... As Rafale visits USS Enterprise.

Two French Navy Rafale F2s, accompanied by an E-2C Hawkeye, landed and launched on the US Navy carrier USS Enterprise, during the first visit to France by a US carrier in six years. The Rafale is the first French aircraft to both launch and recover on a US aircraft carrier. More than 30 US and French diplomats came aboard to witness the event, including Commander US 6th Fleet Vice Adm John Stufflebeem, US Ambassador to France Craig Stapleton, Chief of French Naval Staff Admiral Oudot de Dainville, and the former CEO of Dassault Aviation, Serge Dassault. The trials are designed to pave the way for French pilots to pursue training and qualification programmes at times when the French Navy's Charles de Gaulle carrier is laid up for major maintenance. The US Navy described the engagement as a large step for Enterprise and a step in the right direction for the Chief of Naval Operation's vision of a "1,000-ship navy."

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