The ''Force de dissuasion'' (), known as the ''Force de frappe'' ('Strike Force') prior to 1961,
[Gunston, Bill. Bombers of the West. New York: Charles Scribner's and Sons; 1973. p104] is the French
nuclear deterrence force. The ''Force de dissuasion'' used to be a
triad of air-, sea- and land-based nuclear weapons
A nuclear weapon is an explosive device that derives its destructive force from nuclear reactions, either nuclear fission, fission (fission or atomic bomb) or a combination of fission and nuclear fusion, fusion reactions (thermonuclear weap ...
intended for ''dissuasion'', the French term for
deterrence. Following the end of the
Cold War
The Cold War was a period of global Geopolitics, geopolitical rivalry between the United States (US) and the Soviet Union (USSR) and their respective allies, the capitalist Western Bloc and communist Eastern Bloc, which lasted from 1947 unt ...
, France decommissioned all its land-based nuclear missiles, thus the ''Force de dissuasion'' today only incorporates an air- and sea-based arsenal.
The French Nuclear Force, part of the
French military
The French Armed Forces (, ) are the military forces of France. They consist of four military branches – the Army, the Navy, the Air and Space Force, and the National Gendarmerie. The National Guard serves as the French Armed Forces' military ...
, is the
fourth largest nuclear-weapons force in the world, after the nuclear triads of the
United States
The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...
, the
Russian Federation
Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...
and the
People's Republic of China
China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...
.
On 27 January 1996, France conducted its last nuclear test in the
South Pacific and then signed the
Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty
The Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty (CTBT) is a multilateral treaty to ban nuclear weapons test explosions and any other nuclear explosions, for both civilian and military purposes, in all environments. It was adopted by the United Nati ...
(CTBT) in September 1996. In March 2008,
French President Nicolas Sarkozy
Nicolas Paul Stéphane Sarközy de Nagy-Bocsa ( ; ; born 28 January 1955) is a French politician who served as President of France from 2007 to 2012. In 2021, he was found guilty of having tried to bribe a judge in 2014 to obtain information ...
confirmed reports giving the actual size of France's nuclear arsenal and he announced that France would reduce its
French Air Force
The French Air and Space Force (, , ) is the air force, air and space force of the French Armed Forces. Formed in 1909 as the ("Aeronautical Service"), a service arm of the French Army, it became an independent military branch in 1934 as the Fr ...
-carried nuclear arsenal by 30%, leaving the ''Force de Frappe'' with 290 warheads.
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
Pierre Mendès France under the
Fourth Republic. President
Charles de Gaulle
Charles André Joseph Marie de Gaulle (22 November 18909 November 1970) was a French general and statesman who led the Free France, Free French Forces against Nazi Germany in World War II and chaired the Provisional Government of the French Re ...
, upon his return to power in 1958, solidified the initial vision into the well-defined concept of a fully independent ''Force de frappe'' that would be capable of protecting France from a
Soviet
The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...
or other foreign attack and independent of the
North Atlantic Treaty Organization
The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO ; , OTAN), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental transnational military alliance of 32 member states—30 European and 2 North American. Established in the aftermat ...
, which de Gaulle considered to be too dominated by the United States. In particular, France was concerned that in the event of a Soviet invasion of Western Europe, the US, already bogged down in the
Korean War
The Korean War (25 June 1950 – 27 July 1953) was an armed conflict on the Korean Peninsula fought between North Korea (Democratic People's Republic of Korea; DPRK) and South Korea (Republic of Korea; ROK) and their allies. North Korea was s ...
and afraid of Soviet retaliation against the United States, would not come to the aid of its allies in
Western Europe
Western Europe is the western region of Europe. The region's extent varies depending on context.
The concept of "the West" appeared in Europe in juxtaposition to "the East" and originally applied to the Western half of the ancient Mediterranean ...
. De Gaulle felt that France should never entrust its defense and therefore its very existence to a foreign and thus unreliable protector.
The strategic concept behind the ''Force de Frappe'' is one of
countervalue
In nuclear strategy, countervalue is the targeting of an opponent's assets that are of value but not actually a military threat, such as cities and civilian populations. Counterforce is the targeting of an opponent's military forces and faciliti ...
, 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
Mutual assured destruction (MAD) is a doctrine of military strategy and national security policy which posits that a full-scale use of nuclear weapons by an attacker on a nuclear-armed defender with second-strike capabilities would result in ...
). 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:
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".
[Gunston, Bill. Bombers of the West. New York: Charles Scribner's and Sons; 1973. p105]
In his book ''La paix nucléaire'' (1975),
French Navy
The French Navy (, , ), informally (, ), is the Navy, maritime arm of the French Armed Forces and one of the four military service branches of History of France, France. It is among the largest and most powerful List of navies, naval forces i ...
