French aircraft carrier Charles de Gaulle fires Aster 15 missile amid Ukraine war.

According to a tweet published by the French Navy on October 7, 2022, the aircraft carrier Charles de Gaulle successfully fired Aster 15 surface-to-air missile.
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The French aircraft carrier Charles de Gaulle firing an Aster 15 missile. (Picture source: French Navy)

Charles de Gaulle is the flagship of the French Navy. The ship, commissioned in 2001, is the tenth French aircraft carrier, and the first French nuclear-powered surface vessel.

The ship carries a complement of Dassault Rafale M and E-2C Hawkeye aircraft, AS365F Dauphin Pedro, EC725 Caracal and AS532 Cougar helicopters for combat search and rescue, as well as modern electronics and Aster missiles.

She is a CATOBAR-type carrier that uses two 75 m C13‑3 steam catapults of a shorter version of the catapult system installed on the US Nimitz-class aircraft carriers, one catapult at the bow and one across the front of the landing area.

About the Aster 15 missile

The Aster 15 and Aster 30 are a Franco-Italian family of all-weather, vertical launch surface-to-air missiles. The name "Aster" stands for "Aérospatiale Terminale" (French company Aérospatiale having been the project's lead contractor before its missile activities were merged into MBDA).

The missiles as well as the related weapon systems are manufactured by Eurosam, a consortium consisting of MBDA France, MBDA Italy (both with a combined 66% share), and Thales (holding 33%).

There are currently two versions of the Aster missile family, the short-medium range version, Aster 15, and the long-range version, Aster 30. The missile bodies are identical; their difference in range and intercept speed is because Aster 30 uses a much larger booster.

Total weights of the Aster 15 and Aster 30 are 310 kg (680 lb) and 450 kg (990 lb) respectively. Aster 15 has a length of 4.2 m (13 ft 9 in), rising to just under 5 m (16 ft 5 in) for Aster 30. Aster 15 has a diameter of 180 mm (7.1 in).

Given the larger dimensions of the Aster 30, a naval-based system requires the longer tubes of the Sylver A50 or A70 vertical launching system (VLS). Additionally, the American Mark 41 Vertical Launching System can accommodate Aster 30.