France’s nuclear-powered carrier Charles de Gaulle sailed from Toulon on January 27 as the centerpiece of a large French naval deployment set to take part in the Orion 26 exercise in the Atlantic. The French General Staff announced the departure on social media and said allied ships have been integrated into the carrier strike group to demonstrate coalition interoperability. French outlets and informed sources place the exercise in the North Atlantic, but official statements withheld precise locations.
Orion 26 is slated to run from February 8 to April 30, drawing roughly 12,500 personnel and more than 25 ships, alongside some 140 aircraft and helicopters and approximately 1,200 unmanned aerial systems. The exercise will also mobilize cyber and space assets and involve over 20 countries, reflecting a broad shift toward multi-domain warfighting simulations that knit naval, air, unmanned and information operations together.
The timing and theatre of the deployment are geopolitically charged. Greenland has become a diplomatic and strategic flashpoint in recent years, attracting renewed U.S. and European attention because of its location, resources and Arctic access. The North Atlantic — encompassing approaches to Greenland and vital undersea communications infrastructure — is increasingly viewed as a sensitive zone where military presence and political influence intersect.
Paris is pairing military signals with diplomacy: President Emmanuel Macron was scheduled to meet leaders from Denmark and Greenland’s autonomous government on January 28 in Paris. The combination of high-profile talks and a major maritime exercise indicates France’s intent to be an active player in shaping security arrangements around Greenland and the wider Arctic edge.
For France the deployment serves several purposes: it projects power beyond the Mediterranean, validates the Charles de Gaulle’s capacity as the most potent non‑U.S. carrier in Western inventories, and exercises new operational concepts — notably the integration of large numbers of drones and cyber/space capabilities into carrier-strike operations. It also offers a visible reassurance to European partners that NATO members can conduct collective defence and high-end deterrence operations in northern waters.
The movement risks accelerating regional militarisation even as it seeks to reassure allies. Demonstrations of force and multinational drills can deter adversaries but also raise the stakes in a theatre where Russia has expanded Arctic activity and where rising strategic interest from extra-regional actors complicates governance. The coming months will test whether such exercises stabilise alliance cohesion and deterrence, or contribute to a security dilemma that further militarises the North Atlantic and Arctic approaches.