The announcement, by the Head of State, Emmanuel Macron, during his visit to Cairo, Egypt, Wednesday October 25, of the dispatch, towards Gaza, of an amphibious helicopter carrier (PHA), THE Thunder, marks a significant strengthening of France’s military posture in the context of the war between Israel and Hamas. Even if the president and the army general staff have mainly insisted on the humanitarian dimension of this deployment, the Thunderwhich left Toulon at the end of the day on Wednesday, is much more than a simple “hospital ship”, as it has been widely presented.
With its 200 meters in length, its 750 square meters of deck, and a tonnage of more than 21,000 tonnes, it is one of the largest ships in the navy after the aircraft carrier. Charles de Gaulle. It houses a care structure capable of carrying out surgical operations as close as possible to a combat zone: two operating rooms, an x-ray room, 69 beds, the equivalent of a hospital center in a city of 25,000 inhabitants. With its landing craft and barges, it can easily carry out evacuations.
But the Thunder is also a vessel capable of carrying more than fifteen helicopters, which can then carry out strikes or surveillance operations. This Wednesday, in addition to its 200 sailors, the Thunder also left with an embedded battle group, that is to say army units equipped with all their equipment: from armored vehicles to logistics trucks. A PHA can transport up to 900 soldiers in addition to its own crew and the entire range of army vehicles, up to a full squadron of Leclerc tanks or 13 armored vehicles.
American naval presence
A PHA like Thunder can above all have a complete staff on board, capable of leading a multinational operation. However, on Wednesday, it left to join two other French ships already deployed in the eastern Mediterranean. THE Surcouf first: a Lafayette-class frigate, with around 150 sailors on board and a helicopter. The ship was already present at the start of the war as part of the permanent intelligence and maritime surveillance mission carried out by France as part of Operation Chammal, the French part of the coalition engaged in the fight against Islamic State (IS) organization.
The second, theAlsace, is a multi-mission frigate (FREMM), which joined Surcouf only a few days ago. With its 130 crew members, theAlsace is one of the most modern frigates in the French Navy – it was admitted to active service at the end of 2021. While having sophisticated anti-submarine warfare capabilities, it has the particularity of being resolutely focused on anti-aircraft defense , notably being equipped with short and medium range Aster-type missiles that can provide a bubble of protection against planes, certain types of missiles and drones.
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