Yes, France Has a Nuclear Powered Aircraft Carrier: Meet the Charles de Gaulle

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Key Points and Summary: The Charles de Gaulle is France’s flagship aircraft carrier and the only non-U.S. vessel capable of catapult-assisted take-offs. Despite its prestige, the carrier has faced technical issues, including flight deck adjustments, faulty propellers, and radiation exposure concerns.

-Upgrades, such as nuclear refueling and enhanced weapon capabilities, have extended its service life until 2038. Plans for a second carrier, the Porte-Avions 2, were shelved due to cost and shifting priorities. Enter PANG, a 75,000-ton nuclear-powered carrier designed to replace Charles de Gaulle.

-Set for the 2030s, PANG promises advanced capabilities but faces budgetary challenges, reaffirming France’s naval prominence.

France’s Charles de Gaulle Aircraft Carrier: Prestige Amid Challenges

The Charles de Gaulle is the flagship of the French Navy and the largest vessel ever to serve with France.

The Charles de Gaulle is also the only carrier capable of catapult-assisted take-offs outside the American fleet of aircraft carriers. The unique capability allows the ship to handle aircraft operations requiring a catapult system to take off and arrestor wires to land.

The aircraft carrier is the crown jewel of French naval power and power projection across the globe, 

However, the Charles de Gaulle has not been without problems and technical faults.

A Powerful Aircraft Carrier with Problems From the Start 

One of the first issues identified with the carrier was the need to extend the flight deck slightly to accommodate landing and take-off for aircraft that required a more extended deck. The revelation sparked outrage in France, as French naval designers had come to the same conclusion when examining the Clemenceau and Foch, the preceding French carriers.

During sea trials in 2000, one of the Charles de Gaulle’s propellers failed, necessitating a return to port. While certainly an embarrassment for the French Navy, the temporary solution they found — grafting a spare propeller from the Clemenceau as a stop-gap measure — limited the new carrier’s maximum speed and added salt to the wound.

Lastly, the French press discovered that the ship’s crew were exposed to slightly higher than acceptable levels of radiation in the course of their duties, sparking outrage. It came out later, however, that the ship’s nuclear protection infrastructure had been made to specifications but that the acceptable limit of exposure had been reduced after construction. Six years after entering service, the Charles de Gaulle underwent routine maintenance and initiated a raft of upgrades.

The Upgrades Did Make a Difference

Arguably, the most crucial routine maintenance that the Charles de Gaulle underwent in 2007 was refueling its nuclear power plant, replacing expended nuclear fuel with new fuel. 

And finally, the ship saw its temporary replacement propeller from the Clemenceau replaced with a Charles de Gaulle-spec propeller, allowing the carrier to sail at its original top speed.

The carrier’s upgrades also saw changes to weapon storage onboard, facilitating a raft of new weapons to be operated from the carrier. In addition to the SCALP EG cruise missile — used to significant effect by Ukrainian forces against the Russians — the carrier is also able to facilitate ASMP-A nuclear missiles.

The ASMP-A, French for Air-Sol Moyenne Portée, or Medium-Range Air-to-Surface, serves as a kind of warning shot and the last step of escalation before full-blown nuclear warfare.

The Charles de Gaulle is expected to serve until about 2038 — that is, if build schedules can be adhered to, and barring any delays caused by design faults or cost overruns of the Charles de Gaulle successor: the Porte-Avions 2.

A Canceled Aircraft Carrier Program: the Porte-Avions 2

France had aimed to be a two-carrier navy: with one carrier out on patrol, another could be a port, undergoing routine maintenance and repairs, giving the crew a chance to unwind from high-tempo operations at sea. However, the Charles de Gaulle was the only carrier the French Navy built.

Given the desire for a second aircraft carrier, the French Navy considered building a second carrier alongside the British Royal Navy to keep costs low. The resulting design from Thales, a French defense firm, leveraged the design of Britain’s Queen Elizabeth-class aircraft carrier, adapted to fit French needs. The redesigned carrier, the Porte-Avions 2, or PA2, never moved past the drafting board thanks to the 2013 French White Paper on Defense and Security.

Challenges with the New Aircraft Carrier 

Many experts saw challenges with this new carrier. The first issue the White Paper singled out was cost. At around €3 billion, building another aircraft carrier, the price tag became untenable even with the Royal Navy as a program partner. Moving out of the 2008 financial crisis, the French Navy’s desire for an aircraft carrier became less critical than modernizing existing capabilities.

The strategic rationale for a second carrier was also questioned. The White Paper concluded that although France had an interest in projecting power globally — and indeed, as one of just a tiny handful of other countries, France was already in a very exclusive club — Paris also needed to focus on regional instability in the Sahel and other countries with historic French ties, as well as terrorism and cyber-attacks.

The 2013 White Paper also concluded that France could rely on other countries’ naval power projection assets, particularly of NATO allies and the United States, should gaps in France’s power projection abilities appear.

The combination of factors ultimately doomed the PA2 aircraft carrier project.

But A New French Carrier Design Emerges: Enter PANG 

Clearly, if France wants to stay in the aircraft carrier club, it will need to do something, and that something looks like it could be the PANG program. 

France’s new aircraft carrier, the Porte-Avions Nouvelle Génération, or PANG, is a significant upgrade to France’s naval and power projection capabilities. 

Set to replace the Charles de Gaulle sometime in the 2030s. The PANG is designed to meet modern warfare’s operational and technological demands, integrating advanced interoperability capabilities within NATO assets and allies.

Weighing in at 75,000 tons, it will have a significantly larger displacement than the Charles de Gaulle, enabling it to support a wider variety of operations and boast an expanded air wing — including France’s future next-generation fighter, the NGF, part of the Franco-German-Spanish Future Combat Air System (FCAS).

Like the Charles de Gaulle, the new carrier’s propulsion system will rely on nuclear power, ensuring France does not lose its nuclear propulsion expertise. This approach ensures extended operational ranges without refueling and aligns with France’s strategic doctrine of force projection. It also keeps France in the exclusive club of countries with nuclear-powered surface vessels alongside the United States.

The PANG will feature advanced electromagnetic catapult systems, developed in collaboration with the United States, providing compatibility with a wide array of aircraft and replacing legacy steam catapults.

However, the program’s cost — estimated at over €5 billion — has raised more broad questions about affordability and prioritization within France’s defense budget. It will also cost €2 billion more than the PA2 would have in 2013, raising questions about the program’s future.

France Sails Into the Future 

Irrespective of how much the Porte-Avions Nouvelle Génération ultimately costs, the carrier will cement France’s place as the world’s second country to operate a nuclear-powered surface vessel. 

Being a member of such a small club is certainly a point of national pride for France, but it also affords Paris the ability to project power around the globe. It also augments allied power and power projection, particularly that of France’s allies within the auspices of the NATO alliance.

About the Author: Caleb Larson 

Caleb Larson is an American multiformat journalist based in Berlin, Germany. His work covers the intersection of conflict and society, focusing on American foreign policy and European security. He has reported from Germany, Russia, and the United States. Most recently, he covered the war in Ukraine, reporting extensively on the war’s shifting battle lines from Donbas and writing on the war’s civilian and humanitarian toll. Previously, he worked as a Defense Reporter for POLITICO Europe. You can follow his latest work on X.