Macron names future aircraft carrier ‘France Libre’

ISTANBUL

French President Emmanuel Macron announced Wednesday that the country's future aircraft carrier will be named "France Libre” or Free France.

"Our new aircraft carrier will bear the name France Libre,” Macron announced during a visit to the Naval Group shipyard in Indre, near Nantes – a city on the Loire River, leading to the Atlantic Ocean – where the future vessel is being built.

The new ship, set to succeed the Charles de Gaulle aircraft carrier, is scheduled to enter service in 2038 at an estimated cost of around €10 billion ($11.5 billion).

Equipped with two nuclear reactors, the carrier will be 310 meters (over 1,000 feet) long and have a displacement of 80,000 metric tons, making it larger than the Charles de Gaulle.

Macron said the aircraft carrier "is a constant demonstration of determination and commitment — to act alone if necessary, and with our allies whenever possible."

He stressed the need to remain a nation that acts in a world where the framework of rules has become "a field of ruins, where crises can erupt anytime and anywhere," underlining that their allies expect them to show up while potential adversaries must know that "France is a power."

"Without a strong defense industry, we would be condemned to military subordination, strategic vassalage, and economic submission," Macron also said.

Seas and oceans have become "new arenas of contemporary conflict," he said.

"They will become even more so with each passing year. Recent days have undoubtedly confirmed this, and the future will only reinforce it," Macron added.