Armée Française / French Armed Forces

The Chief of Staff of the French Navy, Pierre Vandier, was heard by the French Parliament at the end of July. He spoke about the war in Ukraine, the Chinese ambitions, the use of UAVs, the confrontation with Turkey, and the future of the French Navy.

Pierre Vandier returned to the deterrence theory. Indeed, the French Navy has a permanent nuclear attack submarine at sea, replaced every sixty days by another one.

He spoke of the Russian presence in the Mediterranean, the Pacific Ocean, and the Atlantic Ocean. The Russian naval potential, apart from the cruiser Moskva, has not been affected. The submarine force has hardly been used since the beginning of the conflict. Indeed, the conflict in Ukraine is primarily land-based.

"In Ukraine, the naval part of the conflict was little mentioned, although it covered more or less all the fields of employment of a modern navy. On the fifth day of the war, Putin threatened dire consequences for anyone who interfered with his special operation and, to make his point, sent six ballistic missile submarines (SSBN), two in the Pacific and four from Murmansk, which made people realize the value of having an independent nuclear force."

"Then Russia set up a blockade in the Black Sea, sinking two Ukrainian ships and no less than eleven merchant ships. It used naval platforms to fire cruise missiles. Faced with difficulties in ammunition stocks, it makes extensive use of ship and submarine stocks, as evidenced by the current strikes on Odessa."

"Another example of anti-ship warfare was the missile strikes that caused the loss of the Moskva, the showcase of the Russian Navy. It sank in a few hours, proof of the lethality and violence of naval combat. In this regard, we can recall that the Royal Navy lost 14 ships in 72 days of conflict during the Falklands War in 1982. We prepared for this type of conflict during Exercise Polaris 21 and we continue to prepare for it."

According to him, the Chinese are currently building a fleet of five icebreakers to give themselves the opportunity to shift their forces from the Pacific to the Atlantic, with the friendship of the Russians. Soon it will no longer be necessary to go to the China Sea to find Chinese military forces.

He recalled that by 2030, the tonnage of the Chinese navy will be 2.5 times that of the U.S. navy, which, despite its efforts, will remain stable or even continue to shrink, while the Chinese fleet grows geometrically. In the Mediterranean, too, some navies are showing triple-digit growth in tonnage from 2008 to 2030. "Against the Chinese navy, we will win if we fight together, in a coalition."

Nevertheless, he cautioned that due to various economic regulations, the French Navy has never been as small as it is today and will continue to shrink over the next two years.

He returned to the commissioning of the Suffren submarine and the sixth multi-mission frigate (FREMM), the Normandie. In November 2021, the Offshore Patrol Vessel Auguste Benebig was launched and will arrive in New Caledonia in early 2023. Finally, the Jacques Chevallier, the first Logistic Support Ship (BRF in French), was launched on 29 April 2022 and will begin trials in November.

He stated that the future new-generation aircraft carrier will succeed the Charles de Gaulle in 2037 and that work on the SNLE 3G will begin in the fall.

Pierre Vandier also said that the first anti-drug operation was conducted in the Atlantic Ocean, with the Mistral and a Schiebel drone, which remained in flight for four hours, alternating with the helicopter. The French Navy will have six Schiebel UAVs, which are currently being certified. As for large underwater drones, Naval Group has launched studies to develop a prototype.

He also spoke of an incident with the Turks when the French Navy escorted a specialized vessel, which had obtained an agreement to explore oil drilling in southwest Cyprus. The Turks considered that these sectors fall under their sovereignty, the French frigate was surrounded by five Turkish frigates, which in the end dissuaded the operator from pursuing its activities in this sector.


France to start construction of the next-gen SSBN in few months (navyrecognition.com)

In January 2021, after several incidents of the same dramatic kind already encountered in Afghanistan, the Barkhane force in Mali was bereaved by two jihadist attacks carried out with high-power improvised explosive devices (IED) containing about 40 kg of explosives, Laurent Lagneau recalls in Opex360. The very high danger presented by this type of attack has led the armies of many countries to develop means of detecting them and then protecting themselves as much as possible.

Florence Parly, then French Minister of the Armed Forces, confided, during a parliamentary hearing, that research was underway to develop new systems supposed to counter IED threats, Laurent Lagneau reports on opex360.com. “No matter how strong the armor, the quantities of explosives that were used in Mali […] is such that, in any case, even the best-armored vehicle cannot protect the soldiers who are there. [Also], we are working on detection technologies, based on radars", such as "the ground penetrating radar, intended for machines that open the routes" or even "on-board aerial radars to detect, between several passages, possible modifications of the ground which could have intervened”, had thus explained Ms. Parly, also evoking work relating to “autonomous vehicles for the opening of routes”.

