The Minister of the Armed Forces announces the start of the manufacture of the new French aircraft carrier between the end of 2025 and the beginning of 2026

The process is started. The construction of the new French nuclear-powered aircraft carrier, supposed to replace the Charles-de-Gaulle, will begin between the end of 2025 and the beginning of 2026 with the first sea trials in 2036-37, announced on Saturday April 1, the Minister for the Armed Forces. , in a daily interview The Parisian. Sébastien Lecornu specified that the government was going “definitively initiate the start of its implementation at the end of 2025/beginning of 2026”.

The process will be recorded in the next Military Programming Law (LPM) 2024-2030, for a total amount of 413 billion euros, which must be presented Tuesday, April 4 in the Council of Ministers. “The companies Naval Group, Technicatome and the shipyards of the Atlantic will be able to start its construction”added the Minister. “Sea trials should take place in 2036-2037”he said, describing “a cathedral of technology and human skills” of 75,000 tons. According to him, a first sum of 5 billion euros will be devoted to the aircraft carrier in the future LPM.

“Unique know-how among our sailors”

“There are only two countries left in the world that know how to build and operate nuclear aircraft carriers: the Americans and us”he said again, claiming its necessity in a global environment marked by the war in Ukraine and multiple international tensions. “Having a carrier battle group strengthens our presence well beyond our own maritime spaceestimated Sébastien Lecornu. To renounce this capacity is to lose unique know-how among our sailors, and to assume a lasting downgrading among other nations.

The minister also claimed to have “asked the President of the Republic and the Prime Minister to soon present to parliament a request for additional expenditure of 1.5 billion euros in 2023” For “to cushion the effects of inflation but also to accelerate the repair of our armies”. In the discussions on the LPM, Elisabeth Borne pleaded for small annual marches, in order to postpone the bulk of the budgetary effort after 2027, i.e. at the end of the five-year term. In the event of a vote by Parliament, the budget increase for 2023 would therefore increase from 3 to 4.5 billion euros.