French aircraft carrier PA2
Thales Design
Thales Design
A new generation of aircraft carrier developed both for the French Marine nationale based on the Thales design for a UK future aircraft carrier, CV(F). The vessel will displace approximately 50,000 tonnes - almost three times the displacment of the current British Invincible class aircraft carriers. The carrier will be based in Toulon, Var for France. The requirement for the carriers was confirmed by Jacques Chirac in 2004 for the centennial of the entente cordiale.
An alliance of Thales and DCN will develop and build the aircraft carriers from the French Thales design. While the UK in service dates of 2012 and 2015 for their two carriers have been announced, the construction timetable for the French ship has not been disclosed.
The vessels will be the largest and most powerful surface warships ever built in the UK and the most capable aircraft carriers outside of the US Navy. They are designed to operate the Lockheed Martin F-35 (JSF) and the Dassault Rafale for standard version and the F-35B STOVL variant the initial UK version of the carrier. The vessels are expected to be capable of carrying 48 F-35s and similar quantity of Dassault Rafales, four airborne-early-warning (AEW) aircraft and six support/anti-submarine helicopters, for example the AgustaWestland EH101 or the. The crew will be about 600, only 15 more than the Invincible, indicating the high level of automation being integrated into the ships' systems.
France will develop the ship in joint-venture with Germany. The French decision, comes as a result of the centennial of entente cordiale, to proceed to the construction of the aircraft carrier however has aroused numerous controversies in France where the idea to renounce to the nuclear propulsion in disadvantage of DCN in order to favour British needs comes behind seen like a backward step for the French technology. However the numerous problems with the propulsion system of the Charles de Gaulle and the fact that the design was tailored to the Royal Navy's requirements leaves little choice.
The MOD decided not to use nuclear propulsion for the aircraft carrier because of high costs. The carrier's propulsion system will be Integrated Full Electric Propulsion (IFEP) based on four gas turbines. It is expected that the Royal Navy will continue its investment in the WR-21 advanced cycle gas turbine engines for the carrier. The optimum location for the position of the main propulsion system is being examined, with maximising the hangar space below decks a major consideration. The range of the carrier will be 10,000nm.
The construction of the hull will happen on the base of an innovative industrial plan from Thales, consisting in the independent realization of a series of blocks that will go then joined to form the ensemble of the structure, so as to to obtain a drastic cost reduction of production.
Thales Block Design
UK Variant
55,00T(proposed originally) or 45,00T(realistic) of deplacement (it is unclear if the british will achieve a so large shipyard deck for the ship) The large size of the carrier is a major problem and issue. With the proposed specification of at least 55,000 tonnes displacement and a length of 274,32m (900ft), it will be difficult for them to routinely and safely enter and berth at either of the RN's main two naval bases, Portsmouth Naval Base and Devonport Naval Base. Moreover, there is no suitable dry dock for a CVF at either base, the No.10 Dock at Devonport being restricted to ships of about 40,000 tonnes and 259m (850ft) length, while the biggest two docks at Portsmouth are slightly smaller (259 m long with a 33m beam, 256 m long respectively). Lengthening of any of these docks, or the construction of a new dry dock, would be a major and expensive exercise So, probably, the initial design of the British version will be a reduced version suitable only for VTOL version of the JSF with possibility of later upgrades to support standard take-off aircrafts
French Variant
Thales Naval France and DCN have proposed a 275m long, 58,000T variant of the CVF for the French Navy's second aircraft carrier (PA2). They plan to that the hull will be built by Chantiers de l'Atlantique at Saint Nazaire, and fitting out will be by DCN at Brest. Chantiers de l'Atlantique are able to build much larger ships than a CVF (in 2003 they built the 345m Queen Mary 2), thus a whole ship rather than superblock construction techniques can be adopted, this means that the French could adopt a more complex and hydrodynamically efficient hull firm, which would be too risky for the UK. Moreover the French are not confined by the physical restrictions of the Rosyth No.1 dock like the British are. For example, the French aircraft carrier may also have a beam wider than the maximum permitted to UK ships. The French Marine Nationale will base its new carrier at the Toulon Naval Base. It is fortunate enough to have there two huge dry docks which are able to accommodate even a Nimitz-class aircraft carrier. France expects to place the design contract for PA2 before december 2004, the order at the end of 2006, and the the objective of having the new carrier operational before the beginning of the refit and refuelling scheduled for the nuclear carrier Charles de Gaulle in 2015
Unofficial french name:
- Georges Pompidou??? (very possible, it was the successor of De Gaulle as President of the fifth Republic of France)