Since then, the Ministry of the Armed Forces has been rather discreet about these technologies under development. However, systems are being evaluated, as indicated by the Defense Innovation Agency (AID), in its latest activity report. This document briefly evokes the DMC project, for “Multi-Sensor Detection of Improvised Explosive Devices”. Entrusted to TSIX [Thales] and the Franco-German Research Institute of Saint-Louis [ISL], this project aims to demonstrate the feasibility of a system for detecting IEDs or mines remotely, by merging three detection methods.

As explained by the AID, the idea is to install, on a standard VAB armored vehicle, sensors to detect electronic circuits [non-linear junction detection] and electrical wires present in an improvised explosive device as well as changes in the infrared. "In 2021, these three technologies were integrated on a VAB for a test campaign in 2022," said AID. And to add: “Eventually, these technologies could be integrated into the future route opening system”, likely to be autonomous.

As written by Laurent Lagneau, it should be noted that the ISL has also developed an on-board change detection system whose purpose is to highlight the modifications that have appeared on a previously traveled route. This would also facilitate the detection of IEDs. This device “makes it possible to visualize the almost invisible modifications of the field of operations. Robust to changing lighting conditions and trajectory variations, it works in areas that are scrambled or not covered by GPS. It has undergone extensive operational testing,” says ISL.



French army evaluates VAB-mounted multi-sensor detector for IEDs | weapons defence industry military technology UK | analysis focus army defence military industry army (armyrecognition.com)

According to information published by the U.S. DoD on August 19, 2022, General Atomics, San Diego, California, is awarded an $8,837,078 firm-fixed-price order against a previously issued basic ordering agreement for the future French Navy's aircraft carrier.

This order provides for the development of a two or three launch motor subsystem, two energy storage group tailored configuration of the Electromagnetic Aircraft Launch System (EMALS) and a three wire, six energy absorber subsystem Advanced Arresting Gear System configuration that are compatible with the government of France’s future aircraft carrier and provides acceptable mission capability.

Work will be performed in San Diego, California (98.85%); and Tupelo, Mississippi (1.15%), and is expected to be completed in June 2023. Foreign Military Sales customer funds in the amount of $8,837,078 will be obligated at the time of award, none of which will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. The Naval Air Systems Command, Patuxent River, Maryland, is the contracting activity.

The Electromagnetic Aircraft Launch System (EMALS) is a type of aircraft launching system developed by General Atomics for the United States Navy. The system launches carrier-based aircraft by means of a catapult employing a linear induction motor rather than the conventional steam piston. EMALS was first installed on the lead ship of the Gerald R. Ford-class aircraft carrier, the USS Gerald R. Ford.

Its main advantage is that it accelerates aircraft more smoothly, putting less stress on their airframes. Compared to steam catapults, the EMALS also weighs less, is expected to cost less and require less maintenance, and can launch both heavier and lighter aircraft than a steam piston-driven system. It also reduces the carrier's requirement of fresh water, thus reducing the demand for energy-intensive desalination.

Developed in the 1950s, steam catapults have proven exceptionally reliable. Carriers equipped with four steam catapults have been able to use at least one of them 99.5% of the time.

However, there are a number of drawbacks. These control problems allow Nimitz-class aircraft carrier steam-powered catapults to launch heavy aircraft, but not aircraft as light as many unmanned aerial vehicles.

The EMALS uses a linear induction motor (LIM), which uses alternating current (AC) to generate magnetic fields that propel a carriage along a track to launch the aircraft.

The EMALS consists of four main elements: The linear induction motor consists of a row of stator coils with the same function as the circular stator coils in a conventional induction motor.

When energized, the motor accelerates the carriage along the track. Only the section of the coils surrounding the carriage is energized at any given time, thereby minimizing reactive losses. The EMALS's 300-foot (91 m) LIM can accelerate a 100,000-pound (45,000 kg) aircraft to 130 kn (240 km/h; 150 mph).

During a launch, the induction motor requires a large surge of electric power that exceeds what the ship's own continuous power source can provide. The EMALS energy-storage system design accommodates this by drawing power from the ship during its 45-second recharge period and storing the energy kinetically using the rotors of four disk alternators; the system then releases that energy (up to 484 MJ) in 2–3 seconds.

Each rotor delivers up to 121 MJ (34 kWh) (approximately one gasoline gallon equivalent) and can be recharged within 45 seconds of a launch; this is faster than steam catapults. A maximum-performance launch using 121 MJ of energy from each disk alternator slows the rotors from 6400 rpm to 5205 rpm.


General Atomics to equip future French aircraft carrier with EMALS (navyrecognition.com)