In First, France Deploys Its Nuclear-Powered Aircraft Carrier to the Pacific Ocean

The French Navy is deploying the Charles de Gaulle, the country’s only aircraft carrier and its first nuclear-powered flattop, to the Pacific Ocean for the first time.

The deployment is part of the French Navy’s ongoing Clemenceau 25 mission, which has been taking the Charles de Gaulle Carrier Strike Group (CSG) to the Indo-Pacific. The mission aims at enhancing maritime security and developing interoperability with partners and allies in the region.

On February 13, two ships from the CSG – the Alsace, a multi-mission frigate (FREMM), and the Jacques Chevallier, a force replenishment ship (BRF) – made a historic port call at the U.S. Navy’s White Beach facility in Uruma City of Okinawa Prefecture, southwestern Japan.

The French Embassy in Tokyo said this marked the first time that the BRF, which entered active service in November 2024, had made a stopover in Japan.

The embassy did not disclose the name of the frigate to the Japanese media, citing operational concerns, but the French Navy had announced on February 3 that “the FREMM Alsace will head directly for Okinawa for an official visit prior to a new exercise – ‘Pacific Steller’ – that will bring together the French CSG with Australian, Canadian, Japanese and U.S. vessels.”

The two French vessels made a port call at the White Beach Naval Facility in order to monitor North Korea’s illicit activities and enforce sanctions under United Nations Security Council Resolutions 2375 and 2397.

Currently, the United Nations Command (UNC), in accordance with Article 5 of the UNC Status of Forces Agreement, is allowed to use seven U.S. Forces facilities and areas in Japan: White Beach Area, Camp Zama, Fleet Activities Yokosuka, Fleet Activities Sasebo, Yokota Air Base, Kadena Air Base, and Marine Corps Air Station Futenma. The current active signatories to the UNC agreement are Australia, Canada, France, Italy, Japan, New Zealand, Philippines, Thailand, Turkiye, the United Kingdom, and the United States.

The Charles De Gaulle left its home port of Toulon in southern France on November 28 to lead the CSG on the five-month mission. This is the first time the French Navy has deployed an aircraft carrier to the Pacific Ocean in 57 years, since 1968 when the conventionally powered aircraft carrier Clemenceau was temporarily deployed to the South Pacific to take part in nuclear tests.

In 2019, the French aircraft carrier participated in a bilateral exercise with the Singapore Armed Forces in Singapore by sailing through the Indian Ocean. Thus, the Charles de Gaulle has been to the “Indo-Pacific,” but had not actually transited the Pacific Ocean – until now.

On December 17, Rear Admiral Guillaume Pinget, joint commander of the French Armed Forces in the Asia-Pacific, said in Tokyo that the CSG’s call at Okinawa “will open up new possibilities.”

Pinget is the commander of the French Armed Forces based in Tahiti, French Polynesia, with responsibility for French security interests in the Pacific theater.

The Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force (JMSDF), the U.S. Navy, and the French Navy conducted the first joint France-Japan-U.S. exercise – called Pacific Steller 2025 – from February 8 to 18 in the Philippine Sea.

According to the JMSDF, there have been joint training exercises between the Self-Defense Forces, the U.S. military, and the French military in the past, but this is the first joint training exercise between Japan, the U.S., and France under the new framework of “Pacific Steller.”

A flotilla of about 10 warships, including the Charles de Gaulle, the USS Carl Vinson (a U.S. nuclear-powered carrier), and Japan’s JS Kaga (a helicopter carrier), trained together.

The JMSDF said that the purpose of this joint training was to improve its tactical skills and strengthen cooperation with the U.S. and French navies in order to realize a “free and open Indo-Pacific.”

Military experts believe that the aim is to demonstrate cooperation between Japan, the United States, and France, with China’s accelerating military buildup and its increasing maritime activities in mind.

“Pacific Steller 2025 allows us to practice seamless integration with our French and Japanese allies in a multi-domain environment,” said Rear Admiral Michael Wosje, commander of the United States’ Carrier Strike Group (CSG) 1, according to the U.S. 7th Fleet.

“Coordinated operations between USS Carl Vinson, FS Charles De Gaulle, and JS Kaga strengthen our alliances and deter our adversaries. Together, we seek to maintain an open and inclusive Indo-Pacific, free of all forms of coercion, and we’re excited to work alongside our allies and partners who share that vision,” he added.

According to the French Navy’s press release, during Pacific Steller, “For 10 days, all units carried out high-level training in all areas of combat, whether anti-surface, anti-aircraft, or anti-submarine, with the aim of strengthening their interoperability and mutual knowledge.”

France has overseas territories in Réunion and Mayotte in the Indian Ocean, and French Polynesia and New Caledonia in the South Pacific, and has declared that it is an Indo-Pacific nation. It is the only European Union member to maintain a permanent military presence in both the Indian and Pacific oceans.

China is strongly opposed to France's expansion into the Indo-Pacific. “[T]hese actions present a picture of major Western powers from outside the region engaging in military build-up in the Asia-Pacific. This intensifies tensions and undermines the efforts of Asia-Pacific countries to independently build a regional security framework,” the Global Times, a propaganda mouthpiece for the Chinese Communist Party, reported on December 19, 2024.