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 line with the last two military programming laws, and after a thorough and comprehensive review, I have decided to equip France with a new aircraft carrier,” Macron said, speaking during a visit to French troops in the United Arab Emirates.
The decision to give the final go-ahead was made this week, he added per the AFP report.
“In an age of predators, we must be strong in order to be feared,” Macron said.
France first launched studies into replacing the Charles de Gaulle in 2018, with preliminary work beginning two years later.
AFP notes the new carrier will be far larger than the current flagship and be a leading asset for NATO.
It will displace nearly 80,000 tons and be around 310 metres long, compared with 42,000 tons and 261 metres for the Charles de Gaulle.
With a crew of 2,000, it will be able to hold 30 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.
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