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 naval force to project air power worldwide without depending on local bases for staging aircraft operations. Carriers have evolved since their inception in the early twentieth century from wooden vessels used to deploy balloons to nuclear-powered warships that carry numerous fighters, strike aircraft, helicopters, and other types of aircraft. While heavier aircraft such as fixed-wing gunships and bombers have been launched from aircraft carriers, it is currently not possible to land them. By its diplomatic and tactical power, its mobility, its autonomy and the variety of its means, the aircraft carrier is often the centerpiece of modern combat fleets. Tactically or even strategically, it replaced the battleship in the role of flagship of a fleet. One of its great advantages is that, by sailing in international waters, it does not interfere with any territorial sovereignty and thus obviates the need for overflight authorizations from third-party countries, reduces the times and transit distances of aircraft and therefore significantly increase the time of availability on the combat zone.
A carrier battle group (CVBG) is a naval fleet consisting of an aircraft carrier capital ship and its large number of escorts, together defining the group.
The French Navy, informally La Royale, is the maritime arm of the French Armed Forces and one of the five military service branches of France. It is among the largest and most powerful naval forces in the world, ranking seventh in combined fleet tonnage and fifth in number of naval vessels. The French Navy is one of eight currently operating fixed-wing aircraft carriers, with its flagship Charles de Gaulle being the only nuclear-powered aircraft carrier outside the United States Navy, and the only non-American vessel to use catapults to launch aircraft.
The Queen Elizabeth class is a class of two aircraft carriers of the United Kingdom's Royal Navy which are the central components of the UK Carrier Strike Group. The lead ship, HMS Queen Elizabeth, was named on 4 July 2014, in honour of Elizabeth I. She was commissioned on 7 December 2017. The second, HMS Prince of Wales, was launched on 21 December 2017, and was commissioned on 10 December 2019. In 2014 the UK Government announced that the second carrier would be brought into service, ending years of uncertainty surrounding its future. This was confirmed by the November 2015 Government Strategic Defence Review, with one carrier being available at any time.
Charles de Gaulle is the flagship of the French Navy. The ship is the tenth French aircraft carrier, the first French nuclear-powered surface vessel, and the only nuclear-powered carrier completed outside of the United States Navy. She is named after French statesman and general Charles de Gaulle.
Naval Group—formerly known as Direction des Constructions Navales (DCNS) or Direction des Constructions Navales International (DCNI)—is a global and major French defense contractor and an industrial group that specialised in naval-based defence. The group employs nearly 16,000 people in 18 countries. The company is owned in part by the Agence des participations de l'État, a private company through which the French state holds a 62.49% stake, Thales holds 35% and the personnel holds a 1.64% stake. The remaining 0.87% are owned by the heir to the French naval dockyards and the Direction des Constructions et Armes Navales (DCAN), which became the DCN in 1991, DCNS in 2007 and Naval Group since 2017.
Nuclear marine propulsion is propulsion of a ship or submarine with heat provided by a nuclear reactor. The power plant heats water to produce steam for a turbine used to turn the ship's propeller through a gearbox or through an electric generator and motor. Nuclear propulsion is used specifically within naval warships such as nuclear submarines and supercarriers. A small number of experimental civil nuclear ships have been built.
A nuclear navy, or nuclear-powered navy, refers to the portion of a navy consisting of naval ships powered by nuclear marine propulsion. The concept was revolutionary for naval warfare when first proposed. Prior to nuclear power, submarines were powered by diesel engines and could only submerge through the use of batteries. In order for these submarines to run their diesel engines and charge their batteries they would have to surface or snorkel. The use of nuclear power allowed these submarines to become true submersibles and unlike their conventional counterparts, they became limited only by crew endurance and supplies.
Foch was the second Clemenceau-class aircraft carrier that served with the French Navy from 1963 to 2000. The carrier was the second warship named in honour of the Marshal of France, British Field Marshal and Marshal of Poland Ferdinand Foch After serving with the French navy, the vessel was sold to Brazil and renamed São Paulo.
The Mistral class is a class of five amphibious assault ships built by France. Also known as helicopter carriers, and referred to as "projection and command ships", a Mistral-class ship is capable of transporting and deploying 16 NH90 or Tiger helicopters, four landing barges, up to 70 vehicles including 13 Leclerc tanks, or a 40-strong Leclerc tank battalion, and 450 soldiers. The ships are equipped with a 69-bed hospital, and are capable of serving as part of a NATO Response Force, or with United Nations or European Union peace-keeping forces.
The A1B reactor is an aircraft carrier nuclear reactor developed by the United States Navy. It is used in Gerald R. Ford–class aircraft carriers to provide electrical and propulsion energy. The A1B is the first naval reactor produced by Bechtel Corporation, which has "performed engineering and/or construction services on more than 80 percent of [land-based] nuclear plants in the United States".
The Rubis class is a series of nuclear-powered attack submarines operated by the French Navy. The class comprises six vessels and they are the most compact nuclear attack submarines to date. All submarines of the class are named after gemstones.
CATOBAR is a system used for the launch and recovery of aircraft from the deck of an aircraft carrier. Under this technique, aircraft launch using a catapult-assisted take-off and land on the ship using arrestor wires.
The Clemenceau-class aircraft carriers are a pair of aircraft carriers which served in the French Navy from 1961 until 2000. From 2000 until 2017 one served with the Brazilian Navy as São Paulo. The Clemenceau class was France's first successful aircraft carrier design after World War II and was the backbone of the French Fleet for the duration of its forty years of service.
The Amphibious Assault Ship Project is a proposed procurement project by the Government of Canada for the Royal Canadian Navy (RCN). However, no such project was incorporated into the Government's defence plan Strong, Secure and Engaged released in 2017 and cost challenges with other naval procurement projects under the National Shipbuilding Procurement Strategy has led to no movement on the idea.
Carrier-based aircraft, sometimes known as carrier-capable aircraft or carrier-borne aircraft, are naval aircraft designed for operations from aircraft carriers. They must be able to launch in a short distance and be sturdy enough to withstand the abrupt forces of launching from and recovering on a pitching deck. In addition, their wings are generally able to fold up, easing operations in tight quarters.
INS Vishal, also known as Indigenous Aircraft Carrier 2 (IAC-2), is a planned aircraft carrier to be built by Cochin Shipyard Limited for the Indian Navy. It is intended to be the second aircraft carrier to be built in India after INS Vikrant (IAC-1). The proposed design of the second carrier class will be a new design, featuring significant changes from Vikrant, including an increase in size and displacement. An Electromagnetic Aircraft Launch System (EMALS) CATOBAR system is also under consideration. Its name Vishal means 'giant' in Sanskrit.
The Dassault Rafale is a French twin-engine, canard delta wing, multirole fighter aircraft designed and built by Dassault Aviation. Equipped with a wide range of weapons, the Rafale is intended to perform air supremacy, interdiction, aerial reconnaissance, ground support, in-depth strike, anti-ship strike and nuclear deterrence missions. The Rafale is referred to as an "omnirole" aircraft by Dassault.
The French Navy is actively planning for a future aircraft carrier and new flagship. 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 will enter service in 2038; the year the aircraft carrier Charles de Gaulle is due to be retired. The ship will be nuclear-powered and feature the Electromagnetic Aircraft Launch System (EMALS) catapult system.
Orthographic view of the ship
PA2 was designed as a CATOBAR ship, able to operate Rafale fighters and Hawkeye AWACS
French Navy 
France
