A Rafale of the Strategic Air Forces Command with an ASMP-A missile

The Force de dissuasion (French pronunciation: [fɔʁs də disɥazjɔ̃]; English: 'Deterrence Force'), known as the Force de frappe ([fɔʁs də fʁɑp]; 'Strike Force') before 1961,[1] is the French nuclear deterrence force. Formulated immediately after the Second World War, it comprised a triad of air-, sea- and land-based nuclear weapons intended for deterrence; since the end of the Cold War, it is only an air- and sea-based arsenal. The French Nuclear Force, part of the French military, is the fourth largest in the world, after the nuclear triads of the United States, Russia, and China.

France's military nuclear programme was shaped not only by the Cold War, but by the trauma that resulted from the Battle of France:[2] General Pierre Marie Gallois, one of the architects of the deterrence force, is said to have been marked "by the tragic effects of an excess of German power" in his strategic thinking.[3] In addition to retaining a strategic advantage over Germany,[4] France developed the Force de dissuasion to restore its status as a great power, maintain an independent security posture, and command greater influence within the NATO alliance.[5]

As early as 1945, General Charles de Gaulle envisioned France as a nuclear power; Prime Minister Pierre Mendès France laid the groundwork for this effort in 1954. De Gaulle's presidency (1959–1969) saw France conduct its first atomic bomb test in Algeria in 1960,[6] develop operational nuclear weapons by 1964, and execute its first thermonuclear test in the South Pacific Ocean in 1968. By 1971, France had a nuclear triad comparable to the United States and the Soviet Union.

On 27 January 1996, France conducted its last nuclear test in the South Pacific and then signed the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty (CTBT) the following September. In March 2008, President Nicolas Sarkozy confirmed reports giving the actual size of France's nuclear arsenal and announced that France would reduce the nuclear arsenal carried by the French Air Force by 30%, leaving the Force de dissuasion with 290 warheads.[7] In 2026, President Emmanuel Macron announced that France would increase its arsenal and deterrence capabilities.[8]

In addition to its nuclear military programme, France has a large civil 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 Prime Minister Pierre Mendès France under the Fourth Republic.[9] President Charles de Gaulle, 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 or other foreign attack and independent of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), 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 U.S., already bogged down in the Korean War and afraid of Soviet retaliation against the United States, would not come to the aid of its allies in Western Europe. De Gaulle felt that France should never entrust its defense and therefore its very existence to a foreign and thus unreliable protector.[1]

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:

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) 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 nuclear materials recycled.

Sea-based component

The Redoutable, the first French nuclear missile submarine.

The French Navy includes a nuclear strategic branch, the Force Océanique Stratégique, which has contained as many as six nuclear-powered ballistic missile submarines (SSBNs) in service at one time. An estimate 80 percent of France's nuclear arsenal is sea-based.[17]

As of 2026, ten SSBNs have been built for the French Navy:

All four nuclear armed submarines currently in operation as of 2026 are based in Île Longue on the Atlantic coast, one of the nation's most secretive military sites. Since 1972, at least one Triomphant-class SSBN has been on patrol at all times, ensuring France’s permanent capacity to carry out a strike.[19]

Air-based component

Rafale B

The French Air and Space Force has 54 ASMP-A medium-range air-to-ground missiles with the TNA (Airborne nuclear warhead) at its disposal.[20] These are deployed on the Dassault Rafale B, which fully replaced the Dassault Mirage 2000N in 2018.[21]

Rafale M on aircraft carrier Charles de Gaulle

Additionally, French Naval Aviation can operate the ASMP-A missile from the Dassault Rafale M (CATOBAR carrier variant). These aircraft are based at Landivisiau Naval Air Base and on the aircraft carrier Charles de Gaulle, allowing for operational flexibility. The Rafale M is also certified to operate from United States Navy aircraft carriers.[22]

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.

Operations

Nuclear strike order

The President of France is the sole person who can order a French nuclear strike;[23] there is no formal requirement for the president to consult anyone before taking the decision.[24] This authority can be transferred (devolved) along the presidential line of succession, which, according to the Defense Code, is the President of the Senate followed by the Prime Minister. In the event all three offices become simultaneously vacant, the authority to order a nuclear strike is transferred to a person whose identity remains classified.[25] The Chief of the Military Staff of the President of the Republic is tasked with assisting the President in ordering the strike.

Under duress, the President can transmit a counterfeit code to let the receiving military officer know not to execute the strike.[26]

Jupiter Command Post

The Jupiter Command Post (Poste de commandement Jupiter, PC Jupiter) is a structure in the bunker of the Élysée Palace equipped to enable the French president and his advisers to manage crisis situations and maintain contact with other government entities, military command posts, and foreign governments.[24] 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.

