Re: PLAN Carrier Operations..News, Videos & Photos
The French Government bought into the CVF programm several years ago to provide them with a companion carrier for the Charles De Gaulle, hence PA 2 (Porte Aeroneufs 2, Aircraft Carrier 2 for those who haven't figured that out yet), but at the time CVF was a STOVL design, though suspiciously with many CTOL features (officially an 'adaptable' design, and indeed it has been adapted now). The French modified the design for CATOBAR, though at the time EMALS wasn't in prospect for the French at least, so American C-13 Steam Catapults as on the CdG were specified. This meant fitting donkey boilers to provide the steam for the cats, and the French also specified a defensive missile battery (Aster 15) in Sylver VLS silos. These along with some internal rearrangements to suit the French Navy drove the displacement up to 75,000 tonnes, though the overall dimensions remained the same. The French ulterior motive for joining the programme (I'm English so naturally assume the French are up to some thing all the time!) was that they thought they could grab the lions share of the construction work, up to two thirds of it in return for only one third of the ships in the programme. They failed to appreciate that the CVF programme was from the point of view of the then UK Labour government as much about job creation in run down areas as building new carriers for the RN. The French paid £150 million for access to the design work, but slowly realised there was no prospect of awarding any of the construction work on the UK ships to French yards. This, combined with the economic downturn, meant the project was suspended by President Sarkozy until around 2012, when it will be looked at again.
In the meantime the Primary French Warship constructor, DCN, which was a little miffed at being passed over for the design work for PA2 (they built CdG, and have been touting conventionally powered variants to the MN ever since) revived their previous potential CV designs and showed them at naval exhibitions, referring to them as 'PA2' as if it was a done deal. As usual many internet 'experts' have now assumed this is a done deal and confidently decree the CVF/PA2 is dead and buried. They may be surprised next year if the French Government gives the go ahead for the project, though I personally think it will be suspended for another couple of years until their economy improves. It is not in the nature of the French to cancel a project like this, any other nation would just say they couln't afford it and walk away. To the French keeping the project in limbo allows them to maintain national pride without spending any money. In the meantime they are keeping their shipyards busy with the much cheaper Mistral class LHDs for themselves and the Russians.
The French Government bought into the CVF programm several years ago to provide them with a companion carrier for the Charles De Gaulle, hence PA 2 (Porte Aeroneufs 2, Aircraft Carrier 2 for those who haven't figured that out yet), but at the time CVF was a STOVL design, though suspiciously with many CTOL features (officially an 'adaptable' design, and indeed it has been adapted now). The French modified the design for CATOBAR, though at the time EMALS wasn't in prospect for the French at least, so American C-13 Steam Catapults as on the CdG were specified. This meant fitting donkey boilers to provide the steam for the cats, and the French also specified a defensive missile battery (Aster 15) in Sylver VLS silos. These along with some internal rearrangements to suit the French Navy drove the displacement up to 75,000 tonnes, though the overall dimensions remained the same. The French ulterior motive for joining the programme (I'm English so naturally assume the French are up to some thing all the time!) was that they thought they could grab the lions share of the construction work, up to two thirds of it in return for only one third of the ships in the programme. They failed to appreciate that the CVF programme was from the point of view of the then UK Labour government as much about job creation in run down areas as building new carriers for the RN. The French paid £150 million for access to the design work, but slowly realised there was no prospect of awarding any of the construction work on the UK ships to French yards. This, combined with the economic downturn, meant the project was suspended by President Sarkozy until around 2012, when it will be looked at again.
In the meantime the Primary French Warship constructor, DCN, which was a little miffed at being passed over for the design work for PA2 (they built CdG, and have been touting conventionally powered variants to the MN ever since) revived their previous potential CV designs and showed them at naval exhibitions, referring to them as 'PA2' as if it was a done deal. As usual many internet 'experts' have now assumed this is a done deal and confidently decree the CVF/PA2 is dead and buried. They may be surprised next year if the French Government gives the go ahead for the project, though I personally think it will be suspended for another couple of years until their economy improves. It is not in the nature of the French to cancel a project like this, any other nation would just say they couln't afford it and walk away. To the French keeping the project in limbo allows them to maintain national pride without spending any money. In the meantime they are keeping their shipyards busy with the much cheaper Mistral class LHDs for themselves and the Russians.
