The French Navy is actively planning for a future

aircraft carrier 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 ...

and new

flagship A flagship is a vessel used by the commanding officer of a group of naval ships, characteristically a flag officer entitled by custom to fly a distinguishing flag. Used more loosely, it is the lead ship in a fleet of vessels, typically the fi ...

. It is known in French as ''Porte-avions de nouvelle génération'' (PA-NG) for 'new generation aircraft carrier'. Construction of the PANG is expected to begin around 2025 and it will enter service in 2038; the year the aircraft carrier is due to be retired. The ship will be

nuclear-powered Nuclear power is the use of nuclear reactions to produce electricity. Nuclear power can be obtained from nuclear fission, nuclear decay and nuclear fusion reactions. Presently, the vast majority of electricity from nuclear power is produced b ...

and feature the

Electromagnetic Aircraft Launch System The Electromagnetic Aircraft Launch System (EMALS) is a type of aircraft launching system developed by General Atomics for the United States Navy. The system launches carrier-based aircraft by means of a catapult employing a linear induction ...

(EMALS) catapult system.

History

Context

The current French aircraft carrier, the nuclear-powered ''Charles de Gaulle'' entered service on 18 May 2001. As the only aircraft carrier of the French Navy, the ship's maintenance periods leave France without an available aircraft carrier. As a result the PA2 project (French: Porte-Avions 2, "Aircraft Carrier 2") started in 2003 to study the feasibility of another carrier based on the design of the British ''Queen Elizabeth''-class. The PA2 project was suspended in 2009 and ultimately cancelled in 2013. In October 2018, French Minister of the Armed Forces

Florence Parly Florence Parly (born 8 May 1963) is a French politician who served as Minister of the Armed Forces under President Emmanuel Macron from 2017 to 2022. A former member of the Socialist Party (PS), she previously served as Secretary of State for t ...

announced the start of a second carrier programme, this time as replacement for ''Charles de Gaulle''. The military planning legislation for 2019-2025 (''Loi de programmation militaire 2019-2025'') defined a 18-month, €40M study phase, to allow the President to decide on the main characteristics of the programme by 2020. In May 2020, during a visit to

Chantiers de l'Atlantique Chantiers de l'Atlantique is a shipyard in Saint-Nazaire, France. It is one of the world's largest shipyards, constructing a wide range of commercial, naval, and passenger ships. It is located near Nantes, at the mouth of the Loire river and ...

, Parly stated that the new carrier would be built in

Saint-Nazaire Saint-Nazaire (; ; Gallo: ''Saint-Nazère/Saint-Nazaer'') is a commune in the Loire-Atlantique department in western France, in traditional Brittany. The town has a major harbour on the right bank of the Loire estuary, near the Atlantic Ocean ...

— as expected, since it is the only dry dock in France capable of harbouring ships of that size. Architecture, propulsion options and number of ships were originally to be decided by President Macron in July 2020, to allow him to make the announcement at

Bastille Day Bastille Day is the common name given in English-speaking countries to the national day of France, which is celebrated on 14 July each year. In French, it is formally called the (; "French National Celebration"); legally it is known as (; "t ...

. However, on 6 July 2020, a governmental

reshuffle A cabinet reshuffle or shuffle occurs when a head of government rotates or changes the composition of ministers in their cabinet, or when the Head of State changes the head of government and a number of ministers. They are more common in parli ...

put the

Castex government The Castex government ( French: ''Gouvernement Castex'') was the forty-second government of the French Fifth Republic, formed on 3 July 2020 and headed by Jean Castex as Prime Minister under the presidency of Emmanuel Macron. It was dissolved on ...

in charge, forcing to delay the Defence Council to later in the year. During a visit to the

Framatome Framatome () is a French nuclear reactor business. It is owned by Électricité de France (EDF) (75.5%), Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (19.5%), and Assystem (5%). The company first formed in 1958 to license Westinghouse's pressurized water react ...

site at

Le Creusot Le Creusot () is a Communes of France, commune and industrial town in the Saône-et-Loire Departments of France, department, Regions of France, region of Bourgogne-Franche-Comté, eastern France. The inhabitants are known as Creusotins. Formerl ...

on 8 December 2020, President Macron officially announced the start of the PANG programme, and selection of

nuclear propulsion Nuclear propulsion includes a wide variety of propulsion methods that use some form of nuclear reaction as their primary power source. The idea of using nuclear material for propulsion dates back to the beginning of the 20th century. In 1903 it was ...

for the new ship.

Construction

In May 2020, Defence minister Florence Parly stated that the PANG would be built in Saint-Nazaire at

References

{{Reflist Aircraft carriers of the French Navy Proposed aircraft carriers Nuclear-powered ships

History

Context

Construction

See also

References