Charles de Gaulle aircraft carrier begins Foch Mission.

Edouard Philippe, the French Prime Minister, and Florence Parly, the Minister of Armies, embarked on the aircraft carrier Charles de Gaulle on January 22 2020, on the occasion of its departure on Foch mission. As announced by the President of the French Republic, the Aeronaval Group will be deployed in the eastern Mediterranean for a month where it will enhance France’s participation in the fight against terrorism. Then, the Aeronaval group will continue its mission in the Atlantic and the North Sea and participate in several multinational exercises.

FS Charles de Gaulle R91 (Picture source: Wikipedia)

The aircraft carrier strike group left Toulon on Tuesday, January 21, for the Foch mission. This three-month deployment will lead their crews from the eastern Mediterranean to support the French forces of Operation Chammal, to the Atlantic Ocean and the North Sea, where its activities will mainly be oriented towards cooperation exercises with American and European allies.

This deployment meets four major objectives:

- Operational deployment in areas of strategic interest for the benefit of European security and stability of his approaches;
- Maintaining the operational commitment of France and the French Navy in the fight against terrorism by contributing to the International Coalition against Daesh;
- Maintaining the very high level of interoperability with our European and NATO partners;
- The maintenance of the quality of the relations which bind France and its international partners.

The carrier strike group consisted of:

- The aircraft carrier Charles de Gaulle;
- The Embarqued Air Group composed by 18 Rafale Marine, 2 E-2C aircraft Hawkeye, 1 Cayman marine helicopter and 2 Dauphin helicopters Pedro;
- The multi-mission frigate Auvergne; of the anti-aircraft frigate Paul Chevalier;
- The supply and replenishment vessel Var;
- The Greek frigate HS Spetsai and a nuclear attack submarine.

Throughout the deployment, different French vessels along with foreign ones (Spanish, Portuguese, Belgian, Dutch and German) as well as a patrol plane Maritime Atlantique 2 will integrate or have interactions with the Carrier Strike Group.