Quote from the Wall Street Journal
"PARIS—The French navy will withdraw its aircraft carrier Charles De Gaulle from Libyan seas on Aug. 10 for maintenance, though France will keep participating in airstrikes against Col. Moammar Gadhafi's forces using fighter jets that will take off from Sicily.
The Charles De Gaulle, which hosts
six Rafale fighter jets and nine other aircraft, will head to her home harbor of Toulon on the French Mediterranean coast for regular maintenance, a French Defense Ministry official said Thursday. The maintenance will take place in the port over "several weeks," he added.
The French air force will take over the job using
six other Rafale jets based at the Sigonella air base in Sicily,
meaning France's military contribution the North Atlantic Treaty Organization campaign in Libya won't be affected by the carrier's withdrawal.
The French military carries out about 25% of the coalition's sorties in Libya and about 30% of the air strikes.
The Charles De Gaulle has been sailing off the Libyan coast since March 20, together with other French vessels and a helicopter carrier. Prior to her mission off the North African coast, the ship had patrolled the Indian Ocean off Eastern Africa as part of antipiracy surveillance.
Between both missions, the ship moored in Toulon for about a month.
France and other NATO member countries started bombing Libyan troops to protect civilians from repression after the United Nations Security Council authorized air strikes against troops loyal to Col. "
Seems that the carrier strike contribution can be easily coped with by the same number of land based aircraft
