The Aeronaval Group
The aeronaval group is the main French Navy power projection force. It is also one of the components of the nuclear deterrence forces, since the embarked Super Étendard and Rafale planes have nuclear capabilities.
At minimum, it contains an aircraft carrier (currently the Charles De Gaulle), an anti-air frigate, and a support vessel. Typically, this group also includes several anti-air and anti-submarine frigates, an nuclear attack submarine (Rubis class submarines and the future Barracuda class submarines), and possibly additional support ships.
The carrier air group can include up to 40 aircraft: Rafale, Super Étendard and E-2 Hawkeye planes, and Eurocopter Dauphin and Aérospatiale Super Frelon helicopters. This composition varies according to the mission and the tactical environment, and can include aircraft of the Armée or the Armée de l'Air.
Like any naval force, the aeronaval group can be assisted by land-based Breguet Atlantique aircraft.
One of the aeronaval group's deployments was to take part in the initial attacks on Al Qaeda and the Taliban in Afghanistan as part of what became the War in Afghanistan, in response to the September 11th attacks. The group, designated Task Force 473 for the operation, comprised 2,900 men under the command of Contre-Amiral François Cluzel and sailed in December 2001. It consisted of the nuclear aircraft carrier Charles De Gaulle, frigates La Motte-Picquet, Jean de Vienne, Jean Bart, the nuclear attack submarine Rubis, the tanker Meuse, and the aviso Commandant Ducuing. The Indian Ocean region deployment lasted for seven months before the group returned to France in mid-2002.
The number 473 seems to be semi-permanently assigned to the Charles de Gaulle and its task group, being used again during Operation Agapanthe in 2004.
During the 2011 Libyan civil war, the French carrier battle group commanded from Charles de Gaulle was designated Task Force 473 and was under the command of Vice-Admiral Phillippe Coindreau. Coindreau was promoted to contre-amiral in September 2009, and he was named deputy commandant of the aéro-maritime force of rapid réaction at Toulon. In English-language reports, he was described as deputy commander of the High Readiness Force Maritime Headquarter.
Read more about this topic: Force D'action Navale
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