Force de dissuasion
French Armed Forces |
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The Force de dissuasion (English: 'Deterrence Force'), known as the Force de frappe (English: 'Strike Force') prior to 1961,
The French Nuclear Force, part of the
On 27 January 1996, France conducted its last nuclear test in the
In addition to its nuclear military programme, France has a large peaceful nuclear programme and ranks as one of the world's largest generators of nuclear power.
History
The decision to arm France with nuclear weapons was made in 1954 by the administration of
The strategic concept behind the Force de Frappe is one of countervalue, the capacity to inflict so much damage on a potential (and more powerful) adversary's population that the potential adversary will be deterred from attacking, no matter how much destruction it can inflict (mutual assured destruction). This principle is usually referred to in French political debate as dissuasion du faible au fort ("deterrence from the weak to the strong") and was summarized in a statement attributed to de Gaulle himself:
Within ten years, we shall have the means to kill 80 million Russians. I truly believe that one does not light-heartedly attack people who are able to kill 80 million Russians, even if one can kill 800 million French, that is if there were 800 million French.[4]
General Pierre Marie Gallois said, "Making the most pessimistic assumptions, the French nuclear bombers could destroy ten Russian cities; and France is not a prize worthy of ten Russian cities".[5]
In his book La paix nucléaire (1975), French Navy Admiral Marc de Joybert explained deterrence:
Sir, I have no quarrel with you, but I warn you in advance and with all possible clarity that if you invade me, I shall answer at the only credible level for my scale, which is the nuclear level. Whatever your defenses, you shan't prevent at least some of my missiles from reaching your home and causing the devastation that you are familiar with. So, renounce your endeavour and let us remain good friends.[6]
While not referred to as such, the French nuclear posture of the time bears some significant similarities to other common policies of the era such as
It may seem that on the surface, an avowed policy of attacking civilians was a significant departure from the typical nuclear policies of the time, but it was common for states to refer to their nuclear abilities in terms of numbers of cities destroyed. Moreover,
France carried out its
De Gaulle's vision of the Force de Frappe featured the same triad of air-based, land-based and sea-based weapons that were deployed by both the United States and the Soviet Union. Work on the components had started in the late 1950s and was accelerated as soon as de Gaulle became the president.
Air
Initially, the Force de Frappe had an airbase component of the
In May 1956, a requirement for what became the
From 1973 to 2003, the CFAS also operated SEPECAT Jaguars, limited nuclear capable of using the tactical AN-52 nuclear bomb, which were certified for supersonic flight. A total of 100 were built in 1972 to 1982. They were compatible with modified Mirage III fighters and later with the standard Jaguar. The Mirage 2000 was theorically capable of carrying it but never did so. The AN-52's were deactivated and placed into storage in 1991.
The
Land
The land-based component of the French nuclear triad was added in August 1971, when 18
Since the French military judged a full-scale invasion of Western Europe by the Soviet Union and its Warsaw Pact Allies to be unlikely to be stopped by conventional armaments, the short-range nuclear missiles were meant as a "final warning" (ultime avertissement in French), which would tell the aggressor that any further advances would trigger a nuclear armageddon upon its major cities and other important targets.
The Pluton missile, introduced in 1974, was retired from service and scrapped beginning in 1993, and its successor, the Hadès missile, was produced in limited numbers during the early 1990s and then withdrawn from the army and placed in arsenal storage in 1995. Next, the French government decided to eliminate all of those missiles, and the last Hadès was dismantled on 23 June 1997. That was the end of the French mobile land-based nuclear missiles.
The French fixed
Sea
The ocean-based, mobile component of the French nuclear triad entered service in December 1971, with the commissioning of its first
Since then, the ocean-based French nuclear weapons arsenal has been expanded to a squadron of four submarines, one of which is always on patrol.[8] Since 1985, some of the French ballistic missile subs have become obsolete. The subs have been retired and replaced by newer subs that also have 16 missile tubes apiece and carry the more advanced French M45 missile. A new submarine, the Le Terrible, was put into service on 20 September 2010, armed with the M51 missile, which is similar to the US Trident II.
The
Components
Land-based component
France no longer possesses land-based nuclear missiles. The
Sea-based component
The French Navy includes a nuclear strategic branch, the Force Océanique Stratégique, which has contained as many as 6 nuclear-powered ballistic missile submarines in service at one time. Up to 2022, the ten SSBNs built for the French Navy are:
- 6 L'Inflexible(S 615), was retired from service in 2008.
