French special forces conduct daring parachute jump onto moving warship

French special forces have been filmed practising parachute jumps onto the flight deck of a moving warship.

In footage posted to the French Carrier Strike Group Twitter account, heavily laden special forces operators make a series of jumps onto the nuclear-powered aircraft carrier Charles De Gaulle.

The 38,000-ton warship is named after the French statesman and general Charles De Gaulle and can carry up to 40 military jets.

• All the gen on the new British military battlefield radio
• Black Hawk helicopter flies 115mph test rescue mission with no pilot on board
• How US fighter pilots' bomb-release pickle switch got its name and what it has to do with clowns

Headcam and aircraft video provides an incredible view of the French Navy's Flagship vessel from the sky above.  

In the footage, specialist soldiers are seen using a makeshift slide to exit the rear of the plane, before deploying their parachutes and gliding towards the sea and making a textbook landing onto the floating runway.

One of the soldiers makes the landing look easy, by directly landing onto the centre of the flight deck, which is a mere 261 metres long and only 64m wide.

In April 2022 the French government revealed they would be replacing the French Navy's flagship with an even larger and more powerful aircraft carrier by 2038.

Watch: Video explainers