On Tuesday evening, in a televised address to the French nation, French President Emmanuel Macron announced that the Charles de Gaulle carrier strike group will be deployed to the Mediterranean in response to the “unstable situation” in the Near and Middle East and the “uncertainties of the coming days.”
The carrier strike group is headed by the country’s only aircraft carrier and the French navy’s flagship, the Charles de Gaulle.
Although not as big as the U.S. Navy’s Ford or Nimitz aircraft carrier classes, the Charles de Gaulle is the only non-American nuclear-powered aircraft carrier in the world. Its steam catapult system for launching aircraft is comparable in size to that of the American classes.
Its air wing consists of 4.5th-generation Rafale fighter jets, E-2C Hawkeye airborne early warning aircraft, and support helicopters.
Macros further stated that French Rafale along with anti-aircraft systems and radars have also been sent to the region in accordance with the defensive agreements between France and Qatar, Kuwait, the United Arab Emirates, Iraq, and Jordan.
“We will continue this effort for as long as it takes,” the French president said. “The credibility of France is at stake,” he added.
France’s allies in the region have been hit by Iranian missiles and drones following the commencement of Operation Epic Fury against Iran by the U.S. and Israel.
From the opening stages of the operation, French forces stationed in the region reacted immediately, Macron said. They shot down “in legitimate defense” Iranian drones in defense of the “airspace of our allies who know they can count on us,” the French president added.
Additionally, the French frigate Languedoc is on its way to Cyprus; France will also deploy air defense systems on the eastern Mediterranean island.
Cyprus is a fellow EU member with which France has a defense cooperation agreement.
On Monday, an Iranian-made drone which was seemingly fired by Hezbollah – an Iranian proxy – hit a British Royal Air Force base on the island; two more drones headed for the island were intercepted.
In response, Greece, a very close ally of Cyprus, sent four F-16s, two warships, and an anti-drone system to bolster the island’s defenses. Iranian military officials have threatened Cyprus – which is strategically located close to Lebanon, Israel, and the Suez Canal – for its support to the United States claiming that the U.S. military has stationed aircraft on the island.
Feature Image: A U.S. Marine MV-22 Osprey assigned to the 22nd Marine Expeditionary Unit sits on the flight deck of France’s Marine Nationale aircraft carrier FS Charles De Gaulle, April 2019. (Photo by Maj. Joshua Smith/U.S. Marine Corps)
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