ABOARD AIRCRAFT CARRIER FS Charles De Gaulle (R91) — The French Carrier Strike Group has completed its first deployment in the Pacific and deepened ties with U.S. and Japanese forces, French Navy officials told USNI News.
The carrier strike group was sent to work with partner countries and demonstrate France’s commitment to the region, the CSG’s commander Rear Adm. Jacques Mallard told reporters on Tuesday.
“This port visit marks the last stage of our mission in the Pacific before setting sail further west for the exercise Varuna with our Indian partner,” Mallard said. “All the exercises and interactions carried out on this new area for the French Carrier Strike Group have not only strengthen our interoperability but also demonstrated our commitment to promote a free, open, safe and peaceful Indo-Pacific region.”
The French CSG includes Charles De Gaulle, destroyer FS Forbin (D620), frigates FS Provence (D652) and FS Alsace (D656) and fleet oiler FS Jacques Chevallier (A725). The carrier’s airwing has 22 Rafale-M fighters, two E-2C Hawkeye airborne early warning and control aircraft, two AS365 Dauphins helicopters and a NH90 helicopter. Supporting the CSG are two land-based French Navy Atlantique 2 Maritime Patrol Aircraft (MPA) which staged out of Indonesia, the Philippines, Japan and Singapore during the deployment. A nuclear powered attack submarine is also said to be part of the CSG.
The CSG is on a five-month deployment known as Mission Clemenceau 25, which set out in December last year and is expected to return in April. Pacific exercises include La Perouse 25, U.S. – France – Japan multi-deck exercise Pacific Stellar 2025 and a Maritime Cooperative Activity (MCA) drill with the Philippines. Charles De Gaulle, Forbin, Alsace (D656) and Jacques Chevallier docked into Singapore while Provence detached from the CSG for a port visit to Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam.
“The deployment of this mission is a clear signal of France and Europe’s commitment to the Indo-Pacific region and to work for a free and open Indo-Pacific,”, said French Ambassador to Singapore Stephen Marchisio, who was also at the press conference, “Mission Clemenceau 25 symbolizes France’s expertise in the military and maritime security field, its ability to project its power and its role as a European leader. It is also a way to showcase the freedom of navigation that is at the core of the multilateralism that we all promote as European countries.”.
Deploying to a new region of operations meant that the CSG had to adjust to different conditions for flight operations, said the carrier’s executive officer, Capt. Yann-Eric, who said that sea states and weather were different than the ones the carrier was used to in the Mediterranean and Atlantic.
During Pacific Stellar, U.S. F/A-18 Superhornets from USS Carl Vinson (CVN-70) and Rafale-Ms from Charles De Gaulle flew cross deck landings, Yann-Eric said the French carrier was very interoperable with the U.S. Navy aircraft as its catapult and arresting gear equipment are from the U.S. and Charles De Gaulle’s Landing Signal Officers (LSOs) train for two years in the U.S. making them familiar with directing U.S. naval aircraft for landing.
Interoperability between the U.S. and French navies also included logistics and support, a navy release reads. During Pacific Stellar, France used the Acquisition and Cross Servicing Agreement (ACSA) process to acquire needed parts from Carl Vinson for an E-2C Hawkeye embarked on Charles De Gaulle, allowing the aircraft to return to operational status.
Mallard said for Pacific Stellar goal was to have aircraft carriers working together and though the Japanese Maritime Self-Defense Force (JMSDF) destroyer carrier JS Kaga (DDH-184) was not yet equipped with F-35B fighters, “the way we have been working during Pacific Stellar, helps them and gives a road ahead to a building of capacities.”
“We had an interesting exchange, either with our US or out Japanese counterparts, about how we operate from an aircraft carrier. They were interested in sharing the knowledge about this kind of operation,” he said.
Mallard noted that working in three dimensions in Pacific Stellar quadrupled the difficulties, “it is not only three dimension, it is also safety, it is also a new area of cooperation; either with datalinks, air to air manoeuvres but also interoperability like cross-decks, refuelling, so all these set ups were organised with the U.S. Navy and JMSDF.
A French Navy release said the French CSG has been testing out the new L22 tactical data link (LDT) on its aircraft to replace the L11. The Link 22 datalink was developed to replace and overcome the known deficiencies of Link 11 and to complement and interoperate easily with U.S. Link 16.
Mallard stated that the overall goal of the French CSG deployment was to show how important the Indo-Pacific region was to France, via the despatch of the CSG to the region, with the deployment also allowing the French CSG to gain valuable experience and learning on operating in the region. Asked on what he would have changed about the deployment based on the experience, Mallard stated that staying longer in the region would be the change he would make, “to stay longer to learn more, as we are leaving with a taste of not enough for that, I wouldn’t change anything except maybe to staying a little longer, to drive the opportunity to see more partners and work a little longer in this area.”
