A French officer has reportedly disclosed the position of a French aircraft carrier, deployed to the Middle East, by publicly logging a running activity on the Strava sports application.
The French news outlet Le Monde was the first to report this incident. The officer, identified only as Arthur, purportedly recorded a 35-minute run on March 13th while on the deck of the Charles de Gaulle aircraft carrier. He utilized a smartwatch to capture his exercise and upload the data to Strava, which subsequently generated a map detailing his location at the time.
The vessel forms a central component of a carrier strike group recently dispatched to the eastern Mediterranean by French authorities. This deployment occurs amidst ongoing tensions in the region, exacerbated by events related to Iran.
In a statement provided to the AFP news agency, the French armed forces confirmed that the reported circumstances “do not comply with current instructions.” They indicated that appropriate measures would be implemented if the report proved to be accurate.
According to Le Monde, the aircraft carrier’s location was pinpointed northwest of Cyprus, approximately 100 kilometers (62 miles) off the Turkish coast. Satellite imagery reportedly captured both the carrier and its escort vessels.
While BBC Verify was unable to independently verify the reported route, it acknowledged the possibility that the activity may have been deleted later or that the user’s privacy settings were subsequently altered. The military confirmed its objective in deploying the carrier strike group was “to protect French nationals, defend France’s interests in the region, and support its partners and allies.”
The carrier is equipped with a complement of 20 fighter jets, two surveillance aircraft, and three helicopters. This deployment is part of France’s broader initiative to reinforce its military presence in the Middle East, a posture that French President Emmanuel Macron has characterized as strictly defensive.
This development is not the first instance where an activity logged on Strava has inadvertently revealed sensitive operational details.
Le Monde had previously published reports detailing runs shared by French President Macron’s bodyguards, which on several occasions compromised his location. Similarly, in 2024, Secret Service agents accompanying then-US President Joe Biden also shared their whereabouts on the app. A report from the same year indicated that the app displayed the locations of bodyguards for Russian President Vladimir Putin at opulent residences previously denied by the Kremlin.
Another feature of the Strava application, its ‘heatmap,’ has faced scrutiny in the past. This feature visualizes all publicly recorded user activities globally, allowing users to zoom in on specific areas. Critics have pointed out that it has previously exposed the exercise routes of military personnel stationed at bases worldwide.
Several years ago, a watchdog organization focused on disinformation noted that the heatmap feature potentially enabled individuals to identify and track security personnel operating at classified bases in Israel.
Strava, headquartered in San Francisco, utilizes GPS data from mobile phones or fitness devices to track exercise activities. The company reports having over 195 million users across more than 185 countries on its official website.