While called to transport and ultimately unload her precious cargo, the Tonnerre is not designed for frontline combat. Her armament suite is rather reserved for a military ship and consists of a defensive-minded arrangement. This includes 2 x MBDA "Mistral" Simbad infrared homing surface-to-air missile launchers and up to 4 x 12.7mm Browning M2 heavy machine guns for close-in defense. One Simbad unit is installed at the extreme front right corner with the second unit installed at the rear left corner. While not installed, the vessel can also support up to 2 x 30mm Breda-Mauser autocannons. This limited armaments array requires that the Tonnerre be fielded with supporting warships/aircraft for additional protection.
Tonnerre was called to her first action in support of the United Nations commitment in Ivory Coast following the local civil war. This was as part of Operation Unicorn spanning April 10th, 2007 into July 24th, 2007 which saw the vessel launch light and medium helicopters into action. Come 2008, Tonnerre was committed to humanitarian assistance in the Gulf of Guinea to help curtail illegal drug smuggling. During the Libyan Civil War of 2011, Tonnerre launched her helicopters in support of severla major operations centered around protection of Libyan civilians and the toppling of dictator Muammar Gaddafi from power.
As of this writing (2013), the Tonnerre remains in active service with the French fleet.
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