France’s defense minister said Tuesday the government is starting an 18-month period to study a successor to its Charles de Gaulle aircraft carrier.
Florence Parly, French Minister of the Armed Forces, announced this process for deciding on a new follow-on carrier in an opening keynote to the Euronaval 2018 conference.
“The first step, which starts today, is the study phase to determine what and how we want our future aircraft carrier to be. We have given ourselves 18 months,” she said.
Parly highlighted the first study period, due to be finished in 2020, will answer three questions: what threats and missions will it face, what will state of the art technology be in 2030, and how can they push innovation while maintaining useful and effective capabilities.
She said by focusing on the carrier’s threats and missions, the government will help decide on employment constraints, combat system needs, and its necessary escort capabilities.
Parly said that the 2030 technology question will pay special attention to international cooperation, include accommodating the joint France-Germany SCAF (in French, système de combat aérien du futur) aircraft project. The countries are planning for the SCAF to replace France’s Dassault Rafale and Germany’s Eurofighter Typhoon by 2040.
The question of next carrier technology is particularly important because it is expected to serve through the latter decades of the 21st century. “We cannot afford to design it with a narrow horizon,” she said.
The government will consider carrier’s propulsion choices (nuclear or conventional), whether to use electromagnetic catapults like the American Electromagnetic Aircraft Launch System (EMALS) used on Gerald R. Ford-class carriers, and if the ship will accommodate aircraft from European partners.
Parly emphasized France must not limit their imagination or horizon for what is possible in the next carrier. She said she does not want to see an identical follow-on to the De Gaulle.
“We will have to be realistic, but ambitious,” and once the initial studies are complete the government will be able to establish the architecture of the future carrier and industrial organizations needed to build it on time and at cost, the minister said.
Once the study is completed, Parly said she will be able to provide choices to the French President. Emmanuel Macron.
The minister noted maintaining a carrier group is a strategic capability for France’s national defense it must maintain and renew. She noted Charles de Gaulle’s recently finished 18-month mid-life upgrade will allow it to be ready for an operational mission with its whole air carrier group starting in the first quarter of 2019. The carrier is expected to serve past 2030.