French Naval Aviation

Force maritime de l'aéronautique navale
French Naval Aviation
Cockade of Naval Aviation. The naval anchor on this insignia was generalized between 1940 and 1945.
Founded 1912
Country  France
Branch  French Navy
Type Naval aviation
Size 6800 personnel; 179 aircraft[1]
Nickname(s) Sky Navy
La Marine du Ciel
Motto(s) Honneur, patrie, valeur, discipline
Anniversaries March 20, 1912
Commanders
Current
commander		 Contre-amiral Guillaume Goutay
French Navy
(Marine Nationale)
Motto: Honneur, Patrie, Valeur, Discipline
("Honour, Homeland, Valour, Discipline")
Command
Naval Ministers
Maritime Prefect
Components
Naval Action Force
Submarine Forces
Naval Aviation
FORFUSCO (Marine Commandos, Naval Fusiliers)
Maritime Gendarmerie
Equipment
Current fleet
Current deployments
Personnel
Ranks in the French Navy
History
History of the French Navy
Future of the French Navy
Ensigns and pennants
Historic ships
Historic fleets
Awards
Cross of War
Military Medal
Legion of Honour
Ribbons

French Naval Aviation (often abbreviated in French to: « l'Aéronavale », or « Aviation navale » or more simply « l'Aéro ») is the naval air arm of the French Navy. The long-form official designation is Force maritime de l'aéronautique navale. Born as a fusion of carrier squadrons and the naval patrol air force, the Aéronavale was created in 1912. The force is under the command of a flag officer officially named Admiral of Naval Aviation (ALAVIA) with his headquarters at Toulon naval base. It has a strength of around 6,800 military and civilian personnel. It operates from four airbases in Metropolitan France and several detachments in foreign countries or French overseas territories. Carrier-borne pilots of the French navy do their initial training at Salon-de-Provence Air Base after which they undergo their carrier qualification with the US Navy.

Aircraft inventory

TypeOriginClassRoleIntroducedIn serviceTotalNotes
Aérospatiale Alouette IIIFranceRotorcraftUtility18Retired.[2][3][1]
Breguet Atlantique IIFrancePropellerMPA22[1]
Dassault Falcon 10 MFranceJetUtility6[1]
Dassault Falcon 50 MFranceJetPatrol8[1]
Dassault Falcon 200 GuardianFranceJetPatrol5[1]
Dassault Rafale MFranceJetMulti-role41[4][1][5]
Embraer EMB 121 XinguBrazilPropellerUtility11[1]
Eurocopter SA365 DauphinFranceRotorcraftSAR8[1]
Eurocopter AS565 PantherFranceRotorcraftUtility16[1]
Grumman E-2C HawkeyeUSAPropellerAEW&C3[1]
Mudry CAP 10FrancePropellerTrainer7[1]
NHIndustries NH90 Caiman MarineFranceRotorcraftAttack/SAR21[1]
Westland LynxUKRotorcraftAttack16[1]

Structure

Active bases of the French naval air arm (status 2013).

Components

The flight personnel of the French Navy falls into three categories: fighter aviation, fixed-wing aviation and helicopter aviation.

Operationally the French Naval Aviation has four components:

Units

Operational squadrons are known as Flottilles and normally consist of 12 aircraft :

  • 1F to 10F are carrier based anti-submarine squadrons
  • 11F to 20F are fighter and attack squadrons
  • 21F to 30F are maritime patrol squadrons
  • 31F to 39F are helicopter squadrons

Shore-based training and transport squadrons are known as Escadrilles de Servitude :