- 4
Air-based component
The
The locations of the nuclear missiles are secret (although many storage facilities are already known to the public, the number of warheads inside is classified and changes frequently). The range of strike aircraft is extended currently by the KC-135 and in the future by the forthcoming Airbus A330 MRTT aerial refueling fleet.
Nuclear ordnance security Gendarmerie
Source:[13]
The Nuclear ordnance security Gendarmerie (French: Gendarmerie de la sécurité des armements nucléaires GSAN) was created in 1964 and is one of the five specialized branches of the French Gendarmerie. It is placed under the supervision the Ministry of Armed Forces and plays a major role in the security chain of the nuclear devices.[14]
The main mission of this specific branch is to secure the government's control over all the nuclear forces and weapons.
More specifically, the gendarmes of this unit are responsible for ensuring the protection and the readiness of the different kinds of missiles used by the French Navy and Air Force.
In order to do so, the GSAN is composed of its own units and of units from other branches of the gendarmerie, temporarily placed under its command like squadrons of the Mobile Gendarmerie to protect the convoys of nuclear weapons components.[15]
Jupiter Command Post
The Jupiter Command Post is a structure in the bunker of the Élysée Palace. It is equipped with means of communication and protection to enable the French president and his advisers to manage crisis situations and to be in contact at all times with other government entities, military command posts and foreign governments. The bunker was built for President Albert Lebrun in 1940 during the Phoney War, and President Valéry Giscard d'Estaing installed its command post in 1978.
See also
- History of France's civil nuclear program
- History of France's military nuclear program
- France and weapons of mass destruction (includes more detailed discussion of nuclear testing)
- List of states with nuclear weapons
- List of nuclear weapons tests
- Foreign policy of Charles de Gaulle
- Nuclear weapon
- Gaullism
References
- ^ a b Gunston, Bill. Bombers of the West. New York: Charles Scribner's and Sons; 1973. p104
- ^ "France to reduce nuclear arsenal, warns of Iran danger". 21 March 2008.[permanent dead link]
- ^ Gunston, Bill. Bombers of the West. New York: Charles Scribner's and Sons; 1973. p103
- ISBN 2717857583. Quote: "Dans dix ans, nous aurons de quoi tuer 80 millions de Russes. Eh bien je crois qu'on n'attaque pas volontiers des gens qui ont de quoi tuer 80 millions de Russes, même si on a soi-même de quoi tuer 800 millions de Français, à supposer qu'il y eût 800 millions de Français."
- ^ a b c Gunston, Bill. Bombers of the West. New York: Charles Scribner's and Sons; 1973. p105
- ^ Les Redoutable : Histoire d'une aventure technique, humaine et stratégique, meretmarine
- ^ Blair, W. Granger (13 February 1960). "France Explodes Her First A-Bomb in a Sahara Test". New York Times. p. 1. Retrieved 5 November 2010.
- ^ "FAS.org".
- ISSN 0096-3402.
- ^ Lagneau, Laurent (19 February 2015). "Le président Hollande dévoile les capacités nucléaires françaises". Zone Militaire (in French). Retrieved 4 December 2023.
- ^ "French Air Force retires the Mirage 2000N – Alert 5". 22 June 2018. Retrieved 4 December 2023.
- ^ "Specifications of the Rafale-M, The Only Non-US Fighter To Ever Take Off From a US Aircraft Carrier". International Military. 27 July 2022. Retrieved 4 December 2023.
- ^ www.defense.gouv.fr https://www.defense.gouv.fr/english/actualites/communaute-defense/la-gendarmerie-de-la-securite-des-armements-nucleaires. Retrieved 22 February 2021.
{{cite web}}
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(help) - ^ TERTRAIS, Bruno (1 January 2019). "French nuclear deterrence policy, forces and future" (PDF). Fondation pour la recherche stratégique: 70.
- ^ "French National Gendarmerie". FIEP | International Association of Gendarmeries and Police Forces with Military Statues. Retrieved 22 February 2021.
Bibliography
- (in French) Jean-Hugues Oppel, Réveillez le président !, Éditions Payot et rivages, 2007 (ISBN 978-2-7436-1630-4). The book is a fiction about the nuclear weapons of France; the book also contains about ten chapters on true historical incidents involving nuclear weapons and strategy (during the second half of the twentieth century).