Real Adm. Eric Malbruno, deputy planning and programs of the French Navy chief of staff, said that considering the size and importance of Indonesia, it was one of the countries France was looking forward to having a port visit to in the future.

"A midshipman tour is being planned to make a port visit again in Indonesia -- hopefully in the first semester of 2023," he said.

Malbrunot was speaking at a media briefing, a part of a press tour on French naval capabilities and industrial bases. The trip was held ahead of the 2022 Euronaval maritime exhibition in October.

Malbrunot said there had been a plan to make a port visit to Surabaya, East Java, in 2020 but it was canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The last port visit by the French Navy to Indonesia was in April 2018 when the Jeanne d'Arc training task force -- consisting of the Mistral-class Dixmude landing helicopter dock (LHD) and the La Fayette-class Surcouf stealthy frigate -- visited Jakarta.

Dixmude, which also served as a command ship, and Surcouf then sailed to Bali to participate in the multilateral naval Komodo Exercise in nearby Lombok, West Nusa Tenggara.

Malbeunot said that the French Navy had a global lookout and covered the world's largest exclusive economic zone due to its overseas departments and regions, including in the Indo Pacific.

Malbrunot said that the dynamics in the Indo Pacific region did affect planning for capabilities development for the French Navy.

"We are using in-time capabilities, using less performing capabilities now rather than waiting for good capabilities later," he said.

He gave the example of the use of an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) versus a manned helicopter, saying that there were instances when it was best to use UAV while other missions use helicopters.

The French Navy is a full spectrum navy with capabilities such as nuclear-powered aircraft carrier and submarine, amphibious assets, naval aviation arm and combat divers, Malbrunot said.

Currently, he said, the navy is consolidating its core to build, maintain and modify capabilities to carry out its missions.

For example, the French Navy aims to have 15 frontline warships, consisting of 8 142-meter European multirole frigates (FREMM), 2 152 m Horizon-class frigates and five 122 m intervention and defense frigates (FDI), he said.

In addition to new frigates, the French Navy was also working to upgrade its auxiliary ships, offshore-patrol vessels and fleet-air arm.

For the fleet-air arm, the French Navy is in the process of upgrading Breguet Atlantique 2 maritime-patrol aircraft and Rafale M carrier-based jet fighter, said Malbrunot.

Also speaking at the media briefing was Philippe Missoffe, managing director of French Maritime Industry Association GICAN, who said the association was open to cooperation with customer countries to develop their own naval industry.

As more countries, including Indonesia, are now requiring some domestic production of foreign-weapon systems they buy, Missoffe said that those countries must prepare their own defense-industrial base to build warships in the country.

“The defense-industrial base must have enough work to get that capability in an efficient manner by producing for the worldwide market,” he told The Jakarta Post on the sideline of the briefing.

“French companies are very good at providing transfer of technology so we can have agreements to develop such partnerships.”

Missoffe suggested that those countries who wanted to develop their shipbuilding establish joint-ventures between French companies and the local ones.

Being an archipelagic country, there are a lot of cooperation potentials with Indonesia, he added.

“You must put more money into developing and sustaining the capabilities with [the aim that] 50 percent of the product should be exported,” he said.

“Local and foreign partners must cooperate in the long term.”

The association has 257 members, of which 70 percent are small-scale enterprises, 15 percent mid-size companies and 8 percent big groups with 48,700 direct jobs.