French Charles de Gaulle Carrier Strike Group transits through Suez Canal.

According to information published by the French MoD on December 23, 2022, the French Navy's Charles de Gaulle Carrier Strike Group (CSG) transited the Suez Canal.
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French aircraft carrier Charles de Gaulle. (Picture source: French MoD)

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

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.

The aircraft carrier De Gaulle has a length of 261 meters, a beam of 64.36 m (overall), and 31.5 m (waterline). She has a draught of 9.43 m (30.9 ft) and a displacement of approximately 40,000 tons.

The carrier air group (le groupe aérien embarqué) operates three squadrons (11F, 12F, 17F) of fifteen Rafale M aircraft each, and one squadron (4f) of three E-2C Hawkeye aircraft. These are the: Flottille 11F, Flottille 12F, Flottille 17F and Flottille 4F.

Typically two Rafale squadrons are expected to rotate in the Charles de Gaulle carrier air group, and a pair of E-2Cs would supplement them. In peacetime, the number of aircraft on board may be lower: 30/40 Rafale M, 2 E-2C Hawkeye and 2/4 AS365 Dauphin helicopters.

Although 30 Rafales, divided into two squadrons, are expected to be on board, usually some aircraft remain in France for upgrade or training. US Navy F-18 Hornets and C-2 Greyhounds regularly conduct qualification traps and launches from Charles de Gaulle.

In June 2011, two US Navy C-2A(R) Greyhounds were assigned to the French Navy to conduct operational carrier on-board delivery (COD) missions for Charles de Gaulle during the NATO intervention in Libya.