File photo taken on May 28, 2019 shows a soldier on board the French aircraft carrier Charles de Gaulle docked at Changi Naval Base, Singapore (Photo: Xinhua)

 

File photo taken on May 28, 2019 shows French aircraft carrier Charles de Gaulle docked at Changi Naval Base, Singapore. (Photo: Xinhua)

 
France will replace its Navy's flagship Charles de Gaulle with a new nuclear-powered aircraft carrier by 2038, President Emmanuel Macron said on Tuesday.

"Our energy and ecological future depends on nuclear power," Macron said during his visit to a site of nuclear system and equipment supplier Framatome in Le Creusot in central France. "This is why I decided that the future aircraft carrier, which will equip our country and our Navy, will be like the nuclear-powered Charles de Gaulle."

The French Navy's lone nuclear-powered aircraft carrier Charles de Gaulle weighs 42,000 tons and is 261 meters long. It has been in service since 2001. Its successor will be about 300 meters long and will weigh 75,000 tons. Construction is scheduled to start in 2025, French media reported.