Charles de Gaulle carrier strike group equipped to take out submarine threats

The Charles de Gaulle carrier strike group (CSG) with its FREMM-class frigates brings years of award-winning anti-submarine capability to bear amid a host of joint operations with allied forces.

The strike group last month teamed up with allied navies for an ongoing, extended mission in the Eastern Mediterranean, with the aim of significantly increasing France's presence in military operations in the Middle East and Africa for months to come.

The Charles de Gaulle departed France on November 15 as part of Mission Antares, which involves 3,000 service members from France and allied partners.

As part of Mission Antares, the Charles de Gaulle CSG is set to contribute to securing the eastern flank of the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO), take part in Operation Inherent Resolve against the "Islamic State of Iraq and Syria" (ISIS), and potentially set course for the Red Sea and Indian Ocean, according to a statement from the French Ministry of Armed Forces.

While the French military did not publicly disclose the composition of the CSG, French Navy FREMM DA frigate Alsace has been among the ships that the Charles de Gaulle has been seen operating alongside as part of Mission Antares.

Anti-submarine excellence

France's FREMM-class frigates, such as the Alsace, have long demonstrated superior anti-submarine warfare capabilities.

Since 2016, France's frigates have excelled at winning the quarterly "Hook'Em" award, which goes to a unit in the US 6th Fleet that demonstrates superior anti-submarine warfare readiness, proficiency and operational impact.

In 2021, the US 6th Fleet gave the award to the FREMM frigates FS Provence and FS Languedoc, as well as to the command staff of the Charles de Gaulle carrier group, also known as Task Force 473, according to Navalnews.com.

In 2020, Combined Task Forces (CTF) 470 and 473 and FREMM frigates FS Bretagne and FS Auvergne won the Hook'Em award.

FREMM frigates are equipped with an advanced sonar array (CAPTAS-4) that enables surface vessels to hunt submarines at considerable distances and to detect them beyond the range from which they can launch an attack.

This array is present in a number of NATO vessels, including on British, Spanish and Italian ships.

FREMM frigates can also deploy specialised anti-submarine helicopters and tactical boats for naval special forces, and are armed with torpedos, Aster and Exocet anti-ship missiles, and cruise missiles for land attacks.

US Vice Adm. Frederick C. Turner established the "Hook'Em" award in 1975 to recognise US 6th Fleet ships, submarines and aircraft squadrons demonstrating Anti-Submarine Warfare (ASW) excellence.

The award was discontinued two decades later, before it was re-established by Adm. James G. Foggo III in 2016.

France's new strategic posture

France's robust presence in the Eastern Mediterranean is part of its effort to project power in 2024-2030, as announced by President Emmanuel Macron in November in a speech in Toulon, France.

Macron, in his address, presented France's new strategic review, which the parliament is to consider in 2023, according to the Breaking Defence news site.

"The period is not one of calm weather but stormy seas," he said, referring to the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

The review cites 10 strategic objectives, which touch a few times on co-operation such as that seen in the Mediterranean.

They include recognising the need for a "fundamental ... ambitious, lucid and pragmatic" strategic partnership with the United States", cultivating relationships with and in "African nations, the Arabian Gulf, the Mediterranean and the Red Sea and the Indo-Pacific region", and preserving "freedom of action and ability to conduct military operations", among others.

France wants to be an "independent, respected, agile power at the heart of the European strategic autonomy" with strong links to the Atlantic alliance, Macron said.