France is making all the same mistakes that many other powers currently are in assuming that they can fight tomorrow’s wars with yesterday’s weapons.
At a time when modern warfare is becoming smaller, nimbler, and more automated, some countries simply cannot let go of the dream of producing massive legacy platforms. Elon Musk and his Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) have criticized the F-35 Lightning II as being obsolete in the age of drones.
Musk made similar comments about the United States Army’s commitment to sending manned systems into a frontline combat scenario where the enemy is relying disproportionately on unmanned systems to do the bulk of their killing—a pattern seen over the last three years in Ukraine. One such platform that seems obsolete in the age of automated weapons and anti-access/area-denial (A2/AD) defenses is the aircraft carrier.
The Flat Top Just Won’t Die
Yet the flat top persists in its appeal to defense establishments all over the world. Not only is the United States Navy blowing through gobs of tax dollars to build larger and more advanced aircraft carriers, but so too is China, a nation that has pioneered A2/AD as an effective deterrent against enemy aircraft carriers! Even cash-strapped Britain has built two Queen Elizabeth-class carriers, at great expense to the British taxpayer.
Now comes France, with its own designs for a new aircraft carrier. A nation that has long valued its independence and striven to exemplify greatness relative to other powers, even the mighty United States, Paris sees aircraft carriers as the ultimate example of a nation’s prestige and military power projection.
But that’s twentieth-century thinking.
And, just like Britain, France is increasingly cash-strapped. Besides, Paris has chronically underfunded its national defenses—especially in relation to its NATO commitments, which it has consistently underpaid, knowing that other members of NATO would pick up the slack.
Replacing the Charles de Gaulle
France currently has one, aging carrier, the Charles de Gaulle, which Paris recently deployed to the Indo-Pacific in a pointless and expensive show of force to China. The exercise was meant to remind the Americans of how useful the French Navy could be in the distant, unruly waters of the Indo-Pacific. It seems likely that neither the Chinese nor the Americans were really impressed by the display of the ancient French carrier. But Paris believes that its upcoming Porte-Avions de Nouvelle Génération (PANG, for short) carrier project will change all the perceptions of France as a middling power in rapid decline.
To be clear, it will not. The PANG will only serve to deplete French finances even more than they already are, and will be insufficient to meet the increased commitments that the Paris government envisions their country taking on as the Americans retreat from their global defense commitments.
The PANG will be powered by two K22 nuclear reactors, each with a thermal output of 220 megawatts, allowing for sustained high speeds of up to 34 miles per hour. Because it is a nuclear-powered vessel, its only limitations in terms of range would be provisions for the crew.
France intends for the PANG to employ an Electromagnetic Aircraft Launch System (EMALS) and Advanced Arresting Gear (AAG) for launching and recovering aircraft. The EMALS and AAG will greatly enhance the aircraft operations aboard the PANG carrier, especially when compared to France’s older aircraft carrier, the Charles de Gaulle, with its steam catapults.
Unaffordable Planes on an Overrated Carrier
The PANG carrier proposes to house thirty-two fighters belonging to the Future Combat Air System (FCAS), the proposed sixth-generation warplane that multiple European states are pooling their resources together to design. The farcical nature of the plans is hard to overstate: the French are building a carrier they cannot afford and do not need, and are planning to equip it with 32 units of a sixth-generation warplane that may never leave the design board.
Two to three E-2D Advanced Hawkeyes will also be deployed on the PANG for airborne early warning and control. Further, there will be multiple unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) for various missions including reconnaissance and combat support. There will be multiple helicopters aboard to aid in search-and-rescue missions, to conduct anti-submarine warfare (ASW) missions, and other logistical mission sets.
Preliminary design work on PANG was completed in 2023, with the production contract slated to start this year. Steel cutting is expected to begin around 2031, leading to sea trials around 2035. If this timeline is adhered to, the PANG would likely be commissioned by the French Navy around 2038.
In Five Words: A Waste Like No Other
France, meanwhile, has only one carrier planned. That carrier, the prototype for the PANG, will replace France’s only current carrier, the aforementioned Charles de Gaulle. There is some talk about a second PANG carrier being built, but even the most rosy estimates in Paris concede that two of these carriers are impossible under France’s current logistical and financial constraints.
Speaking of costs, the French government believes the program will cost around $10.3 billion.
France is making all the same mistakes that many other powers currently are in assuming that they can fight tomorrow’s wars with yesterday’s weapons. For $10 billion, France could build a fleet of unmanned systems at sea. Or they could build more of their submarines. They could even invest in developing hypersonic weapons, the critical technology that will define the course of warfare in the twenty-first century.
Instead, France is frittering finite tax dollars on a system that can easily be sunk by the sophisticated A2/AD networks that both China and Russia have at their disposal.
About the Author: Brandon J. Weichert
Brandon J. Weichert, a Senior National Security Editor at The National Interest as well as a Senior Fellow at the Center for the National Interest, and a contributor at Popular Mechanics, consults regularly with various government institutions and private organizations on geopolitical issues. Weichert’s writings have appeared in multiple publications, including the Washington Times, National Review, The American Spectator, MSN, the Asia Times, and countless others. His books include Winning Space: How America Remains a Superpower, Biohacked: China’s Race to Control Life, and The Shadow War: Iran’s Quest for Supremacy. His newest book, A Disaster of Our Own Making: How the West Lost Ukraine is available for purchase wherever books are sold. He can be followed via Twitter @WeTheBrandon.
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