Frankreich: Definitionsstudien für neue Flugzeugträger

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https://fr.linkedin.com/posts/direction ... 82113-PdSP

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France Envisions Larger Future Aircraft Carrier With More UAS

As the formal launch decision nears for the successor to France’s Charles de Gaulle aircraft carrier, a sharper picture is emerging of the embarked fleet.

Building on its success with uncrewed aircraft systems (UAS) onboard ships, mainly for observation, the French Navy plans for UAS to assume a broader role on its next-generation carrier, known as the PANG, its French acronym. Their missions may include refueling and combat.

The timing of the transition period between the Charles de Gaulle and the PANG is a major issue, Adm. Nicolas Vaujour, chief of staff of the French Navy, said during a meeting organized by the French Association of Defense Journalists on Sept. 3 in Paris. “If we want to achieve that transition between 2035-38, the program has to be launched quite soon,” he said.

Current plans call for the launch of the PANG program this year, when the government is to place an order with system integrator Naval Group (jointly owned by the French state and Thales) and shipbuilder Chantiers de l’Atlantique. Under a contract with Naval Group, nuclear power specialists TechnicAtome and Framatome have started producing components on which the reactors propulsion will rely.

“We are working with procurement agency DGA on the program’s architecture, as well as milestones such as when to build the hull,” Vaujour said.

He made these comments not long after French Armed Forces Minister Sébastien Lecornu reiterated that keeping the future carrier on schedule is critical for the country’s military. A June 11 parliamentary report suggested postponing the program 4-5 years, but that would mean an equivalent hiatus between the Charles de Gaulle’s retirement and the PANG’s service entry, Lecornu said in July. The interval would create not only a capacity gap but also a loss of know-how for industry and the sailors themselves, he stressed.

The future carrier is being designed to accommodate the New-Generation Fighter (NGF) that France is pursuing with Germany and Spain as part of the Future Combat Air System.

At 78,000 metric tons, the PANG will be heavier than the 42,500-metric-ton Charles de Gaulle, partly because the NGF is projected to be 40 metric tons. The Dassault Rafale is just 25 metric tons. The size of the PANG’s aircraft fleet is planned to be the same as the Charles de Gaulle’s: some 30 fighters (crewed or not), 2-3 airborne early warning aircraft, 5-6 helicopters and potentially an unspecified number of UAS. The General Atomics Electromagnetic Aircraft Launch System’s (EMALS) weight capacity, greater than that of the current steam catapult, will enable it to launch aircraft weighing 2-40 metric tons—up from the steam catapult’s narrower range and lower maximum of around 30 metric tons. The EMALS will be suitable for various UAS and the NGF.

The PANG is expected to enter service with Rafale F5 fighters, but the rest of the aircraft may be very different from current standards. The uncrewed combat air vehicle (UCAV) designed to operate jointly with the F5 standard is expected to follow soon after. “To penetrate adverse defenses, a UCAV will be useful,” Vaujour explained. “To fly farther, a refueling UAS will be useful. So will a surveillance drone to monitor what’s going on around the ship—instead of a crewed aircraft—and drones with a protection role.”

The EMALS’ capacity is the only limit Vaujour sees to the size of on-board UAS. The Boeing MQ-25 Stingray uncrewed refueler—planned to enter service in 2026—weighs several tons and automates a basic mission, he pointed out.

“Landing is the most complex phase,” Vaujour said. “We are working with Dassault and Naval Group on automated landing for the F5. That will prepare for the arrival of a UCAV.”

The French Navy has been particularly pleased with small observation drones, such as the fixed-wing Survey Copter Aliacas, known as SMDM in the French forces. These enable ships—including helicopter carriers, overseas patrollers and smaller 40-year-old avisos—to see 60 nm away, Vaujour said.

For counter-UAS defense, the service is acquiring jammers. Weapon system suppliers are regularly invited to demonstrate their new developments at the Toulon naval base on the Mediterranean Sea. “In the exercise, we have them facing every threat we have seen in the Red Sea or heard of in the Black Sea,” Vaujour said. The navy took one jammer for operational tests in the eastern Mediterranean, where it downed two hostile drones from an unnamed militia.

Since then, the French Navy has taken some jammers onboard the Charles de Gaulle and ordered more. The system would cost less than the Aster missiles the service has used against Houthi-operated Iranian Shahed drones to protect its own ships as well as commercial vessels in the Red Sea.

The French Navy is also testing first-person-view drones that can crash into small, remotely piloted boats.

https://aviationweek.com/defense/budget ... r-more-uas