page_title: Aircraft carrier
section_title: France
hierarchical_section_title: Aircraft carrier / National fleets / France
caption_attribution_description: English: The French Marine Nationale aircraft carrier Charles de Gaulle (R91) underway in the Red Sea on 15 April 2019.
context_page_description: 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.
context_section_description: Current
  The French Navy operates the Charles de Gaulle, a 42,000-tonne nuclear-powered aircraft carrier, commissioned in 2001 and is the flagship of the French Navy. The ship carries a complement of Dassault Rafale M and E‑2C Hawkeye aircraft, EC725 Caracal and AS532 Cougar helicopters for combat search and rescue, as well as modern electronics and Aster missiles. She is a CATOBAR-type carrier that uses two 75 m C13‑3 steam catapults of a shorter version of the catapult system installed on the U.S. Nimitz-class carriers, one catapult at the bow and one across the front of the landing area.
  In addition, the French Navy also operates three Mistral-class amphibious assault ships.
  Future
  In October 2018, the French Ministry of Defence launched an 18-month study for €40 million for the eventual future replacement of the French aircraft carrier Charles de Gaulle beyond 2030. A decision for the new carrier is scheduled to take place beyond 2025.
caption: The aircraft carrier Charles de Gaulle of the French Navy
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