While the new military programming law (LPM) covering the period 2025-2030 will be presented Tuesday April 4 in the Council of Ministers, Sébastien Lecornu confirmed Saturday April 1, in an interview with the newspaper Le Parisien, the schedule planned for the carrier. new generation French aircraft (PA-NG). It is a question of “definitively initiating the start of its realization at the end of 2025-beginning of 2026”, says the Minister of the Armed Forces. This is in line with what was planned so far, namely the notification of the construction contract in 2025 to the manufacturers concerned: Naval Group and Chantiers de l’Atlantique, united within the company MO Porte-avions, as well as TechnicAtome for the building’s nuclear boiler rooms. The Minister also specified that the “sea trials should take place in 2036-2037”, again in line with the forecasts since the PA-NG acceptance trials are scheduled for the end of 2036/beginning of 2037, for a service in the French Navy in 2038.
A calendar constrained by the end of Charles de Gaulle’s career
This major program was therefore not impacted by the difficult budgetary arbitration between the major armament programs, despite a significant increase in the credits allocated to this LPM (413 billion announced). It must be said that France did not really have a choice, the withdrawal from the Charles de Gaulle fleet, which will take place in 2038 after 37 years of service, being constrained by the lifespan of its nuclear reactors, while the construction of his successor will be subject to a very strict schedule. Delaying the construction of the PA-NG would inevitably result in a period without aircraft carriers for the French fleet, with