From January 16 to 24, 2025, the carrier battle group (GAN) based around the aircraft carrier Charles De Gaulle participated in the 5th edition of the LA PEROUSE exercise organized by France alongside eight nations bordering the Indo-Pacific: Australia, Canada, the United States, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, the United Kingdom and Singapore.
A total of thirteen vessels participated in this multinational maritime security exercise in the major straits of Malacca, Sunda and Lombok that connect the Indian and Pacific Oceans. Every day, one third of world trade passes through these passages, which are exposed to many risks of both human and natural origin: illegal immigration, illicit trafficking, earthquakes, tsunamis and maritime incidents that can cause environmental damage.
In the Strait of Malacca, the Royal Malaysian Navy’s patrol boat FFG Lekir and corvette Gagah Samudera as well as the Singaporean patrol boat Independance conducted visitation exercises with the GAN air defense frigate.
On the approaches to La Sonde , the English (HMS Spey), Canadian (HMCS Ottawa), Indian (INS Mumbai) ships as well as the multi-mission frigates of the GAN carried out several cross visits in order to exchange on each other’s procedures in terms of maritime security. They then carried out visit exercises and training in landing and take-off with their embarked helicopter.
To complete the system at sea, Indian Poseidon maritime patrol aircraft and two French Atlantique 2 (ATL2) joined LA PEROUSE 25 based on the Indonesian island of Java. Together they conducted surveillance flights, integrating Indonesian observers for the ATL2 every day.
Finally, in the final phase of the exercise, Australia joined the system with the destroyer HMAS Hobart facing the Lombok Strait. On this occasion, the GAN ship Jacques Chevallier resupplied an Australian ship for the first time.
LA PEROUSE 25 ended with a tactical evolution exercise between the air defense frigate and the Indonesian frigate Raden Eddy Martadinata .
Throughout the exercise, a crisis cell based at the French Embassy in Jakarta and composed of officers from the GAN staff animated the scenario using the IORIS crisis communication and coordination system. Each maritime and air unit was connected to this software to share live information concerning the straits.
LA PEROUSE 25 allowed the participating navies to significantly increase their interoperability and common knowledge in a strategic area for maritime trade on a global scale.
With this mission with multiple interactions and objectives, the GAN demonstrates that it is a tool of naval superiority, power projection and autonomous situation assessment, capable of operating in a complex strategic environment. The deployment of this military capability underlines France’s commitment to freedom of action and maritime and air movement on all the seas and oceans of the globe.
French Navy photos