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In a context where naval combat is flourishing almost everywhere, “Libération” has boarded the French carrier group, on a mission with its allies in the Mediterranean, where the Russian navy is positioned from a naval base in Syria.
On the racks of the aircraft weapons preparation hangar, 250, 500 and 1,000 kg laser-guided bombs, air-to-ground, air-to-air and anti-ship missiles, a 30 mm cannon. In the secret bunkers, several hundred tons of munitions and probably missiles equipped with a nuclear warhead twenty times more powerful than the one that struck Hiroshima – their presence or not on board the aircraft carrier is one of the best kept secrets of the nation and one of the pillars of French deterrence. Ten tonnes of weapons can be carried under the belly and wings of each of the 18 Rafales currently on board the Charles de Gaulle. Phenomenal firepower reinforced by that of the nuclear attack submarine and the five French, Portuguese, Greek and Italian frigates which have formed the French carrier group in the Mediterranean since April 22 for the “Akila” mission. And while naval combat is back on the planet, Paris wants to make it known.
Seen from a helicopter, the Charles de Gaulle seems surprisingly small, as wide as a football field, as long as two and a half. Seen from the inside too. The pilots must land their planes at 250 km/h on a surface equivalent to a tennis court which advances and rises with the waves, hook one of the three cables stretched to the ground with a hook – the hydraulic “stopping strands” –, endure a very violent deceleration and clear the track before being brushed by the next person.