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Plug and Fight: A French Air Wing on a U.S. Carrier
US Naval Institute ^ | March 1, 2019 | Commander Christophe Charpentier, French Navy

Posted on 03/15/2019 6:41:31 AM PDT by C19fan

France has a single nuclear-powered aircraft carrier—the Charles de Gaulle—and one carrier air wing (CVW), composed of three Rafale-M fighter squadrons and one E-2C Hawkeye squadron. During the midlife update of the ship (known to her crew as “mother”) scheduled between February 2017 and July 2018, a major concern for the French Navy was maintaining the “savoir faire” of the French carrier strike group (CSG) gained during operational deployments in support of Operation Inherent Resolve in Iraq and Syria. In 2016, U.S. Chief of Naval Operations Admiral John Richardson offered his French counterpart, Chief of Staff of the French Navy Admiral Christophe Prazuck, a tremendous opportunity—train with a U.S. aircraft carrier and its CVW in spring 2018. Considering the demanding operational commitments of U.S. CSGs around the world, this generous offer confirmed that since the times of Lafayette, de Grasse, and Rochambeau both navies and nations have been bound by unwavering links.

(Excerpt) Read more at usni.org ...


TOPICS: Military/Veterans
KEYWORDS: france; navy
Any freepers seen the French Rafale flying around Hampton Roads area?
1 posted on 03/15/2019 6:41:31 AM PDT by C19fan
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To: C19fan

I believe I saw them in the Jacksonville, FL area. I had no idea at the time. The USN does have foreign aircraft here training all the time. I saw a bunch of Korean pilots in flight suits at the Walmart by NAS JAX last year.


2 posted on 03/15/2019 6:51:24 AM PDT by lodi90
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To: lodi90

Here at Eglin, there’s weird stuff flying around all day...............


3 posted on 03/15/2019 7:00:31 AM PDT by Red Badger (We are headed for a Civil War. It won't be nice like the last one....................)
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To: C19fan

The last and perhaps only time the French Navy engaged in a successful action was in the Chesapeake in 1781 when the British commander of a relief fleet took some insignificant damage in a brief battle and promptly turned back to New York. That British commander changed history. The French must have been astonished.


4 posted on 03/15/2019 7:04:50 AM PDT by allendale (.)
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To: allendale

Get your story straight. The British fleet sent to rescue Cornwallis was fought at the mouth of the Chesapeake by the French fleet under Admiral de Grasse. Defeated, they were unable to rescue Cornwallis at Yorktown and the rest is history. Lafayette refused to accept Cornwallis’s sword and deferred to Washington. The British were sent packing and France was the first country to recognize the United States as a free and sovereign nation. WITHOUT FRANCE we would be a BRITISH SUBJECT! GOD FORBID!


5 posted on 03/15/2019 7:32:56 AM PDT by Mollypitcher1 (I have not yet begun to fight....John Paul Jones)
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To: Mollypitcher1

Er sorry but the British naval commander that day was not the progenitor of Lord Nelson. Nevertheless it is true that if he had not turned tail with his intact fleet and instead had forced a relief of Cornwallis, the war might have ended differently. So yes. That was and remains the last significant “victory” of the French Navy. Its a waste of time for the US Navy to be training with the French on outmoded surface capital ships of any sort that will not survive modern technological warfare against a sophisticated opponent. The “battleship admirals” would be better off exercising with the Swedes who have developed innovative, quiet submarines. The French are worthless and useless.


6 posted on 03/15/2019 7:42:35 AM PDT by allendale (.)
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To: allendale

. The French are worthless and useless.
……………………………………………………………………………………………..
Your total IGNORANCE is astonishing. You must be a BRIT!
In any fight I’ll take the French over the Brits any day!!!


7 posted on 03/15/2019 8:21:12 AM PDT by Mollypitcher1 (I have not yet begun to fight....John Paul Jones)
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To: allendale

“The French are worthless and useless.”

I think King Harold II might take issue with that statement as evidenced by the outcome on 14 Oct 1066.


8 posted on 03/15/2019 8:39:49 AM PDT by Portcall24
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To: Mollypitcher1

France is in bed with Iran. So is the UK.

I’ll take neither.

The EU can go to Hades with my blessing.


9 posted on 03/15/2019 8:41:30 AM PDT by mewzilla (Break out the mustard seeds.)
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To: Mollypitcher1

The Kingdom of Morocco recognized the United States four months before France formally did so.


10 posted on 03/15/2019 11:48:51 AM PDT by GreyHoundSailor
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To: C19fan

one carrier air wing (CVW), composed of three Rafale-M fighter squadrons and one E-2C Hawkeye squadron.


That’s not worth the expense of having a carrier.

And this is funny ...

“since the times of Lafayette, de Grasse, and Rochambeau both navies and nations have been bound by unwavering links”

They leave out the time right after we liberated France from Germany, for which they will never forgive us, the era of De Gaulle, made doubly funny by that also being the name of their carrier.


11 posted on 03/15/2019 12:46:31 PM PDT by sparklite2 (Don't mind me. I'm just a contrarian.)
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To: Mollypitcher1

Interesting and canny bit of politics there for Lafayette. Deferred to Washington for the sword. Did not know that. Very smart of Lafayette, and the Brits likely got it right away.


12 posted on 03/15/2019 12:52:08 PM PDT by RinaseaofDs
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To: mewzilla

Macron may be “in bed” with Iran, but don’t believe the French people are. Macron is in bed with Merkel and that’s about it. Both are in serious trouble politically along with Canada’s idiot, Trudeau.


13 posted on 03/16/2019 11:05:05 AM PDT by Mollypitcher1 (I have not yet begun to fight....John Paul Jones)
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To: RinaseaofDs

Cornwallis was a British Aristocrat and a snob. He refused to surrender his sword to a nobody, a common soldier and farmer, Washington. Lafayette was a titled Aristocrat so therefore worthy in his opinion. Lafayette loved Washington like a father. Lafayette named his son George Washington Lafayette.


14 posted on 03/16/2019 11:51:45 AM PDT by Mollypitcher1 (I have not yet begun to fight....John Paul Jones)
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