The carrier air group can include up to 40 aircraft: Rafale, Super Étendard and E-2 Hawkeye planes; NH90 Caïman Marine, AS365 Dauphin and AS565 Panther helicopters.

This composition varies according to the mission and the tactical environment, and can include aircraft of the ALAT (Army) or the Armée de l'Air (Air Force).

The group, designated Task Force 473 for the operation, comprised 2,900 men under the command of Contre-Amiral François Cluzel and sailed in December 2001.

The composition of the task force is French, however, the British destroyer HMS Defender and a frigate from the Belgian Navy, Leopold I, sailed as part of the group.

Six Floréal-class frigates perform sovereignty tasks, mainly by controlling the large French EEZ, carrying out police action, and monitoring fishing activities.

All six are based overseas (two at Réunion, two at Martinique, one in French Polynesia, and one in New Caledonia) The A-69 avisos were originally designed to counter conventional submarines, especially in coastal defence.

Instead of decommissioning all 17 as planned, by 2011, nine were stripped of heavy weaponry and converted to offshore patrol vessel (Patrouilleur de haute-mer or PHM).

These include six 32-metre (105 ft) coastal patrol boats (Patrouilleur côtier de Gendarmerie maritime or PCGM), based in Cherbourg (2), Lorient, Toulon, Guadeloupe, and French Polynesia.

Eight 12-metre (39 ft) launches (vedette de sûreté maritime et portuaire), are located in Le Havre, Cherbourg, Brest, Marseilles, and Toulon.

Four overseas support and assistance vessels (bâtiments de soutien et d'assistance outre-mer) of the D'Entrecasteaux class have been constructed and deployed to New Caledonia, French Polynesia, Réunion, and Martinique.

Four home support and assistance vessels (bâtiments de soutien et d'assistance métropolitains) of the Loire class have been constructed and deployed to Brest and Toulon (with two in each port).

They shuttle between harbours and fleets, giving them months of operational capabilities by feeding fuel, ammunition, food, water, spare parts and mail.

One hydro-oceanographic and three hydrographic ships help carrying out mapping and research operations, as well as gathering intelligence which could prove useful to the deployment of naval forces and their weapon systems.