Admiral
Admiral is one of the highest ranks in many navies. In the Commonwealth nations and the United States, a "full" admiral is equivalent to a "full" general in the army or the air force. Admiral is ranked above vice admiral and below admiral of ...
Marc de Joybert explained deterrence:
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
mutually assured destruction
Mutual assured destruction (MAD) is a doctrine of military strategy and national security policy which posits that a full-scale use of nuclear weapons by an attacker on a nuclear-armed defender with second-strike capabilities would result in ...
and
massive retaliation. It remains unknown whether the French government ever seriously considered its policy different from other NATO member strategies or if their public statements were more aimed to improve morale and confidence in the French population.
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,
hydrogen bomb
A thermonuclear weapon, fusion weapon or hydrogen bomb (H-bomb) is a second-generation nuclear weapon design. Its greater sophistication affords it vastly greater destructive power than first-generation nuclear bombs, a more compact size, a lo ...
s are so powerful that if used to their full potential high civilian casualties and related
collateral damage
"Collateral damage" is a term for any incidental and undesired death, injury or other damage inflicted, especially on civilians, as the result of an activity. Originally coined to describe military operations, it is now also used in non-milit ...
would be inevitable, thus making it unclear as to whether targeting military forces would produce a meaningfully different result compared to targeting population centers. Perhaps the most significant difference in French strategy is that it includes the option of a
first strike attack, even in response to non-nuclear provocation.
France carried out its
first test of an atomic bomb in Algeria in 1960 and some operational French nuclear weapons became available in 1964. Then, France executed its
first test of the much more powerful hydrogen bomb over its
South Pacific Ocean
South is one of the cardinal directions or compass points. The direction is the opposite of north and is perpendicular to both west and east.
Etymology
The word ''south'' comes from Old English ''sūþ'', from earlier Proto-Germanic ''*sunþa ...
test range in 1968.
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
Strategic Air Forces Command (Commandement des Forces Aeriennes Strategique (CFAS)) of the
French Air Force
The French Air and Space Force (, , ) is the air force, air and space force of the French Armed Forces. Formed in 1909 as the ("Aeronautical Service"), a service arm of the French Army, it became an independent military branch in 1934 as the Fr ...
, established in 1955 and operating 40
Sud Aviation Vautour IIB bombers.
They were considered marginal for a strategic bomber role, and work began almost immediately on a replacement resulting in the
Mirage III.
In May 1956, a requirement for what became the
Dassault Mirage IV
The Dassault Mirage IV is a French supersonic strategic bomber and deep-reconnaissance aircraft. Developed by Dassault Aviation, the aircraft entered service with the French Air Force in October 1964. For many years it was a vital part of the ...
bomber was drawn up;
the bomber was designed to carry
AN-11 nuclear
gravity bombs over targets in the Eastern bloc at supersonic speeds and was declared operational in October 1964. It was later modernized and converted to carry its successor, the
AN-22 bomb. The Mirage IV-P version was armed with the
ASMP missile and entered service in 1986. All bomber versions of the Mirage IV retired in 1996.
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 from 1972 to 1982. They were compatible with modified Mirage III fighters and later with the standard Jaguar. The Mirage 2000 was theoretically capable of carrying it but never did so. The AN-52's were deactivated and placed into storage in 1991.
The
Mirage 2000N entered service in 1988 and can carry gravity bombs, the ASMP and the new longer-ranged
ASMP-A missile, which entered service 2009. The Mirage 2000N was being replaced by the
Dassault Rafale F3 as of 2011.
Land

The land-based component of the French nuclear triad was added in August 1971, when 18
silo
A silo () is a structure for storing Bulk material handling, bulk materials.
Silos are commonly used for bulk storage of grain, coal, cement, carbon black, woodchips, food products and sawdust. Three types of silos are in widespread use toda ...
-based
S2 medium-range ballistic missile
A medium-range ballistic missile (MRBM) is a type of ballistic missile with medium range (aeronautics), range, this last classification depending on the standards of certain organizations. Within the United States Department of Defense, U.S. D ...
s, which achieved operational readiness at
French Air Force
The French Air and Space Force (, , ) is the air force, air and space force of the French Armed Forces. Formed in 1909 as the ("Aeronautical Service"), a service arm of the French Army, it became an independent military branch in 1934 as the Fr ...
Aerial Base 200 Saint Christol Albion, in
Vaucluse
Vaucluse (; or ) is a department in the southeastern French region of Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur. It had a population of 561,469 as of 2019. ,
southern France
Southern France, also known as the south of France or colloquially in French as , is a geographical area consisting of the regions of France that border the Atlantic Ocean south of the Marais Poitevin,Louis Papy, ''Le midi atlantique'', Atlas e ...
