Key Points and Summary – France’s PANG program is meant to replace Charles de Gaulle with a larger, nuclear-powered carrier fitted with EMALS and a mixed manned–unmanned air wing.
-On paper, it’s the flagship of Paris’s drive for strategic autonomy and global reach from the Indo-Pacific to the Med.
190424-M-BP588-1005 U.S. 5TH FLEET AREA OF OPERATIONS (April 24, 2019) A U.S. Marine MV-22 Osprey assigned to the 22nd Marine Expeditionary Unit sits on the flight deck of France’s Marine Nationale aircraft carrier FS Charles De Gaulle (R 91). This was the second time that Ospreys have landed aboard the French vessel. Marines and Sailors assigned to the 22nd MEU and Kearsarge Amphibious Ready Group are currently deployed to the U.S. 5th Fleet area of operations in support of naval operations to ensure maritime stability and security in the Central region, connecting the Mediterranean and the Pacific through the western Indian Ocean and three strategic choke points. (U.S. Marine Corps photo by Maj. Joshua Smith/Released)
-In practice, PANG is running into hard limits: an €6–8+ billion price tag, overstretched shipyards juggling subs and frigates, and real risk of a carrier gap if Charles de Gaulle retires before PANG is ready.
-Even if it works, France will still field only one carrier—leaving its global ambitions hostage to maintenance schedules.
The Problem With PANG
The Charles de Gaulle (R91) has served as the flagship of the Marine Nationale since 2001, and remains France’s only aircraft carrier. But to maintain its global naval posture, Paris has launched the Porte-avions de nouvelle generation (PANG) program – a next-generation nuclear-powered carrier expected to arrive by the late 2030s or early 2040s.
The program is ambitious, with the vessel expected to carry electromagnetic catapults (EMALS), a large air wing of both manned and unmanned fighter systems, and serve as a key tool for France’s strategic autonomy.
It’s precisely the kind of platform France needs to build on its years-long military asset ramp-up, and comes as its Rafale fighter jets gain steam on the export market.
The PANG program will allow France to serve alongside great powers like the United States and project power across the Indo-Pacific, the Mediterranean, and beyond.
And yet, the PANG initiative is facing serious headwinds. Its enormous cost is a problem; shipyard capacity constraints are expected to cause delays, and there are schedule risks.
And crucially, even if it is delivered, it still leaves France with just one carrier. In a world of continuous carrier groups, France’s operating a single hull leaves gaps in its overall strategic flexibility.
PANG Aircraft Carrier from France. Image Credit: Creative Commons.
PANG Is A Major Leap, At A Cost
The PANG is designed to be a significant leap in France’s capabilities.
Initial designs suggest it will have a displacement of between 75,000 and 80,000 tonnes, a length of around 310 meters, and a nuclear-powered propulsion system capable of sustaining high sortie generation with modern EMALS and future-fighting systems.
It will replace the Charles de Gaulle, which will be over 35 years old by the time it is officially retired.
The cost, however, is enormous. Official French estimates for design and construction put the overall price at around 6 billion Euros, though industry analysts have said the final price could exceed 8 billion.
Some have even suggested the price could go even higher. It’s pricey for a reason—a few, in fact.
The project is an enormous undertaking and requires support from manufacturers, engineers, and experts from all over the world – and a contract for US-built EMALS and advanced arresting gear costs around $1.32 billion alone.
This matters because France’s defense budget – while substantial – is limited compared to superpowers, making a program like this a significant strain on its resources.
Competing priorities include submarine construction, frigate modernization, and ongoing overseas operations. At the same time, France’s industrial base is already stretched. Its shipyards are juggling the Barracuda submarine program, FDI frigates, and nuclear maintenance cycles.
France SSBN. Image Credit: Creative Commons.
Any delay in PANG development could mean a gap in carrier availability if the Charles de Gaulle must retire before its successor is ready.
It’s a problem the United States is acutely accustomed to at this point – and worse for France, given its much more limited industrial base and capacity.
The question here isn’t whether France can build PANG. It can. The real issue is whether it can sustain it without crowding out other essential defense programs, get it built before Charles de Gaulle retires, and absorb the inevitable cost overruns and schedule slips that come with a problem like this.
One Carrier With Big Ambitions
France is ambitious. That is becoming increasingly obvious. With the likely collapse of FCAS on the cards, driven in part by France’s diverging priorities and desire for autonomy, PANG is part of a broader strategy to build mighty land, sea, and air forces.
Paris wants a global maritime presence, Indo-Pacific engagement, NATO carrier cooperation, sea deterrence, sovereign power projection – the lot. However, the fact remains that France will still only have a single carrier once PANG is complete.
That means at any given time the carrier may be unavailable due to maintenance, refit, or upgrades – leaving a gap in France’s carrier-borne capabilities.
PANG is useful when it’s available, but France ceases to be a great naval power when it’s in dock.
But this is not new for France. Charles de Gaulle’s periodic maintenance windows already create these capability gaps.
In the PANG era, however, France will be under greater pressure as the world shifts to a new era of combat powered by AI, long-range missiles, and drones. Relying on a single hull wasn’t ideal before, and it is far from ideal now.
France can and will build PANG. It’s simply a matter of time. But as rivals expand their naval reach and warfare accelerates – and tensions rise in the Indo-Pacific and beyond – Paris risks fielding a world-class carrier that still leaves its global ambitions massively constrained by a straightforward problem: availability.
About the Author:
Jack Buckby is a British author, counter-extremism researcher, and journalist based in New York. Reporting on the U.K., Europe, and the U.S., he works to analyze and understand left-wing and right-wing radicalization, and reports on Western governments’ approaches to the pressing issues of today. His books and research papers explore these themes and propose pragmatic solutions to our increasingly polarized society. His latest book is The Truth Teller: RFK Jr. and the Case for a Post-Partisan Presidency.
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