, Dauphin, Caracal, and Cougar helicopters make up the rotary component of the air wing and participate in combat search and rescue missions.

About the Author: Maya Carlin

Maya Carlin, National Security Writer with The National Interest, is an analyst with the Center for Security Policy and a former Anna Sobol Levy Fellow at IDC Herzliya in Israel. She has by-lines in many publications, including The National Interest, Jerusalem Post, and Times of Israel. You can follow her on Twitter: @MayaCarlin. Carlin has over 1,000 articles published over the last several years on various defense issues.

Image: David Monniaux, CC BY-SA 3.0, Wikimedia Commons.

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