France’s nuclear-powered aircraft carrier Charles de Gaulle is heading to the North Atlantic as the United States threatens to occupy Greenland, the French Defense Ministry said.
Meanwhile, President Emmanuel Macron is scheduled to meet with the leaders of Denmark and Greenland in Paris.
President Emmanuel Macron “reaffirms European solidarity and France’s support for Denmark, Greenland and their sovereignty and territorial integrity,” the presidential palace said.
Macron’s office said the leaders of France, Denmark and Greenland will discuss “Arctic security issues and Greenland’s economic and social development, which France and the European Union stand ready to support.”
The French Ministry of Defense did not say where the Charles de Gaulle aircraft carrier was based. But officials told AFP it was headed for the North Atlantic, which is at the center of geopolitical tensions between the United States and Europe.
“Naval aviation departed from Toulon naval base to participate in Orion 26, a large-scale joint Allied exercise,” the French Ministry of Defense announced.
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“This exercise, which will take place over the coming weeks in the Atlantic region, a strategic region for the defense of European interests, will bring together the French military and its allies and partners in the region.”
Carrier strike groups include aircraft carriers and their aircraft, as well as a variety of escort and support ships, such as air defense frigates, supply ships, and attack submarines.
President Trump earlier this month threatened to annex Greenland and impose tariffs on European countries that object to his move. In response to European opposition, the U.S. president reversed his threat to seize territory by military means.
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Charles de Gaulle is the only aircraft carrier of the French Navy. The nuclear-powered aircraft carrier was commissioned in 2001 and has a displacement of about 42,000 tons, which is significantly smaller than the 100,000-ton American supercarrier.
She is the only non-U.S. aircraft carrier equipped with catapults and lightning arrester wire, capable of launching and recovering a wide range of fixed-wing aircraft.
The carrier typically carries up to 40 aircraft, including state-of-the-art Rafale watercraft, E-2C Hawkeye EW aircraft, and helicopters such as the NH90.
Over the past quarter century, Charles de Gaulle (CDG) has seen intense movement. It deployed early to the Arabian Gulf for Operation Enduring Freedom after 9/11, supported operations off the coast of Libya in 2011, and struck ISIS targets in Iraq and Syria.
Most recently, the Clemenceau 25 mission took the CDG and its strike group deep into the Indo-Pacific for the first time, conducting exercises with partners including the United States, Japan, India, and even the Philippines.
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Meanwhile, NATO chief Mark Rutte has warned that Europe cannot protect itself without the United States, as tensions over Greenland prompt calls for the continent to become self-reliant.
President Trump threatened to seize the autonomous territory of Denmark, threatening to undermine the NATO alliance. The diplomatic crisis has given new momentum to advocates for Europe to take a tougher stance against Trump and cut its military dependence on the United States.
“If anyone here again thinks that the European Union, or Europe as a whole, can protect itself without the United States, keep dreaming,” Rutte told lawmakers in the European Parliament. “You can’t do that.”
He said EU countries needed to double their defense spending from 5% to 10% of the NATO target agreed last year and spend “billions of dollars” on developing nuclear weapons.
