1 What are the principal missions of the French Navy?

2 Pierre Vandier: The French Navy has four “strategic functions.” These consist of acting as a deterrent; protecting French citizens and national interests; preventing crises through knowledge and anticipation; and finally, intervening wherever the Commander-in-Chief of the French Armed Forces orders, by drawing on our power and force projection capabilities.

3 More specifically, the Navy’s primary mission—and the cornerstone of French military strategy—is to maintain a continuous at-sea nuclear deterrence posture. In 2022, we will celebrate the fiftieth anniversary of the first deterrent patrol of Le Redoutable, France’s first nuclear-powered submarine, carrying sea-launched ballistic missiles with nuclear warheads. The aim of nuclear deterrence is to protect France from any aggression against our vital interests emanating from a state, from wherever it may come and whatever form it may take. The Navy also operates an airborne component aboard the Charles-de-Gaulle when it is in operation.

4 French Navy ships are deployed in all five oceans and in several theaters of operations, such as in the North Atlantic, where Russian submarines regularly test the credibility of the deterrence frameworks. Underwater competition, which had been virtually nonexistent since the end of the Cold War, resumed with renewed vigor in the mid-2010s.

5 The coastline of West Africa has long been a place of deployment. Since 1990, Operation Corymbe has maintained the almost permanent presence of a French Navy unit in the Gulf of Guinea. The operation aims to reduce maritime insecurity by strengthening the local navies bordering the Gulf and the centers of the Yaoundé architecture.

6 There are several crisis areas in the Mediterranean, both on land and at sea. Current issues of concern include competition over the control of fossil fuels; migration flows; Russian presence; and multiple kinds of illicit trafficking. In the Eastern Mediterranean, France deploys frigates and aircraft carriers in support of Operation Chammal. [1] Generally speaking, you must be physically present to understand what is happening in a complex zone characterized by frequent interactions between powers.

7 A significant proportion of commercial traffic and oil and gas exports heading to Europe pass through the northwestern Indian Ocean, between the Red Sea and the Persian Gulf. This zone is also the theater of a hybrid war between Iran, Syria, and Israel (which has seen around fifteen attacks on ships and industrial facilities over the last two years), as well as a trafficking zone for mainly weapons and drugs. In February 2020, France contributed to the creation of Operation Agénor, the military component of the EMASOH [2] initiative, and continues to participate in an effort to reduce tensions and protect European economic interests by guaranteeing freedom of movement in the Persian Gulf and the Strait of Hormuz.

8 Since Emmanuel Macron’s speech at the Garden Island naval base in Sydney in May 2018, during which he announced his intention to create an Indo-Pacific axis, France has regularly sent warships into this zone. In 2020, a nuclear attack submarine completed an eight-month mission [3] to the western Pacific, where much of today’s greatest strategic tension is concentrated.

9 The French Navy is also present in land-based theaters of operations, such as in Operation Barkhane, where marine commando units participate in special operations led by the French Special Operations Command (SOC). Atlantique 2 maritime patrol aircraft enhance their surveillance and bombardment capabilities, as well as their endurance—particularly useful in an operational zone that is the size of Europe.

10 Finally, both for overseas territories and for mainland France, the Navy’s fleets monitor France’s exclusive economic zones and are employed within the framework of the French “State Action at Sea” model. Principal missions of this framework include protecting sovereignty and national interests; safeguarding people and goods at sea; ensuring maritime security and safety; protecting the environment and managing protected areas; fighting against illicit maritime activities; and acting as customs, tax, and economic police at sea.

11 Can we still say that France is a great maritime power?

12 P.V.: France’s maritime space is the second largest in the world, covering almost eleven million square kilometers, which corresponds to the combined surface area of China and Mongolia. Present in every ocean, France is a neighbor to every coastline in the world.

13 Although our commercial ports may not feature among the world’s largest container ports in the global rankings, [4] generally speaking, the French maritime economy is very dynamic and is growing every year. In 2020, the sector provided 360,000 domestic jobs (a growth rate of 25 percent over the last five years) and represented an economic output of 92 billion euros (a growth of 27 percent over the same period). [5]

14 France’s presence in every ocean gives us entree into many regional maritime forums, such as IONS, [6] which brings together almost all the Indian Ocean region’s littoral states. In June 2021 in Réunion, as the representative of France, I officially took over the presidency of this forum from the Chief of Staff of the Iranian Navy. The forum includes twenty-five member states and eight observers. France also participates in the regional maritime security architecture of the Yaoundé Process, established in 2013, which encompasses the countries along the Gulf of Guinea and aims to ensure the maritime security and safety of the region.