Nuclear ordnance security gendarmerie

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.[27][28]

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.[29]

Forward nuclear deterrence

In March 2026, France offered to extend ‌the ⁠protection of its nuclear umbrella to other European countries amid heightened tensions with Russia and doubts about long-term U.S. security guarantees.[30] Under the scheme, members may temporarily host French nuclear armed "strategic air forces", conduct joint nuclear drills, and coordinate on collective security.[31] As of May 2026, nine nations have joined the initiative: Belgium, Denmark, Germany, Greece, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Sweden and fellow nuclear power the United Kingdom.[32]

See also

References

  1. 1 2 Gunston, Bill. Bombers of the West. New York: Charles Scribner's and Sons; 1973. p104
  2. ↑ "64. Telegram From Secretary of State Rusk to the Department of State". history.state.gov. 15 December 1964. France had suffered much from Germany, had with perhaps greater caution accepted the reemergence of Germany as a natural phenomenon, particularly after World War II in the light of the Soviet menace, and had rendered modest economic, moral and even military assistance.
  3. ↑ François Géré (28 July 2023). "P. M. Gallois, stratège et pédagogue de la dissuasion nucléaire. La pensée stratégique française contemporaine". www.diploweb.com (in French). Faut-il parler d'une germanophobie de Gallois ? Il reste marqué comme tant d'autres par les effets tragiques d'un excès de puissance allemand.
  4. ↑ Bruno Tertrais. "French Nuclear Deterrence Policy, Forces, And Future: A Handbook" (PDF). www.frstrategie.org. Moreover, some political leaders wanted France to have a military capability that clearly differentiated it from Germany.
  5. ↑ Bruno Tertrais. "French Nuclear Deterrence Policy, Forces, And Future: A Handbook" (PDF). www.frstrategie.org. Pages 7-8
  6. 1 2 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.
  7. ↑ "France to reduce nuclear arsenal, warns of Iran danger". 21 March 2008. Archived from the original on 27 July 2022. Retrieved 21 March 2008.
  8. ↑ "Macron shifts French nuclear doctrine by boosting arsenal and involving allies". Politico. 2 March 2026. Retrieved 2 March 2026.
  9. ↑ Gunston, Bill. Bombers of the West. New York: Charles Scribner's and Sons; 1973. p103
  10. ↑ Serge Gadal, (2009). Forces aériennes stratégiques: histoire des deux premières composantes de la dissuasion nucléaire française. Economica. p.86. 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."
  11. 1 2 3 Gunston, Bill. Bombers of the West. New York: Charles Scribner's and Sons; 1973. p105
  12. ↑ Les Redoutable : Histoire d'une aventure technique, humaine et stratégique, meretmarine
  13. ↑ "107. Memorandum of Conversation". history.state.gov. 1 June 1961. Not only the number of countries which could afford such weapons would be small, but also Germany is legally prevented from having any, and the disadvantages deriving from German possession of atomic weapons would be far greater than the advantages.
  14. ↑ https://www.lemonde.fr/archives/article/1975/07/25/pluton-ou-les-vertus-de-l-ambiguite_2574630_1819218.html
  15. ↑ "FAS.org".
  16. 1 2 Vavasseur, Xavier (28 October 2025). "France's M51.3 Submarine Launched Ballistic Missile enters operational service". Naval News. Retrieved 28 October 2025.
  17. ↑ "Norway becomes ninth country to come under French nuclear deterrence scheme". France 24. 27 May 2026. Retrieved 28 May 2026.
  18. ↑ Kristensen, Hans M.; Korda, Matt (2 January 2019). "French nuclear forces, 2019". Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists. 75 (1): 51–55. Bibcode:2019BuAtS..75a..51K. doi:10.1080/00963402.2019.1556003. ISSN 0096-3402.
  19. ↑ "'To be free, we have to be feared,' Macron says in keynote nuclear speech". France 24. 2 March 2026. Retrieved 28 May 2026.
  20. ↑ Lagneau, Laurent (19 February 2015). "Le président Hollande dévoile les capacités nucléaires françaises". Zone Militaire (in French). Retrieved 4 December 2023.
  21. ↑ "French Air Force retires the Mirage 2000N – Alert 5". 22 June 2018. Retrieved 4 December 2023.
  22. ↑ "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.
  23. ↑ "Code de la défense". Légifrance (in French). Le chef d'état-major des armées est chargé de faire exécuter les opérations nécessaires à la mise en œuvre des forces nucléaires. Il s'assure de l'exécution de l'ordre d'engagement donné par le Président de la République.
  24. 1 2 The Finger on the Button: The Authority to Use Nuclear Weapons in Nuclear-Armed States James Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies, Jeffrey G. Lewis and Bruno Tertrais
  25. ↑ Baptiste Le Tenier (2017). "L'intérim de la présidence de la République et la défense nationale". Revue Défense Nationale (in French). 797 (2): 87–90. doi:10.3917/rdna.797.0087. Le journaliste Jean Guisnel a pu évoquer dans son dernier ouvrage le fait que des personnalités en province puissent disposer du code et de la capacité à engager le feu nucléaire en cas de destruction des centres de commandement à Paris, par exemple.
  26. ↑ "Comment le président français peut-il déclencher une frappe nucléaire ?". RTL.fr (in French). 21 September 2022. Même s'il prononce le bon code, il y a encore des sous-clés, qui peuvent permettre de signaler que l'on n'est pas dans une situation normale.
  27. ↑ Antoine Faure (26 September 2024). "Célébration du 60e anniversaire de la GSAN". www.gendarmerie.interieur.gouv.fr (in French).
  28. ↑ TERTRAIS, Bruno (1 January 2019). "French nuclear deterrence policy, forces and future" (PDF). Fondation pour la recherche stratégique: 70.
  29. ↑ "French National Gendarmerie". FIEP | International Association of Gendarmeries and Police Forces with Military Statues. Retrieved 22 February 2021.
  30. ↑ France to boost nuclear arsenal, involve European allies in deterrence | Reuters
  31. ↑ "Norway joins France's nuclear deterrence club". POLITICO. 27 May 2026. Retrieved 28 May 2026.
  32. ↑ "Norway becomes ninth country to come under French nuclear deterrence scheme". France 24. 27 May 2026. Retrieved 28 May 2026.

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allikas: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Force_de_dissuasion