French Navy (Marine Nationale) Mistral-class LHD “Mistral” and La Fayette-class frigate “Surcouf” sail off Greenland’s coasts as part of the “JEANNE D’ARC 2025” mission.
French Embassy in Denmark press release
As part of its annual deployment around the globe, the Jeanne d’Arc Task Group — comprising the amphibious helicopter carrier Mistral and the stealth frigate Surcouf — continues its journey through Arctic waters. After sailing along the American coastline from Brazil, the group recently made a stopover in Saint Pierre and Miquelon, before heading toward the polar seas off Greenland.
This Arctic phase, set in an environment as awe-inspiring as it is demanding, offers the young naval officers on board a rare and invaluable experience: operating under extreme weather conditions, where drifting ice, biting cold, and looming icebergs call for precision, technical prowess, and constant vigilance.
The mission serves a dual purpose: to provide future French Navy officers with rigorous, hands-on training, while also reaffirming France’s presence in maritime areas of growing strategic importance, such as the Arctic. In this context, navigating through the Prince Christian Sound — the waterway that separates the Greenlandic mainland from the islands of the Cape Farewell Archipelago — delivers truly breathtaking vistas.
Following stopovers in Iceland and northern Norway, the Jeanne d’Arc Task Group will make its way to Copenhagen at the end of June, for a port call highlighting Franco-Danish cooperation — a fitting opportunity to celebrate the enduring maritime and strategic ties between the two nations.
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Naval News comment:
The Jeanne d’Arc task group has started the five-month mission in February 2025. The amphibious group is sailing across the Atlantic from Ivory Coast to the Arctic Circle, via the French West Indies, returning to France via the Baltic Sea. Amphibious exercises are punctuating the deployment, enabling the embarked battle group to train with Brazilian, American and Norwegian forces. Crews also took part in operations involving French forces, such as the Corymbe mission in the Gulf of Guinea and the fight against drug trafficking in the French West Indies.
To carry out this mission, the amphibious group brings together several units and detachments:
- LHD Mistral
- La Fayette-class frigate Surcouf
- A tactical sub-group including elements from the 13th foreign legion regiment (13e DBLE), the 1st foreign cavalry regiment (1er REC) and the 1st foreign engineering regiment (1er REG), plus their 35 vehicles.
- An aeromobile sub-group of the French Army’s light aviation, comprising two Cougar helicopters and two Gazelle helicopters from the French Army’s 5th combat helicopter regiment (5e RHC).
- A Dauphin helicopter from Flottille 34F
- An S100 Camcopter drone from Flotille 36F
- An amphibious flotilla detachment equipped with two landing crafts
