CHARLES DE GAULLE NUCLEAR POWERED
AIRCRAFT CARRIER, FRANCE

The 38,000t, nuclear-powered aircraft carrier Charles De Gaulle was constructed at the DCN Brest naval shipyard in Brittany. The ship was launched in May 1994 and commissioned in September 2000, following sea trials which began in January 1999. As a result of trials the landing deck has been lengthened by 4.4m to enable the E-2C to land and clear the deck quickly. The carrier was due to enter service in December 2000, but, following the breakage of a propeller blade during long-distance trials, this was delayed to April 2001. In June 2001, the carrier took part in exercises in the Mediterranean and in December 2001 left to take part in Operation Enduring Freedom where it was stationed in the Arabian Gulf. It returned to its home port of Toulon in July 2002. Super Etendard and Hawkeye E-2C aircraft carried out a number of sorties but the ship's seven Rafale fighters did not take part in operations, although they did take part in exercises with the US Navy.

The French Navy has plans to build a second carrier to enter service around 2012. This may be in the same class as the Charles de Gaulle or it may be a conventionally-powered version.

Charles De Gaulle at Brest,
ready for sea trials.

AIRCRAFT

The ship can operate a fleet of up to 40 aircraft: Rafale M (range 3,340km), Super Etendard (range 1,682km) and three E-2C Hawkeye airborne early warning aircraft. The ship will also support the AS 565 Panther or NH 90 helicopter.

The main deck consists of a main runway angled at 8.5° to the ship's axis and an aircraft launch area forward of the island. These are each equipped with a USN Type C13 catapult, capable of launching one aircraft per minute. The runway is 195m long and the whole deck measures 260 x 64m. The carrier is fitted with the EADS Systems & Defence Electronics DALAS laser landing aid.

The Charles De Gaulle can
operate up to 40 Rafale aircraft.

SATRAP COMPUTERISED STABILISATION SYSTEM

The carrier is fitted with the SATRAP computerised, integrated stabilisation system designed to maintain stabilisation to within 0.5° of horizontal, allowing aircraft to be operated up to Sea State 5/6. As well as the carrier's two pairs of active stabilising fins and twin rudders, the system has two computer-controlled compensation units which consist of two rail tracks for trains carrying 22t of deadweight. These tracks run transversely below the flight deck. This system is designed to compensate for wind and heel and control roll, yaw and surge.

COMBAT MANAGEMENT SYSTEMS

The ship's weapons are managed by a Senit Combat Management System, which has the capacity to track up to 2,000 targets. The weapon control system consists of two Vigy 105 optronic directors supplied by Sagem. The ship also has two Sagem Vampir search and track systems.

CIC Officers can monitor
2,000 tracks in real time.

SURFACE-TO-AIR MISSILES

The SAAM (Surface Anti-Air Missile) system, developed by Eurosam (set up by MBDA and Thales), provides defence against hostile aircraft and anti-ship missiles. The system uses the Aster 15 surface-to-air missile and entered operational service in November 2002, with the first firing of the missile from the Charles de Gaulle. The Aster missile has a 13kg warhead and a range of 30km. The missile's guidance is inertial with data uplink and active radar terminal homing. For increased manoeuvrability in the terminal phase, the missile uses a 'PIF-PAF' direct thrust control system with gas jets. Two eight-cell Sylver vertical launch systems are installed on the starboard side forward of the bridge and two on the port side aft of the bridge. The system uses the Thales (formerlyThomson-CSF) Arabel radar, which is a multi-function three-dimensional radar with a range of 70km for a target area of 2mē.

The ship has two six-cell Sadral launching systems for the MBDA (formerly Matra BAe Dynamics) Mistral anti-aircraft and anti-missile missile. Mistral has an infra-red seeker and a range of 4km.

GIAT 20F2 20MM GUNS

The ship is equipped with eight Giat 20F2 20mm guns, which fire 0.25kg shells at 720 rounds/min to a range of up to 8km.

COUNTERMEASURES

Four EADS Systems & Defence Electronics Sagaie 10-barrel trainable decoy launchers are installed. The system fires chaff to 8km and infra-red flares to a range of 3km. Two Thales ARBB 33 jammers, mature versions of the Salamandre, are installed to jam I-, H- and J- band radar signals. Electronic support measures include the Thales ARBR 21 radar warner. The aircraft carrier will also be fitted with a SLAT anti-torpedo system being developed by Euroslat, a consortium consisting of WASS (Whitehead Alenia Sistemi Subaqua), DCN and Thales Underwater Systems (formerly Thomson Marconi Sonar).

RADAR SENSOR SUITE

The suite of radar sensors installed on the carrier are: Thales DRBJ 11B three dimensional long range air search radar operating in the E- to F- bands; Thales DRBV 26D Jupiter medium/long range air search radar operating at D-band; Thales DRBV 15C Sea Tiger Mark 2 air and surface search radar operating at E- and F-bands; two Thales (formerly Racal) Model 1229 navigation radars operating at I-band; and the Thales Arabel fire control radar operating at I-to J-band.

PROPULSION AND POWER PLANT

The only catapult-type nuclear aircraft
carrier ever constructed in Europe.

The Charles De Gaulle is equipped with two nuclear pressure water reactors, PWR Type K15, which provide a speed of 27 knots. The 61MW turbines are from Alsthom. The propulsion system has the capacity to provide five years continuous operation at 25 knots before refuelling.

Charles De Gaulle
supporting UN operations.

A Rafale M takes off.

The ship supports the Dauphin Helicopter amongst others.

The Rafale M in the foreground and Super Etendard will be the carrier's primary aircraft.