  • 1S to 19S are communications squadrons
  • 20S to 29S are helicopters squadrons
  • 50S to 59S are training squadrons
Squadron Insignia Type Aircraft Base Role Notes
Embarqued Air Group (Le Groupe aérien embarqué)[6]
4F
Fixed wing E-2C Hawkeye Lann Bihoue Carrier Airborne Early Warning [7]
11F
Fixed wing Rafale M Landivisiau Strike Fighter [8]
12F
Fixed wing Rafale M Landivisiau Strike Fighter [9]
17F
Fixed wing Rafale M Landivisiau Strike Fighter [10] Ended conversion to Rafale M on June 2016.
Det. PEDRO Rotary Eurocopter AS365 Dauphin Hyères Plane guard Not part of the GAE. The Charles de Gaulle sets sail to cruises with 2 Dauphin helicopters from 35F.
Naval Patrol and Maritime Surveillance Aviation (l'Aviation de patrouille et de surveillance maritime)[11]
21F
Fixed wing Atlantique II Lann Bihoue Anti-Submarine Warfare / Naval patrol [12] Detachments at Dakar and Djibouti.
23F Fixed wing Atlantique II Lann Bihoue Anti-Submarine Warfare / Naval patrol [13]
24F Fixed wing Falcon 50 M Lann Bihoue Maritime surveillance / Search and Rescue [14]
25F Fixed wing Falcon 200 Guardian GAM Faa’a Maritime surveillance / Search and Rescue [15] Detachment at Nouméa.
Shipborne and Shore-based Helicopters (Les hélicoptères embarqués et basés à terre)
31F Rotary NH90 Caiman Hyeres Search and Rescue [16]
33F
Rotary NH90 Caiman Lanveoc Anti-Submarine Warfare / Search and Rescue [17]
34F Rotary Westland Lynx Lanveoc Anti-Submarine Warfare To convert to NH90 Caiman.[18]
35F Rotary Eurocopter AS365 Dauphin, Alouette III Hyeres Search and Rescue Detachments at La Rochelle, Le Touquet-Paris-Plage[19] and Faa’a.
36F Rotary Eurocopter AS565 Panther Hyeres Small ship flights [20]
Support Aviation (l'Aviation de soutien)
10S Rotary/ Fixed wing/UAV Alouette III, Westland Lynx, Schiebel S-100 Serval Hyeres Experimental Aviation and airborne weapons research and development, evaluation at several locations.
22S Rotary Dauphin, EC120 Colibri Lanveoc Rotary operational training / Liaison
28F
Fixed wing Embraer Xingu Lann Bihoue Naval patrol and maritime surveillance operational training / Utility / Liaison [21]
50S Fixed wing SR20 and CAP-10 Lanveoc Elementary flying training
57S Fixed wing Falcon 10 M Landivisiau Combat aviation operational training [22]

Retired Aircraft[23][24]

The Martin P5M-2 Marlin served in the French navy between 1959 and 1964.
The Canard Voisin is the first seaplane used by the French Navy.
From 1951 to 1956, 164 Grumman Avengers were delivered to French Naval Aviation. They remained in service until 1965.
The Corsair F4U-7 was the first new aircraft delivered to the French Navy after 1945. It saw action during the Indochina war, Algerian war and operation Musketeer.
During the Algerian War of independence, the French Navy flew Lockheed Neptunes on surveillance patrol to fight weapons smuggling by sea.
The Crusader was the air superiority jet aircraft of the French navy for 35 years.

Helicopters and Autogyros

See also

References & notes

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 "Defence Key Figures: 2016 Edition". Defense.gouv.fr. (download PDF file or see HTML version Archived September 6, 2015, at the Wayback Machine.)
  2. ↑ "En attendant le H160, l'armée va louer des Dauphin pour remplacer ses antiques Alouette".
  3. ↑ http://www.defense.gouv.fr/content/download/511454/8625925/Les%20chiffres%20cle%CC%81s%20de%20la%20D%C3%A9fense%20%C3%A9dition%202017%20EN.pdf
  4. ↑ https://www.dassault-aviation.com/wp-content/blogs.dir/2/files/2018/07/Dassault-Aviation-Press-Conference-July-19-2018.pdf
  5. ↑ https://www.dassault-aviation.com/wp-content/blogs.dir/2/files/2017/07/Dassault-Aviation-Press-Conf-July-26-2017.pdf
  6. ↑ https://www.defense.gouv.fr/marine/dossiers/ban/le-groupe-aerien-embarque
  7. ↑ "Flotilla 4F". French Navy. Retrieved 25 October 2016.
  8. ↑ "Flottilla 11F". French Navy. Retrieved 25 October 2016.
  9. ↑ "Flottilla 12F". French Navy. Retrieved 25 October 2016.
  10. ↑ "Flottilla 17F". French Navy. Retrieved 25 October 2016.
  11. ↑ https://www.defense.gouv.fr/english/marine/dossiers/ban/l-aviation-de-patrouille-et-de-surveillance-maritime
  12. ↑ "Flottilla 21F". French Navy. Retrieved 25 October 2016.
  13. ↑ "Flottilla 23F". French Navy. Retrieved 25 October 2016.
  14. ↑ "Flottilla 24F". French Navy. Retrieved 25 October 2016.
  15. ↑ "Flottilla 25F". French Navy. Retrieved 25 October 2016.
  16. ↑ "Flottilla 31F". French Navy. Retrieved 25 October 2016.
  17. ↑ "Flottilla 33F". French Navy. Retrieved 25 October 2016.
  18. ↑ "Flottilla 34F". French Navy. Retrieved 25 October 2016.
  19. ↑ "Flottilla 35F". French Navy. Retrieved 25 October 2016.
  20. ↑ "Flottilla 36F". French Navy. Retrieved 25 October 2016.
  21. ↑ "Flottilla 28F". French Navy. Retrieved 25 October 2016.
  22. ↑ https://www.defense.gouv.fr/marine/operations/forces/aeronautique-navale/escadrilles/escadrille-57s
  23. ↑ "Military Factory - Site detailing past and present military systems and technology including aircraft, vehicles, guns and navy vessels of the world". Retrieved 2017-08-22.
  24. ↑ "Office of the Historian". www.history.state.gov. Retrieved 2017-08-22.
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