Global & US Headlines
Macron Green-Lights €10 bn ‘PANG’ Nuclear Carrier to Replace Charles de Gaulle
On 21 Dec 2025, President Emmanuel Macron signed off on the Porte-Avions Nouvelle Génération program, formally authorising contracts to build an 80,000-ton nuclear aircraft carrier for service in 2038.
Focusing Facts
- Projected displacement: ~78–80 k tons, length 310 m, crew 2,000, air wing 30 Rafale M jets.
- Estimated construction cost: €10 billion (US$11–12 billion) as of the 2023 defence ministry estimate.
- France’s defence budget is slated to rise to €64 billion in 2027—double the 2017 level.
Context
Paris has not laid keel for a carrier since the Charles de Gaulle was ordered in 1986 and commissioned in 2001; the 39-year gap recalls Britain’s hiatus between HMS Ark Royal (1950) and HMS Queen Elizabeth (2017), underscoring how capital-ship cycles stretch across political eras. The decision caps a post-2014 European re-armament wave sparked by Crimea and accelerated after Russia’s 2022 invasion, reviving big-deck ambitions once thought obsolete in the drone age. Nuclear propulsion keeps France in the tiny club (only the U.S. today) able to field blue-water nuclear carriers, reinforcing its independent deterrent and its claim to global power status that began with the Force de Frappe in the 1960s. Over a century horizon, whether PANG proves a strategic asset or a 21st-century Dreadnought—gleaming, costly, and vulnerable to hypersonic missiles—will test the permanence of carrier dominance in naval warfare and Europe’s resolve to act autonomously if U.S. security guarantees ebb.
Perspectives
Western mainstream outlets running Associated Press copy
e.g., 7 News Miami, Business Standard, mid-day — The new nuclear carrier is portrayed as a proud, necessary upgrade that will project French power, secure freedom of the seas and create jobs for hundreds of suppliers. By repeating Macron’s language almost verbatim and giving little space to critics, these stories lean toward legitimising higher defence spending and echoing French government messaging.
International business & defence-watching publications focused on costs
e.g., Chosun.com, GameReactor, NewstalkZB — Coverage stresses the €10 billion price tag, France’s budget deadlock and voices questioning whether an expensive carrier should take priority amid fiscal strain and wider security threats. This angle foregrounds economic prudence and may underplay strategic arguments, catering to fiscally-conservative readers and amplifying budget-hawk critiques.
Chinese state-owned media
China Daily, Global Times — Reports note that the project will ‘reinforce maritime power’ with a more modern warship, situating France’s decision within a broader trend of rising European militarisation. By highlighting Western naval expansion, these outlets subtly frame it as part of an arms race, which can justify China’s own military build-up and appeal to domestic nationalist sentiment.