France will place for the first time the aircraft carrier Charles-de-Gaulle, the flagship of its fleet, under NATO operational control for a 15-day mission in the Mediterranean, the army general staff announced on Thursday. This mission bringing together ships from several nations (United States, Greece, Spain, Portugal) will take place from April 26 to May 10 under the command of the StrikforNato maritime staff, comprising fifteen nations including France, and led by an American vice admiral.
First loan of the nuclear aircraft carrier
“This is the first time that the nuclear aircraft carrier Charles-de-Gaulle and its entire escort, including a nuclear attack submarine (SNA), have been placed under the operational control of the NATO for 15 days during an operational vigilance activity, which is significantly more significant than an exercise,” French Vice-Admiral Didier Maleterre, number two in NATO’s maritime command, told AFP. (Marcom).
However, specifies the senior officer, “we are in no way going to lose our strategic autonomy. At any time we can recover the mandate, and with the snap of a finger recover national command during operations if necessary.” This mission “allows us to fall into line by putting ourselves on the same level as our allies. We will also learn a lot (…), we must build mutual know-how,” the commander of the carrier group told AFP French, Rear Admiral Jacques Mallard.
Around thirty fighter planes
The French naval air group (GAN), the largest in Europe, will resume operations at the end of April after eight months of work followed by several sea trials. Founding member of NATO (Nato in English) created in 1949 to Faced with the Soviet threat, France left the integrated military command in 1966, under the leadership of General de Gaulle, due to disagreements with the United States. She returned there in 2009, without however joining the Alliance’s nuclear plans group.
The carrier group is made up of the nuclear-powered aircraft carrier Charles-de-Gaulle with its thirty Rafale Marine fighter planes, a nuclear attack submarine (SNA), specialized frigates and a ship refueling.