From January 16 to 24, the military exercise La Pérouse was held under the leadership of France and its Carrier Strike Group (CSG), alongside eight other Indo-Pacific nations: Australia, Canada, the United States, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, the United Kingdom, and Singapore. The exercise involved 13 vessels operating at the confluence of the Indian and Pacific Oceans in the major straits of Malacca, Sunda, and Lombok.
Exercise La Pérouse is the pinnacle of a wider 150-day French deployment, centered around the Charles de Gaulle nuclear-powered aircraft carrier. Capable of covering up to 1,000 kilometers per day, the deployment spans the Mediterranean Sea, the Indian Ocean, and the Pacific Ocean, emphasizing France’s growing commitment in the Indo-Pacific region.
An Iconic Name
Exercise La Pérouse is named after one of France’s greatest navigators and explorers, Jean-François de La Pérouse (1741–1788). Commissioned by King Louis XVI in 1785, La Pérouse led a global expedition with two frigates, La Boussole and L’Astrolabe, to explore trade opportunities with the nations he visited. This remarkable journey took him across South America, Easter Island, Hawai‘i, Alaska, California, Macao, the Philippines, and Australia, before tragically ending in a shipwreck on Vanikoro Island in the Solomon Archipelago in 1788.
Like Bougainville and Dumont d’Urville, La Pérouse’s expedition left a lasting mark on France’s collective imagination and national narrative. The anecdote goes that King Louis XVI’s last words before his execution were, “Has there been any news from Monsieur de La Pérouse?” His legacy symbolizes the spirit of discovery and international cooperation, resonating with the objectives of the contemporary naval exercise. Today, numerous public spaces, monuments, and geographic landmarks bear his name, including the strait between Hokkaido and Sakhalin – and now, a multinational naval exercise.
Enhancing Interoperability
For its fifth edition, the La Pérouse exercise brought together nine Indo-Pacific nations in the major straits linking the Indian and Pacific Oceans: Malacca, Sunda, and Lombok. These critical maritime chokepoints, vital to global trade, face numerous human-induced risks such as maritime accidents, environmental hazards, illegal immigration, and drug trafficking, as well as natural risks like earthquakes and tsunamis.
The exercise focused on enhancing maritime security, developing interoperability, and strengthening collective crisis response capabilities. Participants engaged in a wide range of maritime security operations, including formation sailing and live fire exercises, shared discussions and drills regarding intervention and rescue practices, cross-deck landing and takeoff training, integration of maritime patrol aircraft, as well as at-sea replenishment.
A key feature of La Pérouse 2025 was the use of the IORIS network, a communication and information-sharing platform provided by the European Union, enabling synchronized and effective responses to major maritime incidents. Throughout the exercise, a coordination cell at the French Embassy in Jakarta, led by officers from the CSG’s staff, managed the scenario using the IORIS crisis communication and coordination system.
La Pérouse 2025 allowed participating navies to put interoperability procedures into practice and build a shared understanding in a region strategic to global trade and maritime traffic. It marked an unprecedented exercise for the French CSG in the Indo-Pacific region.
Clemenceau 25 Deployment: 40,000 Tons of Diplomacy
Exercise La Pérouse is a key milestone of the wider Clemenceau 25 deployment, named after World War I hero Georges Clémenceau. Departing from Toulon in late November 2024, the CSG deployment – including surface, submarine, and air assets, such as embarked Rafale jets – will sail for 150 days to the Western Pacific. During this mission, the CSG is escorted by foreign frigates and submarines.
The Clemenceau mission demonstrates France’s ability to project power over long distances and for extended periods in the Indo-Pacific, marking an exceptional deployment in many respects. Following La Pérouse, the French Carrier Strike Group will participate in Exercise Pacific Steller with the U.S. 7th Fleet, Canada, Australia and Japan. The CSG will also join the bilateral Exercise Varuna with Indian Navy forces.
Beyond operational aspects, the aircraft carrier Charles de Gaulle, the crown jewel of the deployment, constitutes a unique diplomatic tool – 40,000 tons of diplomacy and, to a great extent, France’s finest ambassador in the region. The carrier embodies a maritime air force with capabilities across all domains: at sea, underwater, in the air, on land, in the extra-atmospheric and cyber realms, and across the electromagnetic and informational spectrums. Capable of covering nearly 1,000 kilometers per day, the Charles de Gaulle provides independent situational assessment as well as power projection, and contributes to deterrence through its nuclear-capable naval air force. Despite occasional criticism for its high costs and inherently limited operational capabilities without a sister ship, it remains a key political instrument of influence supporting France’s ambitions in the Indo-Pacific region.
France’s Indo-Pacific Strategy: Beyond the Narrative
Since 2018, French President Emmanuel Macron has formalized a strategy for the Indo-Pacific to legitimize and enhance French assets. As a sovereign nation in the region, France is committed to promoting a free, open, and stable maritime environment. Regular deployments from mainland France, along with active participation in joint military exercises like La Pérouse 2025, underscore France’s enduring engagement in the region. This complements its permanent sovereign forces stationed in Réunion, French Polynesia, and New Caledonia. France also plays an active role in international forums such as the Indian Ocean Naval Symposium (IONS) and the Western Pacific Naval Symposium (WPNS), fostering cooperation among regional navies. By strengthening interoperability with regional partners and demonstrating its ability to project power far from home, France reaffirms its role as a key player in maintaining maritime security and stability in one of the world’s most contested regions.
Amid growing China-U.S. rivalry in the Indo-Pacific, France – a European nuclear power, permanent member of the U.N. Security Council, and the last EU state with sovereign territory in the region – is positioning itself as a balancing Indo-Pacific power. Exercise La Pérouse and the Clemenceau 25 deployment illustrate its commitment to promoting a multilateral approach rooted in respect for international law, while maintaining strategic autonomy.
However, the participating nations in the Clemenceau 25 deployment illustrate that French balancing is not equidistant. Thus, the CSG deployment was welcomed by India, ASEAN nations like Singapore and Indonesia, Japan, and the United States. Yet, no maneuver with Chinese forces is planned. Given that, observing Chinese official and non-official reactions to the French military presence in the region will be interesting.