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'PA2' (Porte-Avions 2) is a planned new aircraft carrier developed for the French Navy by Thales Naval France and DCN from the Thales UK/BMT design for the future British ''Queen Elizabeth'' class aircraft carriers. The vessel will displace approximately 70,000-75,000 tonnes, will be based in Toulon, Var, France and will complement the current French carrier, ''Charles de Gaulle''.

Contents

Background

Design

Island

Propulsion

Construction

Ship Naming

References

See also

Background

The previous French carriers, ''Foch'' and ''Clemenceau'' were completed in 1961 and 1963 respectively; the requirement for a replacement was identified in the mid-1970s. This replacement became the 40,600 tonne Charles de Gaulle, laid down in April 1989 at the DCN Brest naval shipyard. The carrier was completed in May 1994, however it was not officially commissioned until 2001 due to a large number of problems. These included the need to lengthen the flight deck after aircraft trials, a broken propeller and vibration/noise problems. The French Navy was understood to be unwilling to proceed with another carrier of the same design and by 2003 the possibility of sharing the Royal Navy design emerged to fulfill the French requirement for a second carrier.
The requirement for the carriers was confirmed by Jacques Chirac in 2004 for the centennial of the Entente Cordiale and on January 26 2006 the defence ministers of France and Britain reached an agreement regarding cooperation on the design of their future carriers. France has agreed to pay the UK for access to the design due to the investment made to date. These payments were £30m in January 2006, £25m in July 2006 and a further £45m if France decides to proceed with the project.^[1]

Design

An alliance of Thales and DCN will develop and build the aircraft carriers from the Thales/BMT design selected for the CVF. Thales and DCN have proposed a 283 m long, 75,000 tonnes variant of the CVF. While the UK in-service dates of 2014 and 2016 for their two carriers have been announced, the construction timetable for the French ship has not been disclosed although 2015 is rumoured. ''Charles de Gaulle'' requires refit and refueling of its nuclear reactors around this time.
^[2]
The UK has chosen to continue to use STOVL aircraft for its new carrier; however, the fact that they chose an "adaptable" design which could be reconfigured for future CATOBAR operation means that the design is suitable for the French Navy. The French version is designed to operate the Dassault Rafale, the E-2C Hawkeye and the NH-90. It is a CATOBAR design, and the catapult used will be of the same models as installed on the ''Nimitz'' class supercarriers, C13-2 steam catapult, 90m long. The vessels are expected to be capable of carrying over 32 Rafales, three Hawkeye and five NH-90 support/anti-submarine helicopters. The crew will be about 1650, instead of 1950 in the ''Charles de Gaulle'', indicating the high level of automation being integrated into the ships' systems.

Island

The ship will have two islands: one devoted to ship navigation, and the other to air operations. This allows optimal placement of bridges both tasks: navigation calls for a bridge placed forwards (as on the ''Charles De Gaulle''), while air operations are made easier with a bridge placed abaft (as seen on the US ''Nimitz'' class).

Propulsion

The price of accepting the British design is accepting a conventionally powered ship; the British government rejected nuclear propulsion as too costly. The idea of renouncing nuclear propulsion in this way has been alleged as a backward step for French technology. However, because design was tailored to the Royal Navy's requirements meant no choice for France to use nuclear-powered propulsion. A conventional propulsion system was the only option. 2007 presidential candidate Philippe de Villiers favoured building a second CDG-class aircraft carrier, however, Nicolas Sarkozy, who favoured the CVF plan, won the 2007 election.
The carrier's propulsion system will be Integrated Full Electric Propulsion (IFEP) based on two Rolls-Royce MT30 gas turbines. The optimum location for the position of the main propulsion system is being examined, with maximising the hangar space below decks a major consideration. The range of the carrier will be 10,000 nautical miles (19,000 km).

Construction

The hull is likely to be built by Chantiers de l'Atlantique at Saint Nazaire, and fitting out will be by DCN at Brest. The ships are likely to be based at Toulon naval base where two huge dry docks are available to accommodate even a ''Nimitz''-class aircraft carrier.

Ship Naming

It has been proposed to name the aircraft carrier ''Richelieu'', after Cardinal Richelieu, which was the name originally intended for the ''Charles de Gaulle'' [1].
However, the name of the ship has not been decided yet.

References

1. UK-French agreement on aircraft carriers UK Ministry of Defence (Jan. 24, 2006) - accessed 8 July, 2006.
2. Charles de Gaulle Nuclear Aircraft Carrier naval-technology.com - accessed 8 July, 2006.]

See also

★ French Navy

★ ''Charles de Gaulle''

★ ''Queen Elizabeth'' class aircraft carrier

★ CVN-21