The French Will Land Off Norfolk in 2008

There is an interesting rumor going around that was apparently started on the French Blog Secret Defense. Its actually a really good blog, if you enjoy watching Americans get bashed over the head on every subject in French. Most if not all the American bashing comes from the comments though, but on balance the blog itself is pretty good.

As a defense observer, the blog writer can start a rumor and turn it into just about anything, and the latest rumor is no different. SteelJaw Scribe picked it up off one of several forums, and since SJS's speaks English... well sometimes anyway, I'll quote him.

The French Aéronavale will embark for the first time on an American aircraft carrier. Without a second aircraft carrier, while Charles stopped for maintenance for eighteen months, pilots of Rafale and Hawkeye are going to train in July 2008 aboard the USS Roosevelt off Norfolk, in the Atlantic. "We are setting up this operation with the American Navy" said the French Navy Office. A dozen airplanes are to be deployed on Roosevelt: six to eight Rafales of the flotilla 12 F and two Hawkeyes of the flotilla 4F.

Some of the French commentary has turned this into a debate why France could cancel its second carrier. More education, less Defense is the debate I read... whatever. I'm not sure how A equals B, but that's how the spin works in France. The French deployment doesn't appear to be just a rumor though, it appears there is something behind it, and the US-French cooperation in the air may be larger than originally reported.

The speculation on various forums that this is a major French aviation deployment on US Carriers are slightly exaggerated. The simple explanation is the CdG is out of commission for 2008 and France wants to train pilots and keep their crews in good form, so France started looking for ways for their pilots and crews to train at sea. It turns out, the US Navy wasn't even the first choice, Brazil was. According to the Brazil Navy Blog, the French approached Brazil about operating the aircraft from the Sao Paulo for extended training in 2008. This would have been good for Brazil, who could evaluate the E-2s and Rafale's on the Sao Paulo for potential purchase, but as usual, the Sao Paulo is in repairs... again, as usual.

The US Navy then offered the French to operate from the USS Roosevelt (CVN 71) in July during JTFX 08-02, the annual East Coast Joint Task Force exercise. You might remember this is the same exercise the US Marines operated from the HMS Illustrious (R06) in JTFX 07-02 this past July, so this really isn't some new or revolutionary idea... rather an evolutionary step in joint cooperation.

There is one more odd twist to this story though, and maybe someone can shed some light on the discussion. The Secret Defense Blog links over to TTUOnline, a French defense magazine as the source for the report. I can't find the original story, I'm not a subscriber, however it does appear there is a story about Rafale's on the USS Eisenhower (CVN 69), but as the article is for subscribers I can't read it. It could be that while the CdG is out of commission, the French may also exercise with the USS Eisenhower (CVN 69) before the July JTFX when the USS Eisenhower (CVN 69) deploys to the 5th fleet early next year. That would be similar to how the French trained earlier this year with the USS Enterprise (CVN 65) during its deployment. If someone can confirm the details of what the TTU online article Des Rafale sur 'USS "Eisenhower"' says in the comments, it would be much appreciated.

Rafale's have operated from the Enterprise and have performed touch and go's from both the Eisenhower and Stennis in the past. The idea the French would exercise from US Carriers is not something new, in fact it happened earlier this year. After reading the comments of both the Royal Navy and Marines after JTFX 07-02, we like the integration approach between the US Navy and other nations and think it is smart for the US Navy to keep it up. Maybe in the future we will see Australian F-18s flying off US carriers in Pacific. Yep, Maybe.