. Later, the land-based component was augmented with the mobile shortrange
''Pluton'' missile and
''Hadès'' missile, which were designed to be launched from the front lines at any approaching foreign army. To defend against a Soviet-
Warsaw Pact
The Warsaw Pact (WP), formally the Treaty of Friendship, Co-operation and Mutual Assistance (TFCMA), was a Collective security#Collective defense, collective defense treaty signed in Warsaw, Polish People's Republic, Poland, between the Sovi ...
invasion of
West Germany
West Germany was the common English name for the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG) from its formation on 23 May 1949 until German reunification, its reunification with East Germany on 3 October 1990. It is sometimes known as the Bonn Republi ...
, they could be deployed with the
French Army
The French Army, officially known as the Land Army (, , ), is the principal Army, land warfare force of France, and the largest component of the French Armed Forces; it is responsible to the Government of France, alongside the French Navy, Fren ...
in the
French Zone of Germany, in Western Germany.
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
S3 IRBMs at the
Plateau d'Albion were considered to be approaching obsolescence and also deemed to be no longer necessary following the
fall of the Soviet Union
The Soviet Union was formally dissolved as a sovereign state and subject of international law on 26 December 1991 by Declaration No. 142-N of the Soviet of Nationalities, Soviet of the Republics of the Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union. :s: ...
and so also were disposed of. The silos have been imploded and the missile base closed in 1999, eliminating the landbased missile leg of the French nuclear triad.
Sea
The ocean-based, mobile component of the French nuclear triad entered service in December 1971, with the commissioning of its first
ballistic missile submarine
A ballistic missile submarine is a submarine capable of deploying submarine-launched ballistic missiles (SLBMs) with nuclear warheads. These submarines became a major weapon system in the Cold War because of their nuclear deterrence capabi ...
, the
nuclear submarine
A nuclear submarine is a submarine powered by a nuclear reactor, but not necessarily nuclear-armed.
Nuclear submarines have considerable performance advantages over "conventional" (typically diesel-electric) submarines. Nuclear propulsion ...
''
Le Redoutable'', which initially carried 16
M1 intermediate-range ballistic missiles, similar to the US
Polaris missiles.
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. 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
Aeronavale or
French Naval Aviation has operated a fleet of nuclear-armed aircraft since 1962, with the
Dassault Etendard IV on its
''Clemenceau''-class aircraft carriers. The Etendard could be armed with AN-52 nuclear gravity bombs. In 1978, the
Dassault Super Etendard entered service, giving the Aeronavale a stand-off nuclear strike ability via its
Air-Sol Moyenne Portée (ASMP) nuclear missiles. As the ''Clemenceau'' class retired from 1997 to 2000, the
Super Etendard
Super may refer to:
Computing
* SUPER (computer program), or Simplified Universal Player Encoder & Renderer, a video converter/player
* Super (computer science), a keyword in object-oriented programming languages
* Super key (keyboard button ...
remained in service on the succeeding
R91 ''Charles-de-Gaulle''. Since 2010 it carries
Rafale F3 fighters armed with the upgraded
ASMP-A nuclear missiles.
Components
Land-based component
France no longer possesses land-based nuclear missiles. The
IRBM ''base aérienne 200 Apt-Saint-Christol'' at the Plateau d'Albion (
Vaucluse
Vaucluse (; or ) is a department in the southeastern French region of Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur. It had a population of 561,469 as of 2019. ) was deactivated in 1996 and its missiles scrapped. All French Army units equipped with short-range missiles such as the
''Pluton'' and the
''Hadès'' were disbanded, their missiles scrapped and their
fissile
In nuclear engineering, fissile material is material that can undergo nuclear fission when struck by a neutron of low energy. A self-sustaining thermal Nuclear chain reaction#Fission chain reaction, chain reaction can only be achieved with fissil ...
nuclear materials recycled.
Sea-based component
The
French Navy
The French Navy (, , ), informally (, ), is the Navy, maritime arm of the French Armed Forces and one of the four military service branches of History of France, France. It is among the largest and most powerful List of navies, naval forces i ...
includes a nuclear strategic branch, the Force Océanique Stratégique, which has contained as many as 6
nuclear-powered
Nuclear power is the use of nuclear reactions to produce electricity. Nuclear power can be obtained from nuclear fission, nuclear decay and nuclear fusion reactions. Presently, the vast majority of electricity from nuclear power is produced b ...
ballistic missile submarine
A ballistic missile submarine is a submarine capable of deploying submarine-launched ballistic missiles (SLBMs) with nuclear warheads. These submarines became a major weapon system in the Cold War because of their nuclear deterrence capabi ...
s (SSBNs) in service at one time. Up to 2022, the ten SSBNs built for the French Navy are:
* 6
Redoutable class submarines, armed with 16
M4 IRBMs entered service between 1971 and 1985. The last of these,
''L'Inflexible'' (S 615), was retired from service in 2008.
