Future French Aircraft Carrier UK Variant French Variant

An alliance of Thales and DCN will develop and build the aircraft carriers from the French Thales design. While the UK in service dates of 2012 and 2015 for their two carriers have been announced, the construction timetable for the French ship has not been disclosed although 2015 is rumored.

The French and British vessels will be the largest and most powerful surface warships outside of the US Navy. They are designed to operate the Lockheed Martin F-35 (JSF) and the Dassault Rafale for standard version and the F-35B STOVL variant the initial UK version of the carrier. The vessels are expected to be capable of carrying 48 F-35s or a similar quantity of Dassault Rafales, four airborne-early-warning ( AEW) aircraft and six support/anti-submarine helicopters, for example the AgustaWestland EH101The AgustaWestland EH101 is a medium-lift helicopter originally developed as a joint venture between Westland Helicopters in the UK and Agusta in Italy for military applications but also marketed for civil use. Development In 1977, the UK Ministry of Defe. The crew will be about 600, only 15 more than the Invincible, indicating the high level of automation being integrated into the ships' systems.

The French decision comes as a result of the centennial of entente cordiale. To proceed to the construction of the aircraft carrier however has aroused numerous controversies in France where the idea to renounce nuclear propulsionNuclear propulsion can include a wide variety of methods, the commonality of which is the use of some form of nuclear reaction as their primary power source. Many military submarines and large surface ships use nuclear reactors as their power plants. in order to favour British needs is seen as a backward step for the French technology. However, the numerous problems with the propulsion system of the FS Charles de GaulleThe Charles de Gaulle is a nuclear powered aircraft carrier in service with the French Marine Nationale''. It is named after the French politician and soldier Charles de Gaulle. The carrier replaced the Foch conventionally powered aircraft carrier in 2001 and the fact that the design was tailored to the Royal NavyThe Royal Navy is the navy of the United Kingdom. It operates a number of aircraft carriers, destroyers, frigates, fifteen nuclear submarines, and various other ships, as well as aircraft and Britain's amphibious forces, the Royal Marines. The Royal Navy's requirements leaves little choice.

The Ministry of Defense decided not to use nuclear propulsion for the aircraft carrier because of high costs. The carrier's propulsion system will be Integrated Full Electric Propulsion (IFEP) based on four gas turbineThis machine has a single-stage radial compressor and turbine, a recuperator, and foil bearings. A gas turbine is a rotary engine that extracts energy from a flow of combustion gas. It has an upstream compressor coupled to a downstream turbine, and a combs. It is expected that the Royal Navy will continue its investment in the WR-21 advanced cycle gas turbine engines for the carrier. The optimum location for the position of the main propulsion system is being examined, with maximising the hangar space below decks a major consideration. The range of the carrier will be 10,000 nautical miles.

The construction of the hull will involve a series of superblocks that will be joined to form the ensemble of the structure, so as to to obtain a drastic cost reduction of production.

1 UK Variant

55,000 tonnes (proposed originally) or 45,000 tonnes (realistic) of displacement

The large size of the carrier is a major issue. With the proposed specification of at least 55,000 tonnes displacement and a length of 274m (900ft), it will be difficult for them to routinely and safely enter and berth at either of the RN's main two naval bases, Portsmouth Naval Base and Devonport Naval Base . Moreover, there is no suitable dry dock for a CVF at either base, the No.10 Dock at Devonport being restricted to ships of about 40,000 tonnes and 259m (850ft) length, while the biggest two docks at Portsmouth are slightly smaller (259 m long with a 33m beam, 256 m long respectively). Lengthening of any of these docks, or the construction of a new dry dock, would be a major and expensive exercise.

2 French Variant

Thales Naval France and DCN have proposed a 275m long, 58,000 tonnes variant of the CVF for the French Navy's second aircraft carrier (PA2). They intend that the hull will be built by Chantiers de l'Atlantique at Saint Nazaire, and fitting out will be by DCN at Brest. Chantiers de l'Atlantique are able to build larger ships than a CVF (in 2003 they built the 345m RMS Queen Mary 2QM2 at sea ) Career Ordered: 6 November 2000 Laid down: 4 July 2002 Launched: 25 September 2003 Christened: 8 January 2004 Maiden Voyage: 12 January 2004 Fate:in service General Characteristics Tonnage:150,000 gross tons Displacement:76,000 tonnes (approx), thus whole-ship rather than superblock construction techniques can be adopted, this also means that the French could adopt a more complex and hydrodynamically efficient hull, which would be too risky for the UK. Moreover the French are not confined by the physical restrictions of the Rosyth No.1 dock, as the British are. For example, the French aircraft carrier may also have a beam wider than the maximum permitted to UK ships. The French Marine Nationale will base its new carrier at the Toulon naval base. It is fortunate enough to have there two huge dry docks which are able to accommodate even a Nimitz-class aircraft carrier.

France expects to place the design contract for PA2 before december 2004, the order at the end of 2006, and the the objective of having the new carrier operational before the beginning of the refit and refuelling scheduled for the nuclear carrier Charles de Gaulle in 2015

Unofficial French name:

Georges Pompidou (very possible, he was the successor of De Gaulle as President of the fifth Republic of France)

Home > Future French aircraft carrier

1 UK Variant

2 French Variant

3 See Also

Topics: Future French Aircraft Carrier, UK Variant, French Variant...