With 70 vessels, the French Navy is in 10th place in the world ranking of navies in terms of number of ships (surface vessels and submarines), according to a study by Gican (Groupement des Industries de Construction et Activites Navales) unveiled this Monday at Euronaval show, which opens its doors this Monday. Tied for tenth with Egypt… Overtaken by North Korea (86 units), Japan (109), Turkey (110), South Korea (110), India (121) and Indonesia (132). And obviously very far from the top three: China (455), Russia (259) and the United States (246). Faced with the multiplication of violent crises which always combine with traditional missions (protection of the mainland, overseas territories, vital interests with submarines and economic interests), the French Navy must today choose its missions while it faces attacks from drones (aerial and surface), anti-ship missiles and ballistic missiles in the Red Sea from the Houthis, allies of Iran.
“To choose is to give up”
This is what the Chief of Staff of the Navy, Admiral Nicolas Vaujour, explained in mid-September to the deputies of the Defense Commission: “I am extremely torn by a number of boats which is what it is but I am obliged to optimize as much as possible to make the effort not everywhere and at the same time because, that, I am not capable of do it but to focus the effort where we consider it necessary and urgent while trying to share the burden with others, in particular our European partners as we are doing today in the Red Sea, off the coast of Libya and a little elsewhere ». The French Navy currently deploys 43 ships at sea (4,600 sailors).
This observation is not new. Admiral Vaujour's predecessors had regretted this with more or less freedom of speech. Particularly since the 2014-2019 military programming law (LPM), which set the number of first-tier frigates at only 15 (compared to 18 during the previous LPM, and 24 in 2008). Since then the world has changed but the format of the frigates has remained unchanged due to budgetary constraints linked to the degraded financial situation of France. Beyond the adaptability of the National Navy to fulfill its missions, the mass could eliminate difficult choices. Because as the Chief of Naval Staff recalled, “to choose is to give up”. In 2025, the navy will receive its first defense and intervention frigate (FDI) while the ministry will order at the end of 2025 the successor to the Charles de Gaulle aircraft carrier, which should be withdrawn from service in 2038.
Which is not the case for China. Its industry builds the equivalent in tonnage of the French Navy every four years, the former Chief of Staff of the Navy, Admiral Christophe Prazuck, indicated in 2017. According to the Department of Defense (DoD) and the US Congressional report of January 2021, the People's Liberation Army Navy became the world's largest military fleet in 2020 by number of combat units. It still is, even if in terms of tonnage, the American navy remains ahead (3,222,017 tons, compared to 1,300,311 tons for China). The United States remains in first place in the world thanks to its 20 aircraft carriers, compared to only two for China, according to the Gican study.
Technological advantages
However, “the number of ships does not reflect the power of the fleets because their structure varies »notes the Gican study. In tonnage (253,950), France regains some color, nibbling three places (7th) compared to the ranking in number of boats. It thus surpasses some partners and competitors (Türkiye, Indonesia, Egypt, South Korea, etc.). But with a downside, as observed by the Minister of the Armed Forces, Sébastien Lecornu, heard in mid-October by the senators of the Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee: “Regarding the National Navy, in 1985, France had 311,000 tonnes of steel at sea, but in 2019, only 287,000 tonnes. However, the French exclusive economic zone (EEZ) has not diminished in the meantime”.
Above all, the French Navy, thanks to the French industrial ecosystem, remains at the state of the art in many strategic areas, notably in the development and design of nuclear submarines (SNLE and SNA) in the field of sonars and discretion, the nuclear-powered aircraft carrier and technological frigates (FDI and FREMM) but also in many key technologies (quantum sensors, hypersonic weapons, high-energy laser weapons, etc.). These programs illustrate the full capacity of the French naval defense industry to produce sophisticated ships, strengthening national strategic capabilities.
This allows the French Navy to face a very broad spectrum of threats. “Very few navy are capable of addressing all of these threats, very few navy are capable of intercepting a ballistic missile”underlined Admiral Vaujour. The Navy is also faced with the presence of Russian vessels (submarine and surface) off territorial waters (Channel, Atlantic, North Sea, Mediterranean). With the Russians, “the Atlantic is a place of competition and potentially friction for the Navy”he recalled.
Very optimized support
To meet the challenges and numerous missions with only 15 first-rate frigates, the French Navy also wanted to optimize operational maintenance (MCO) as much as possible with a dual objective: reducing MCO costs while increasing the availability of boats. . “This effort, which was launched many years ago, is bearing fruit todayexplained the chief of staff. JI'm lucky to have between 75% and 80% availability of my frigates in the fleet. It’s something that is very hard to obtain and that we manage to obtain”.
The optimized MCO has made it possible to improve the presence at sea of boats, most of which have double crews. Which made Admiral Vaujour say that “virtually” he has “a little bit more” of 15 frigates. And to point out that two British air defense frigates out of six 6 are available. This is a rate well below the 80% availability of French frigates. This is even more true with the anti-submarine warfare frigates where only three units out of nine are at sea. “I have more availability than them while they have more frigates than me”he showed.
