The requirement for a replacement was identified in the mid-1970s, which became the 40,600 tonne nuclear-powered Charles de Gaulle, laid down in April 1989 at the DCNS Brest naval shipyard.

France agreed to pay the UK for access to the design due to the investment made to date.

[5] However, in April 2008 French Defence Minister Herve Morin cast doubt over plans for a second aircraft carrier, citing a cash crunch and the fact that rising oil prices put the question of the propulsion back on the table, and said a decision would be taken soon.

[6] Further doubts were cast on the project on 21 June 2008 when then French President Nicolas Sarkozy decided to suspend co-operation with Britain on the aircraft carrier.

[8] The French carrier would have been built by an alliance of Thales and DCNS using the proposed design of a 283 metres (928 ft) long, 75,000 tonne variant of the Queen Elizabeth class.

Being a CATOBAR design, PA2 would have been equipped with the same 90 metres (300 ft) long C13-2 steam catapults as those installed on the Nimitz-class aircraft carriers of the United States Navy.