The carrier strike group (CSG) was flagged off by French Minister for the Armed Forces Florence Parly from on board aircraft carrier Charles de Gaulle off Toulon, ahead of its departure for an operational deployment lasting several months, informed the French embassy. "Over 2,000 women and men embarked the Charles de Gaulle, which spent 18 months in a dockyard for a major refit and upgrade of its weapons system. It can now accommodate 30 Rafale combat aircraft and two Hawkeye airborne early warning and control aircraft," the embassy said in a statement. "The carrier strike group (CSG), known as the Clemenceau Mission, has been deployed to participate in air and naval operations in the Eastern Mediterranean and the Levant, to enhance knowledge of the areas it traverses, as well as to reinforce European cooperation and nurture the strategic partnerships that France maintains in the Near and Middle East, as well as in the Indian Ocean," the statement added. An air defense frigate, a ...
