In 2025, France will start financing work on a new-generation aircraft carrier

16 October, 2024 The French Charles de Gaulle aircraft carrier. Photo: French Navy In 2025, France will start financing work on a new-generation aircraft carrier for the national navy under the PA NG program.

Opex360 reported on this. French Defense Minister Sebastien Lecornu shared this during a French Parliament's Defense Committee hearing. The PA NG program has already begun to some extent, given that in April, Porte Avions (a joint venture between Naval Group and Chantiers de l'Atlantique) announced an order for "long lead time services."

"The services relate to the ship's nuclear propulsion, namely boiler rooms, containment chambers, and steam energy conversion," the Directorate General of Armaments explained to the media. The PA NG program is currently at the detailed preliminary design stage, which should be completed by the end of 2025. Only after the launch and implementation are ready can development and production contracts be announced.

PA NG will be the largest warship ever built in Europe. It will have a displacement of 80,000 tons (5,000 more than originally envisioned) and a length of 310 meters. This size requires launching a colossal project at the Toulon naval base.

The project aims to obtain 10 to 15 hectares in the harbor to build the infrastructure for the future ship.

A model of a French aircraft carrier by Naval Group at Euronaval 2022. October 2022, France. Photo credits: French media

Two years ago, in October 2022, the French Naval Group presented a scale model of a new-generation nuclear aircraft carrier.

According to the project, the carrier will have two nuclear reactors from TechnicAtome and be powered by three propeller shafts.

The new aircraft carrier is to accommodate 32 new-generation fighters, up to three E-2D long-range radar detection deck aircraft, and several drones.

The ship will be commissioned in 2038 and transferred to the fleet a year before that, after its launch in 2036.