While political attention has largely focused on rearmament pledges across NATO’s northern and eastern flanks in recent years, France has been steadily consolidating a naval position that few of its European peers can match.
An operationally available nuclear-powered aircraft carrier, a frigate fleet that has grown through the 2010s rather than contracted and an export record that continues to attract new customers have combined to place the Marine nationale in a category increasingly difficult for allies to rival.
While France was able to deploy Charles de Gaulle to the eastern Mediterranean on 5 March 2025, with the intention of providing carrier-based strike