* 4
''Triomphant''-class SSBNs: ''
Le Triomphant'' (S 616), ''
Le Téméraire'' (S 617), ''
Le Vigilant'' (S 618), ''
Le Terrible'' (S 619). Commissioned between 1997 and 2010, each armed with 16
M51 SLBMs.
Air-based component
The
Armée de l'air et de l'espace has 54
''ASMP-A'' medium-range
air-to-ground missiles with the
TNA (Airborne nuclear warhead) at its disposal. These are deployed on the Dassault Rafale B, which fully replaced the
Dassault Mirage 2000N in 2018.
The
Aviation navale can operate the ASMP-A missile from the
Dassault Rafale M (
CATOBAR carrier variant). These aircraft are landbased at
Landivisiau Naval Air Base and on the
aircraft carrier
An aircraft carrier is a warship that serves as a seagoing airbase, equipped with a full-length flight deck and hangar facilities for supporting, arming, deploying and recovering carrier-based aircraft, shipborne aircraft. Typically it is the ...
''Charles de Gaulle'' when at sea. Thus they can be operated flexibly. The Rafale M is also certified to operate from United States Navy aircraft carriers.
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
The Boeing KC-135 Stratotanker is an American military aerial refueling tanker aircraft that was developed from the Boeing 367-80 prototype, alongside the Boeing 707 airliner. It has a narrower fuselage and is shorter than the 707. Boeing gave ...
and in the future by the forthcoming
Airbus A330 MRTT
The Airbus A330 Multi Role Tanker Transport (MRTT) is a European aerial refueling and military transport aircraft based on the civilian Airbus A330. A total of 15 countries have placed firm orders for approximately 82 aircraft, of which 64 had ...
aerial refueling
Aerial refueling ( en-us), or aerial refuelling ( en-gb), also referred to as air refueling, in-flight refueling (IFR), air-to-air refueling (AAR), and tanking, is the process of transferring aviation fuel from one aircraft (the tanker) to an ...
fleet.
Nuclear ordnance security Gendarmerie
Source:
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
A gendarmerie () is a paramilitary or military force with law enforcement duties among the civilian population. The term ''gendarme'' () is derived from the medieval French expression ', which translates to " men-at-arms" (). In France and so ...
. It is placed under the supervision the
Ministry of Armed Forces and plays a major role in the security chain of the nuclear devices.
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.
Jupiter Command Post
The Jupiter Command Post is a structure in the bunker of the
Élysée Palace
The Élysée Palace (, ) is the official residence of the President of France, President of the French Republic in Paris. Completed in 1722, it was built for Louis Henri de La Tour d'Auvergne, a nobleman and army officer who had been appointed g ...
. 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
Albert François Lebrun (; 29 August 1871 – 6 March 1950) was a French politician who served as President of France from 1932 to 1940. He was the last president of the Third Republic. He was a member of the centre-right Democratic Republica ...
in 1940 during the
Phoney War
The Phoney War (; ; ) was an eight-month period at the outset of World War II during which there were virtually no Allied military land operations on the Western Front from roughly September 1939 to May 1940. World War II began on 3 Septembe ...
, and President
Valéry Giscard d'Estaing
Valéry René Marie Georges Giscard d'Estaing (, ; ; 2 February 19262 December 2020), also known as simply Giscard or VGE, was a French politician who served as President of France from 1974 to 1981.
After serving as Ministry of the Economy ...
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
France is one of the five "Nuclear Weapons States" under the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons, but is not known to possess or develop any chemical or biological weapons. France is the only member of the European Union to posse ...
(includes more detailed discussion of nuclear testing)
*
List of states with nuclear weapons
Nine sovereign states are generally understood to possess nuclear weapons, though only eight formally acknowledge possessing them. Five are considered to be nuclear-weapon states (NWS) under the terms of the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation ...
*
List of nuclear weapons tests
*
Foreign policy of Charles de Gaulle
*
Nuclear weapon
A nuclear weapon is an explosive device that derives its destructive force from nuclear reactions, either fission (fission or atomic bomb) or a combination of fission and fusion reactions (thermonuclear weapon), producing a nuclear exp ...
*
Gaullism
Gaullism ( ) is a Politics of France, French political stance based on the thought and action of World War II French Resistance leader Charles de Gaulle, who would become the founding President of France, President of the Fifth French Republic. ...
References
Bibliography
* Jean-Hugues Oppel, ''Réveillez le président !'', Éditions Payot et rivages, 2007 (). 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).
{{DEFAULTSORT:Force De Frappe
Deterrence theory during the Cold War
Nuclear history of France
Strategic forces
Presidency of Charles de Gaulle
French words and phrases