I question the idea that we are in front of France. They still actually have an aircraft carrier capable of deploying fixed wing aircraft, and we don’t (we may or may not get this capability back in 2020)...
The French Navy has always had a front of a few very impressive ships.
But they have always been very weak in AAW.
Back in the 80s the intention was 6 C70 AA Frigates to back the 2 Suffern destroyers - they got 2
In 2000, the Suffrerns were to be replaced by 4 Horizons, while the 2 smaller C70s would get a mid-life refit with Aster30 missiles.
- Horizons cut to 2, no midlife refit for the C70s, whose End of Life has been extended 7 years.
So nominally there are 4 French AAW ships, but until at least 2020 two are small, aging, and armed with the obsolescent Standard SM-1, which they fire from the oldest Mk-13 launchers in the world, built 50 years ago.