15 In terms of its military resources, the French Navy has a full range of naval capabilities at its disposal including cutting-edge equipment, such as our nuclear-powered attack submarines, ballistic missile submarines, and aircraft carriers. These capabilities, almost entirely produced by our domestic defense industry, are among the best in the world. French companies’ expertise in this area is recognized worldwide, as demonstrated by Greece’s recent commitment to buy several French defense and intervention frigates (FDI).

16 The format of the Navy has been defined by the 2013 French White Paper on Defence and National Security. Between 2020 and 2030, a significant proportion of the Navy’s resources will be upgraded (frigates, patrol boats, replenishment oilers, maritime patrol aircraft, mine warfare systems, etc.). This upgrade comes at a time of extremely powerful remilitarization of the world’s navies.

17 In past conflicts, the decisive role played by navies (in supporting actions such as resupply or blockade, or their control of major maritime routes) has often been less well known. What is the situation today?

18 P.V.: All countries depend, to a greater or lesser extent, on supplies arriving by sea. It was true in the past and it is still true today. Globalization during the second half of the twentieth century has only accentuated this fact. And if some had yet to notice, the health crisis and its mask shortages coupled with the blockage of the Suez Canal by the M/V Evergreen in March 2021 made abundantly clear our economies’ dependence on the free movement of goods by sea.

19 Thus, in conflict scenarios, restricting, threatening, or interrupting maritime flows can be a lethal blow to one’s opponent. This was the objective of privateering in the early modern era and of unrestricted submarine warfare in the twentieth century. A more recent example can be found around the Arabian Peninsula since 2018.

20 Ultimately, it is the free use of common spaces that is at stake. Until the twentieth century, the only common space that humans exploited was the sea. Today, outer space and cyberspace represent two new spaces for confrontation. These spaces belong to everyone, yet are subject to few regulations. They are spaces in which world powers can express their will and confront each other, thus far at least, below the threshold of armed conflict.

21 Competition is therefore already present in outer space, where some satellites have followed what can only be called “surprising” trajectories in recent years. [7] Several states have not stopped to consult the international community before launching missiles [8] into space to destroy space objects, generating thousands of pieces of debris whose uncontrollable trajectories risk damaging other satellites.

22 The most obvious form of competition is found in cyberspace, since a significant number of French companies, regional authorities, and administrations are attacked daily. Like the sea and outer space, cyberspace has no borders, thereby making it difficult to attribute responsibility for offensive actions, thereby enabling these actions to take place below the threshold of war.

23 In a hypothetical future conflict, the Navy will play as crucial a role as it has in the past, however it will have to take into account these two novel global commons, which will also be decisive theaters of action.

24 What is the situation today with regard to the fight against piracy and drug trafficking, the dark side of globalization at sea?

25 P.V.: Piracy and armed robbery still take place throughout the world. The worst-affected zones are the maritime areas bordering Indonesia, Singapore, the Philippines, and the Gulf of Guinea.

26 Operation Atalanta, launched in 2008 by the European Union to deter, prevent, and repress acts of piracy and armed robbery at sea off the coast of Somalia, has been one of the most successful collaborative military operations for many years. Piracy has practically disappeared in this area.

27 It is quite a different story, however, in the Gulf of Guinea. The situation there contrasts that of the Indian Ocean, as there is no failed state serving as a sanctuary. Foreign warships, like the French Navy’s, are not asked to intervene directly, but rather to act as a deterrent.

28 The Yaoundé Process has strengthened cooperation between local navies, as well as between the European navies present there. Progress is constantly being made and during the Gulf of Guinea symposium, which took place in the Congolese city of Pointe-Noire in November 2021, states expressed the need to operationalize this security architecture. European navies, for their part, continue to support the process by bringing their expertise to local navies while optimizing their presence in the area by implementing a Coordinated Maritime Presences program. Extending this initiative to the Indian Ocean would be a positive next step.

