PA2 (Porte-Avions 2) is a planned new aircraft carrier developed for the French Navy by Thales Naval France and DCNS from the Thales UK/BMT design for the future British Queen Elizabeth class (formerly CVF). The vessel is planned to displace approximately 70–75,000 tonnes, making it a potential supercarrier, will be based in Toulon, Var, France, and will complement the current French carrier, Charles de Gaulle.

France's 2008 military budget included ordering a second aircraft carrier. However, in April 2008 French Defence Minister Herve Morin cast doubt over plans for a second aircraft carrier, citing a cash crunch and the fact that rising oil prices put the question of the propulsion back on table, and said a decision would be taken soon. Further doubts were cast on the project on 21 June 2008 when French President Nicolas Sarkozy decided to suspend co-operation with Britain on the aircraft carrier. Sarkozy stated that a final decision on France building a second carrier would be taken in 2011 or 2012. British plans for two aircraft carriers went ahead as planned despite the French withdrawal, as the original project had in any case been a British one and not dependent on French involvement. On 3 February 2009, the French government ordered studies about another architecture and design raising even more doubt on the likelihood of the French Navy using the current British design. The option of nuclear propulsion is back on table and would require a completely different approach. The option of Azimuth thruster, as used on the Mistral class ships, is also being considered.

Background

The previous French carriers, Clemenceau and Foch were completed in 1961 and 1963 respectively. The requirement for a replacement was identified in the mid-1970s, which became the 40,600-tonne nuclear powered Charles de Gaulle, laid down in April 1989 at the DCN Brest naval shipyard. This carrier was completed in May 1994, but not officially commissioned until 2001 due to a large number of problems. These included the need to lengthen the flight deck after aircraft trials, a broken propeller and vibration and noise problems. The French Navy was understood to be unwilling to proceed with another carrier of the same design and by 2003 the possibility of sharing the Royal Navy design emerged to fulfil the French requirement for a second carrier.

The requirement for the carriers was confirmed by Jacques Chirac in 2004 for the centennial of the Entente Cordiale and on 26 January 2006 the defence ministers of France and Britain reached an agreement regarding cooperation on the design of their future carriers. France agreed to pay the UK for access to the design due to the investment made to date. These payments were £30m in January 2006, £25m in July 2006 and a further £45m if France decides to proceed with the project.

The FY2008 French defence budget included the necessary funding (€3b) for the ship. However the carrier has not yet been ordered and a different design may be chosen because of disagreements over the propulsion.

Design

The French carrier would be built by an alliance of Thales and DCN from their proposed design: a 283 m long, 75,000 tonnes variant of the CVF. While the UK in-service dates of 2014 and 2016 for their two carriers have been announced, the construction timetable for the French ship has not been disclosed. Charles de Gaulle will require refit and refuelling of her nuclear reactors around 2015.

The UK has chosen to continue to use STOVL aircraft for its new carrier; however, the choice of an adaptable design which could be reconfigured for future CATOBAR operation means that the design meets the French Navy requirements. The French version is designed to operate the Dassault Rafale, the E-2C Hawkeye and the NH-90. It is a CATOBAR design, using catapult of the same models as those installed on the Nimitz class supercarriers: C13-2 steam catapults, 90m long. The vessels are expected to be capable of carrying over 32 Rafales, three Hawkeyes and five NH-90s support/anti-submarine helicopters. The crew will be about 1650, instead of 1950 in the Charles de Gaulle, indicating the high level of automation integrated into the ships' systems.

Island

The ship will have two islands: one devoted to ship navigation, and the other to air operations. This allows optimal placement of bridges for both tasks: navigation calls for a bridge placed forward (as on the Charles De Gaulle), while air operations are made easier with a bridge placed abaft (as seen on the US Nimitz class).

Propulsion

Because the design had to meet the Royal Navy's requirements, nuclear propulsion was not an option: the British government rejected nuclear propulsion as too costly. The idea of renouncing nuclear propulsion in this way has been alleged to be a backward step for French technology, but the operational and political gains from a common design apparently outweighed the downsides of conventional propulsion.

The carrier's propulsion system, in its current form, is expected to be integrated full electric propulsion (IFEP) based on two Rolls-Royce MT30 gas turbines. The optimum location for the position of the main propulsion system is being examined to maximise the hangar space below the decks. The expected range of the carrier will be 10,000 nautical miles (19,000 km).

Construction

The hull is likely to be built by Chantiers de l'Atlantique at Saint Nazaire, and fitting out will be by DCN at Brest. The ships are likely to be based at Toulon naval base where two huge dry docks are available to accommodate even a Nimitz-class aircraft carrier.

Ship naming

It has been proposed to name the aircraft carrier Richelieu, after Cardinal Richelieu, which was the name originally intended for the Charles de Gaulle
However, the name of the ship has not been decided yet.