PARIS — The French Ministry of Defense and industry leaders presented a first look, in model form, at the nation’s next-generation, nuclear-powered aircraft carrier this week during the biennial Euronaval trade conference here.

The new carrier is expected to replace the French navy’s current aircraft carrier, the Charles de Gaulle, by 2038. Naval Group and Chantiers de l’Atlantique are building the ship together under the temporary joint venture MO Porte Avions, and Technic Atome will provide the two nuclear reactors to power the ship.

It will be a substantially larger vessel than its predecessor, expected to weigh over 82,000 tons and measure over 1,000 feet long and 279 feet at its widest point. By comparison, the Charles de Gaulle weighs in at about 42,000 tons and measures just under 900 feet long.

Senior defense officials, including Defense Minister Sebastien Lecornu, French Navy Chief of Staff Adm. Pierre Vandier, and military-procurement director Emmanuel Chiva joined Naval Group president Pierre-Eric Pommelet outside the company’s booth on the conference’s first day to examine a scale model of the future ship, known currently as PA-NG, for the French porte-avion nouvelle-generation.

Preliminary studies for the program were launched in 2018. French President Emmanuel Macron’s 2020 decision to use nuclear power for the next aircraft carrier launched a preliminary design phase in March 2021, which is now due to be completed in March 2023, said program director Olivier de Saint Julien.

The scale model on display represents the current state of the industry team’s design and will evolve as the design period moves on, he told Defense News at the conference. While many details such as defensive systems and weapons remain to be decided, the carrier is expected to have room for about 30 aircraft on board, as well as a number of unmanned systems.

The final design is expected to be fixed by 2025, when the development phase will begin. Construction is set to take place at the shipyards of Chantiers de l’Atlantique in Saint-Nazaire, on France’s West coast. The ship will then be transferred to Toulon for final assembly, per the French Ministry of Defense. Sea trials are scheduled for 2036, with delivery expected to the navy the following year and operational capability scheduled for 2038, when the Charles de Gaulle is expected to retire.

French lawmakers have previously mulled the prospect of having a second aircraft carrier built. De Saint Julien said that members of parliament had requested studies from industry partners to assess the feasibility of a second ship, but that so far, no decisions had been made on the matter.

“Yes, French industry is capable of building a second aircraft carrier, if that is asked of us,” he said.