29 In terms of drug trafficking, we saw a sharp spike in the quantity of drugs intercepted in 2021. By November 8, 2021, the French Navy had seized over forty tons of illegal narcotics. The previous record was eighteen tons seized during 2018. This historic high is the result of numerous endogenous and exogenous factors that must be carefully observed. 2022 will perhaps allow us to better understand the reasons behind these soaring figures.

30 What is the Navy’s role in protecting the marine environment?

31 P.V.: France’s most disastrous maritime oil spill took place in 1978 when the oil tanker Amoco Cadiz ran aground and sunk off the coast of Portsall, Brittany. Around 220,000 tons of crude oil ended up on Finistère beaches. This incident led to the creation of a formal regulatory and operational framework to fight against pollution and to protect the marine environment.

32 This mission, which also falls under State Action at Sea, revolves around four main axes: prevent, monitor, fight against, and mitigate incidents contributing to marine pollution. The French Navy is the administration with the greatest number of resources at its disposal to achieve these aims.

33 In order to monitor and control activities that impact the marine environment, it is necessary to mobilize all entities connected with State Action at Sea. In mainland France, French Navy flag officers known as préfets maritimes are in charge of overseeing operational coordination.

34 Just like the fifty-eight signal stations that dot our coastline and form part of the permanent alert system, every ship, submarine, naval gunboat, helicopter, or naval aircraft that navigates or flies over the sea is also a sensor for detecting marine pollution. Aircraft commanders and surface forces officers are authorized to report this kind of infraction.

35 Other resources have also been assigned to this mission. For example, the Centre d’expertises pratiques de lutte antipollution (CEPPOL) (Center of Practical Expertise for Marine Pollution Response) located in Brest determines what equipment is needed, provides technical monitoring, and trains and prepares its teams to intervene in the case of an incident.

36 Intervention, assistance, and salvage tugs (Les Abeilles) are chartered by the French Navy to assist ships in distress. Chartered support and assistance vessels (BSAA) are specially equipped to fight against pollution. Finally, metropolitan and overseas support and assistance vessels also have special capabilities and undergo regular training.

37 For example, they were employed off the coast of Corsica in June 2021 when oil pollution was observed by a French Navy Falcon 50. Two assistance vessels were deployed to lead trawling, pumping, and clean-up operations to prevent further degradation of the marine environment. Four tons of oil were recovered via trawling and fifteen cubic meters of waste were collected at sea. After just five days, the amount of oil in the water had been reduced to an undetectable level and very few tar balls were being found on the beaches.

38 They were also employed in Polynesia, where on the night of Friday, July 23, 2021, a Chinese long-liner hit Anuanurunga atoll, 365 nautical miles southeast of Tahiti. After the crew had been rescued, the support vessel Bougainville recovered the 2,600 liters of oil remaining in the drums stowed on the ship’s deck. The crew also collected ten cubic meters of waste scattered around the wreckage.

39 Finally, France adopted a specific strategy for protected areas at the start of 2021. Its aim is to form a coordinated policy for all protected areas including maritime zones off the coast of mainland France and its overseas territories.

40 We hear a lot about the Indo-Pacific. Would it be right to say that China is looking to establish itself as a new naval power? What are the main threats it might pose? What should be done in the face of China’s growing power, and in particular its provocative actions?

41 P.V.: As I have already mentioned, a large-scale rearmament of the oceans is currently underway comparable to the one at the start of the twentieth century. China was the first to make a real push to grow its navy, which is now of an unprecedented size. That is why people are talking about it so much. The United States showed its concern during the Obama administration with its pivot toward Asia. This led to the creation of strategic void zones: for example, the US Navy’s Sixth Fleet has ended its permanent presence in the Mediterranean and is gradually leaving the Persian Gulf area.

