PARIS, France: After a naval officer's use of the Strava exercise app inadvertently allowed journalists to geolocate the French aircraft carrier Charles de Gaulle in the Mediterranean, the government said it had now taken "appropriate measures" to ensure such incidents did not recur.
The French newspaper Le Monde used Strava to identify a naval officer who, it said, used the performance app during a morning jog, enabling reporters to locate the Charles de Gaulle in the Mediterranean using a satellite image taken that same day.
The newspaper said on March 19 that the officer was either jogging on the carrier or one of its escort ships.
However, the carrier's deployment this month was not a secret, and its commander has even briefed journalists by video link from aboard the nuclear-powered 42,000-ton vessel.
French military spokesman Guillaume Vernet said the Strava activity reported by Le Monde did not comply with current rules, and that the military is taking action.
He told The Associated Press that sailors are regularly warned about the security risks of using connected devices, including social media and apps that can track their location.
Vernet explained that the French Navy has different levels of restrictions on the use of such devices to prevent sensitive information from being exposed. These rules depend on the threat level.
Rear Admiral Thibault Haudos de Possesse, who leads the aircraft carrier group, spoke to reporters by video call from the Charles de Gaulle on the same day the naval officer went for a morning run.
He said several warships, including French and allied frigates, were protecting the carrier. The carrier was carrying 20 Dassault Rafale jets, two E-2 Hawkeye planes, and three helicopters.
Le Monde reported that sharing the carrier group's location almost in real time on a public app is dangerous, especially during the ongoing conflict in Iran. It noted that a drone attack on March 12 hit a Kurdish base in Erbil, killing French soldier Arnaud Frion and injuring six others.
French President Emmanuel Macron recently announced the name of France's next nuclear-powered aircraft carrier, the France Libre. It will be larger than the Charles de Gaulle, cost about 10 billion euros (US$11.5 billion), and is expected to enter service in 2038.
The new carrier will be able to carry 30 Rafale jets and about 2,000 sailors. It will weigh around 80,000 tons and be 310 meters long, compared to the Charles de Gaulle's 42,000 tons and 261 meters.
