The French carrier would have been built by an alliance of Thales and DCNS using the proposed design of a long, 75,000 tonne variant of the "Queen Elizabeth" class. While the UK had chosen to continue to use STOVL configuration for its new carriers, the design could also be reconfigured to a CATOBAR configuration for French requirements. The French variant would have most likely operated the Dassault Rafale, the E-2C Hawkeye and the NH-90 fixed-wing and rotary aircraft. Being a CATOBAR design, PA2 would have been equipped with the same long C13-2 steam catapults as those installed on the aircraft carriers of the United States Navy.