- Aviation navale
The "Aviation navale" (
Naval aviation ) of theFrench Navy includes 162 airplanes (138 of them combat-capable) and 6,800 men, both civilians and military personnel. They operate from six airbases, five of them in Metropolitan France and one overseas.Born as a fusion of carrier squadrons and naval patrol air force, the "Aviation navale" was created on the
19 June 1998 . The headquarter is under command of an admiral (ALAVIA) inToulon .It has four components:
* The air complements of the aircraft carrier "Charles de Gaulle":Rafale , Super Étendard andE-2 Hawkeye
* Naval patrol air units:Breguet Atlantique
* On-board helicopters: Dauphin, Panther, Super Frelon, Lynx, Alouette III
* Support air unitsCarrier-borne pilots of the French navy do their initial training at
Salon-de-Provence Air Base , then within theUS Navy .Aircraft inventory
French Naval Aviation operates 224 aircraft, including 60 combat jets and 89 helicopters. 79% of the Navy's aircraft were built in France.
! style="text-align: left; background: #aacccc;"|Aircraft! style="text-align: left; background: #aacccc;"|Origin! style="text-align: left; background: #aacccc;"|Type! style="text-align: left; background: #aacccc;"|Versions! style="text-align: left; background: #aacccc;"|In service"World Military Aircraft Inventory", Aerospace Source Book 2007, "
Aviation Week & Space Technology ",January 15 2007 .] ! style="text-align: left; background: #aacccc;"|Notes
-----
Aérospatiale Alouette III || || maritime patrol || Atlantique 2 || 23 ||
-----
Dassault Falcon 20 || || fighter || Rafale M || 15 (60)||
-----
Dassault-Breguet Super Étendard || || naval helicopter || SA 365 || 11 ||
-----
Eurocopter Panther || || trainer || CAP 10B || 8 ||
-----
Nord 262 || || antisubmarine helicopter || Lynx HAS 4 || 31 ||References
External links
* [http://www.ffaa.net French Fleet Air Arm ] , about French naval aviation.
Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.
