French Navy aircraft carrier Charles de Gaulle , seen here while it was berthed alongside Changi Naval Base in Singapore on 4 March 2025. (Janes/Ridzwan Rahmat)
A recently concluded trilateral naval drill known as Exercise ‘Pacific Steller' has helped to lay down the road map for Japan to eventually operate fixed-wing fighter aircraft from its Izumo-class ships.
This was the sentiment conveyed by the commander of the French Navy's carrier strike group, Rear Admiral Jacques Mallard, in response to questions from Janes on 4 March.
He was speaking on the flight deck of the carrier Charles de Gaulle while it was berthed alongside Changi Naval Base in Singapore as part of Operation ‘Clémenceau 25', which is part of the French Navy's effort to increase its engagement in the Asia-Pacific region.
As part of this engagement, the French carrier carried out a trilateral multilarge deck exercise with the US Navy (USN) and the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force (JMSDF) in the Philippine Sea.
Participating in the drills alongside Charles de Gaulle were the USN's Nimitz-class aircraft carrier USS Carl Vinson and Japan's second Izumo-class helicopter carrier JS Kaga , which began modifications in March 2022 to embark the short take-off and vertical landing (STOVL)-capable Lockheed Martin F-35B Lightning II fighter aircraft.
In his reply to Janes , Rear Adm Mallard described the JMSDF as a valuable partner with whom the French Navy has been working with to build interoperability between the two services.
However, specifically for ‘Pacific Steller', the goal was to provide a platform for carrier-specific operations that would have otherwise not been expedient in other broad-based exercises, said the rear admiral.
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