French Rafale fighter jets operate from U.S. aircraft carrier

Published on: January 15, 2014 at 1:00 PM

Although it is not the first time this happens, French warplanes seldom operate from U.S. flatops. For this reasons, the images in this posts are particularly rare.

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They  show the two French Navy Rafale omnirole combat planes, from aircraft carrier Charles de Gaulle, that on Jan. 13 landed and were later launched from USS Harry S. Truman (CVN 75) during carrier qualification integration.

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Harry S. Truman, flagship of the Truman Carrier Strike Group, is conducting operations with units assigned to French Task Force 473 in the U.S. Fifth Fleet area of responsibility in order to enhance levels of cooperation and interoperability, enhance mutual maritime capabilities and promote long-term regional stability in the region.

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F/A-18E Super Hornet has also returned the visit to the French aircraft carrier as the following image (via militaryphotos.net) shows:

F-18 on De Gaulle

Even the Italian aircraft carrier Cavour, and its AV-8B+ Harrier II aircraft is operating in the same area.

Image credit: U.S. Navy

 

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David Cenciotti is a journalist based in Rome, Italy. He is the Founder and Editor of “The Aviationist”, one of the world’s most famous and read military aviation blogs. Since 1996, he has written for major worldwide magazines, including Air Forces Monthly, Combat Aircraft, and many others, covering aviation, defense, war, industry, intelligence, crime and cyberwar. He has reported from the U.S., Europe, Australia and Syria, and flown several combat planes with different air forces. He is a former 2nd Lt. of the Italian Air Force, a private pilot and a graduate in Computer Engineering. He has written five books and contributed to many more ones.
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