The aircraft carrier Charles de Gaulle set sail from Toulon, Monday April 21, with all its escort. The carrier strike group has completed its ramp-up and is now fully operational. He therefore set sail for six weeks, heading for the central and eastern Mediterranean. For fifteen days, it will be placed under NATO command. And it’s not that common.
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This is the kick-off of Operation Akila for the flagship of the fleet Frenchplaced for the first time with its fighter planes and its escort under command NATOand more precisely under the authority of an American vice-admiral, in charge of the staff of NATO naval forces.
The mission is short and will last fifteen days, from April 26 to May 10. Operation Akila will bring together a fleet made up of American, Spanish, Italian, Portuguese and Greek ships. The objective will be to strengthen the alliance’s defensive and dissuasive posture in the central and eastern Mediterranean.
A tool of sovereignty
NATO is somehow flexing its muscles, but this time offshore. And for Paris, it is also an opportunity to indicate that France is fully reinvesting within the Alliance. Moreover, on Thursday April 25, on the eve of its passage under NATO operational control, the aircraft carrier will welcome on board for the first time the conference of 32 ambassadors from the member countries of the Atlantic Alliance.
The aircraft carrier Charles de Gaullethe first carrier group in Europe, is a tool of sovereignty par excellence and it also serves to convey messages of a political nature to allies.
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