French LHD And Frigate Set Sails For Deployment Around The World
On February 08, 2023, the French Navy's (Marine Nationale) Mistral-class LHD "Dixmude" and La Fayette-class frigate "La Fayette" left Toulon to sail around the world and through the Indo-Pacific in accordance with the "MISSION JEANNE D'ARC 2023".
The French Armed Forces announced the start of the Jeanne D’Arc mission on social media. As Naval News reported previously, the three goals of the mission are:
To train the future generations of French Navy officers
Deploying operational capabilities in areas of strategic interest
Interoperability and regional cooperation
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The Jeanne D’Arc 2023 mission sailed today! The Dixmude LHD and La Fayette frigate, with nearly 640 sailors on board, including 156 student officers and 150 soldiers from the French Army preparing to carry out a deployment of more than 150 days, carrying out a circumnavigation!
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Jeanne D’Arc 2023
Jeanne D’Arc is an annual, long duration, and joint deployment which aim is to provide officer cadets with “at sea” operational training before joining their units as officers.
This year, the Amphibious Ready Group (ARG) will deploy from February 8, to mid-July from the Mediterranean homeport of Toulon. It will then conduct a “full circumnavigation” of the hearth: Sailing through the Suez Canal, Red Sea, Indian Ocean, Malacca Strait, Java Sea, Arafura Sea, Coral Sea, Pacific Ocean, Panama Canal, Caribbean Sea and Atlantic Ocean.
It will call in Djibouti, India, Singapore, Indonesia, Australia, New Caledonia, Fiji, Tonga, Tahiti, Clipperton, Mexico, Martinique and Guadeloupe.
The ARG will conduct a number of major exercises including:
“La Pérouse” in the Indian Ocean with the US, Australia, Japan and India
“Croix du Sud” off New Caledonia in the Pacific Ocean with 15 nations
For this deployment, Dixmude has a crew of 220 and La Fayette a crew of 197 sailors. In addition, there are 12 sailors from the 35F airwing to support a Dauphin helicopter and 20 sailors from the amphibious flotilla.
The French Army assets (aboard Dixmude) consist in 40 vehicles (including VAB, PVP and engineering vehicles), two Gazelle helicopters. In addition, there are three landing craft aboard the LHD: One EDA-R, one EDA-S and one CTM.