Standing on the deck of the French aircraft carrier, Charles de Gaulle, the pace of air operations is surprisingly swift.

Several times per hour the crew launches between four and 10 fighter jets, many of them armed and headed for Iraq and Syria.
France recently moved the Charles de Gaulle — or “CDG” as the crew calls it — to the Mediterranean Sea, close to the Syrian coast.
The move comes as Iraqi-led forces have begun what is expected to be a messy and prolonged offensive to seize the country’s second-largest city, Mosul.
Read more- CNN
Image courtesy of CNN