Overview
- The French Ministry of Armed Forces said the carrier strike group sailed from Toulon on Tuesday to join the Orion 26 multinational exercise.
- While Paris withheld exact boundaries, sources cited by AFP indicated operations will take place in the North Atlantic.
- Orion 26 runs over the coming weeks through late April and mobilizes about 12,500 French personnel, 25 ships, 140 aircraft, 1,200 drones, and allied forces from 24 countries, including the United States, the United Kingdom, Italy, Norway, Spain, and Japan, according to reporting.
- The group includes the carrier’s air wing and escorts such as an air-defense frigate, a fleet oiler, and an attack submarine, the ministry said.
- French officials frame the Atlantic as a strategic maneuver space as Russian submarine activity intensifies in the region and disputes over Greenland persist, with recent French naval visits to Denmark, Iceland, and waters off Scotland.