PARIS, Oct. 23 (Xinhua) -- French defense minister Florence Parly on Tuesday announced 18-year-study to build a new aircraft carrier taking into account advanced technologies to replace the flagship vessel Charles de Gaulle.
"The Charles de Gaulle will need a successor. The first step, which starts today, is the study phase to determine what and how we want our future aircraft carrier to be. We have given ourselves 18 months," Parly said in a speech at a defense exhibition in Paris.
"The studies will be completed in 2020. I will follow them with the greatest attention. And then, we will be able to propose choices to the President of the Republic," she added.
As part of a plan to revamp and develop the country's naval defense, the government was deliberating the construction of an aircraft carrier "according to what the state of the technology will be in 2030", and which will be able to carry a planned Franco-German fighter jet.
The minister hoped the planned vessel would represent "a true advanced base of our navy, spur of our innovation" by seeking "the most ingenious, most useful and most effective capabilities."
In service since 2001, Charles de Gaulle completed 18-month mid-life upgrade and it would return to sea in the first quarter of 2019, according to the minister.