42 At the end of the 1990s, China started showing a keen interest in the very kind of naval power that it had rejected for several centuries. In China’s 2015 Defense White Paper, entitled China’s Military Strategy, we can read:

43 The seas and oceans bear on the [...] lasting stability [...] of China. The traditional mentality that land outweighs sea must be abandoned, and great importance has to be attached to managing the seas and oceans and protecting maritime rights and interests. It is necessary for China to develop a modern maritime military force structure commensurate with its national security and development interests, safeguard its national sovereignty and maritime rights and interests, protect the security of strategic SLOCs and overseas interests, and participate in international maritime cooperation, so as to provide strategic support for building itself into a maritime power. [9]

44 As a result, China’s naval budget is now eight times the size it was in 2005. It launches one frigate per month and produces the equivalent of the French fleet in tonnage every three years. It now has two—soon to be three—aircraft carriers. Between 2018 and 2030, China will have grown its fleet in tonnage by 138 percent. And the size of its fleet is not its only asset: Operation Marianne, undertaken by the nuclear submarine Émeraude in the winter of 2020, allowed us to see the extent to which the Chinese Navy had progressed in terms of its tactics and techniques.

45 In response, the majority of the area’s navies have quickly started to upgrade their own forces: over the same period, the tonnage of India’s fleet will rise by 40 percent, Singapore’s by 31 percent, Malaysia’s by 45 percent, Indonesia’s by 46 percent, Japan’s by 24 percent, and Korea’s by 101 percent.

46 Closer to France, also between 2018 and 2030, the tonnage of Turkey’s fleet is projected to increase by 32 percent, Egypt’s by 170 percent, Italy’s by 36 percent, Algeria’s by 120 percent, and Spain’s by 21 percent. As for France, its fleet’s tonnage will grow by 3.5 percent.

47 This upheaval of the established order is not only manifested as an arms race. In addition, in defiance of international law, China lays claims to a large proportion of the South China Sea. It has slowly territorialized it by several means, such as employing a fait accompli policy by creating military bases on the contested islands that it lays claim to; limiting the ability of foreign warships to navigate the waters around these islands; and imposing rules on the conduct of ships that do pass through the area.

48 Tensions have been on the rise for several years and the United States has chosen to take a stance by building military alliances with littoral nations, in particular Japan, Australia, and India. More recently, it has formed the AUKUS pact. [10] The large-scale exercises regularly carried out by the US Navy have a dual aim: increase interoperability between navies and serve as demonstrations of power intended to discourage its Chinese competitor from pursuing the divisive path it has embarked upon.

49 France, on the other hand, considers itself to have some interests in common with China, such as environmental security. It presents itself as a stable and balanced power in the Indo-Pacific region, committed to respecting international law and, in particular, free movement at sea. It also promotes multilateralism and is seeking to develop partnerships with local navies. Thus, the French Navy will continue to deploy vessels in this crisis zone with the peaceful intention of enhancing cooperation, while affirming its commitment to the free movement of people and goods.

50 The collapse of the France–Australia submarine deal drew attention to the complex factors at play in this area and how fragile alliances can be. What does this U-turn by a “friendly” country mean to you?

51 P.V.: As Chief of Staff of the French Navy, my role is to guarantee the political authorities that the naval forces in my charge—namely the Naval Action Force, the Strategic Ocean Force, French Naval Aviation, and the Navy Riflemen (including the Naval Commandos)—are ready to successfully carry out any mission assigned to them. I am not a diplomat, and thus this strategic U-turn performed by Australia does not require any comment on my part.

52 However, it is a clear illustration of the rising tensions present in this region. It serves to demonstrate Australia’s and the United States’ growing concern about China’s sharp increase in power.

53 Is the Navy still seen as an attractive career option?

54 P.V.: The Navy recruits four thousand sailors per year. At the moment, the Navy is achieving its targets, although not without considerable effort. The health crisis has accelerated the digitalization of our recruitment methods, which allows us to reach a much wider audience than before.

55 2020 was a pivotal year: for the first time in decades, when everyone seemed to be talking about reducing the number of military personnel, we had more sailors in our ranks by the end of the year than at the beginning. And this is exactly what we need because we are going to have to build the crew for the next-generation aircraft carrier, which will replace the Charles-de-Gaulle at the end of the 2030s. Since the development of a skilled workforce takes a long time, we need to start the process now.

56 On the other hand, in some of our specialized areas, retaining staff can be a challenge. We often lack staff for those specializations that are particularly technical or in-demand in the civilian workforce (i.e., communications, digital, and nuclear domains). After some fifteen years in the armed forces, deploying far from one’s family, sailors can sometimes be tempted to leave the Navy a bit too soon, particularly when civilian companies can promise them a much higher salary than their current one. Our human capital, rife with talent, is infinitely precious, but it also presents real challenges.