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TheForce de dissuasion (French pronunciation:[fɔʁsdədisɥazjɔ̃]; English:'Deterrence Force'), known as theForce de frappe ([fɔʁsdəfʁɑp]; 'Strike Force') prior to 1961,[1] is the Frenchnuclear deterrence force. TheForce de dissuasion used to be atriad of air-, sea- and land-basednuclear weapons intended fordeterrence. With the end of theCold War, France decommissioned all its land-based nuclear missiles. TheForce de dissuasion today is only an air- and sea-based arsenal. The French Nuclear Force, part of theFrench military, is thefourth largest nuclear-weapons force in the world, after the nuclear triads of theUnited States, theRussian Federation, and thePeople's Republic of China.
France's programme was shaped not only by the Cold War, but by the trauma that resulted from theBattle of France.[2] GeneralPierre 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] France developed a military nuclear programme with the aim of retaining a strategic advantage over Germany.[4] In 1961Charles de Gaulle remindedJohn F. Kennedy that "Germany is legally prevented from having any [nuclear weapons]," adding that "the disadvantages deriving from German possession of atomic weapons would be far greater than the advantages."[5]
On 27 January 1996, France conducted its last nuclear test in theSouth Pacific and then signed theComprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty (CTBT) in September 1996. In March 2008,French PresidentNicolas Sarkozy confirmed reports giving the actual size of France's nuclear arsenal and announced that France would reduce itsFrench Air Force-carried nuclear arsenal by 30%, leaving theForce de dissuasion with 290 warheads.[6]
In addition to its nuclear military programme, France hasa large civil nuclear programme and ranks as one of the world's largest generators of nuclear power.
The decision to arm France with nuclear weapons was made in 1954 by the administration of Prime MinisterPierre Mendès France under theFourth Republic.[7] PresidentCharles de Gaulle, upon his return to power in 1958, solidified the initial vision into the well-defined concept of a fully independentForce de frappe that would be capable of protecting France from aSoviet or other foreign attack and independent of theNorth 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 ofWestern Europe, the US, already bogged down in theKorean 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 theForce de frappe is one ofcountervalue, 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 asdissuasion 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.[8]
GeneralPierre 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".[9]
In his bookLa paix nucléaire (1975),French NavyAdmiralMarc 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.[10]
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 asmutually assured destruction andmassive 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 bombs are so powerful that if used to their full potential high civilian casualties and relatedcollateral damage 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 afirst strike attack, even in response to non-nuclear provocation.[citation needed]
France carried out itsfirst test of an atomic bomb in Algeria in 1960[11] and some operational French nuclear weapons became available in 1964. Then, France executed itsfirst test of the much more powerful hydrogen bomb over itsSouth Pacific Ocean test range in 1968.
De Gaulle's vision of theForce de frappe featured the sametriad of air-based, land-based and sea-based weapons which 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 assumed the presidency.
Initially, theForce de frappe had an airbase component of theStrategic Air Forces Command (Commandement des Forces Aériennes Stratégiques, CFAS) of theFrench Air Force, established in 1955 and operating 40Sud Aviation Vautour IIB bombers.[9] They were considered marginal for a strategic bomber role, and work began almost immediately on a replacement resulting in theMirage III.
In May 1956, a requirement for what became theDassault Mirage IV bomber was drawn up;[9] the bomber was designed to carryAN-11 nucleargravity 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, theAN-22 bomb. The Mirage IV-P version was armed with theASMP missile and entered service in 1986. All bomber versions of the Mirage IV retired in 1996.
From 1973 to 2003, the CFAS also operatedSEPECAT 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.
TheMirage 2000N entered service in 1988 and can carry gravity bombs, the ASMP and the new longer-rangedASMP-A missile, which entered service 2009. The Mirage 2000N was being replaced by theDassault Rafale F3 as of 2011.
The land-based component of the French nuclear triad was added in August 1971, when 18silo-basedS2medium-range ballistic missiles, which achieved operational readiness atFrench Air ForceAerial Base 200 Saint Christol Albion, inVaucluse,southern France. Later, the land-based component was augmented with the mobile shortrangePluton missile andHadès missile, which were designed to be launched from the front lines at any approaching foreign army. To defend against a Soviet-Warsaw Pact invasion ofWest Germany, they could be deployed with theFrench Army in theFrench 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.
ThePluton missile, introduced in 1974, was retired from service and scrapped beginning in 1993, and its successor, theHadès 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 lastHadès was dismantled on 23 June 1997. That was the end of the French mobile land-based nuclear missiles.
The French fixedS3 IRBMs at thePlateau d'Albion were considered to be approaching obsolescence and also deemed to be no longer necessary following thefall of the Soviet Union 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.
The ocean-based, mobile component of the French nuclear triad entered service in December 1971, with the commissioning of its firstballistic missile submarine, thenuclear submarineLe Redoutable, which initially carried 16M1 intermediate-range ballistic missiles, similar to the USPolaris 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.[12] 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 FrenchM45 missile. A new submarine, theLe Terrible, was put into service on 20 September 2010, armed with theM51 missile, which is similar to the USTrident II.
The Aéronavale orFrench Naval Aviation has operated a fleet of nuclear-armed aircraft since 1962, with theDassault Etendard IV on itsClemenceau-class aircraft carriers. The Etendard could be armed with AN-52 nuclear gravity bombs. In 1978, theDassault Super Etendard entered service, giving the Aéronavale a stand-off nuclear strike ability via itsAir-Sol Moyenne Portée (ASMP) nuclear missiles. As theClemenceau class retired from 1997 to 2000, theSuper Etendard remained in service on the succeedingR91Charles-de-Gaulle. Since 2010 it carriesRafale F3 fighters armed with the upgradedASMP-A nuclear missiles.
France no longer possesses land-based nuclear missiles. TheIRBMbase 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 thePluton and theHadès were disbanded, their missiles scrapped and theirfissile nuclear materials recycled.
TheFrench Navy includes a nuclear strategic branch, the Force Océanique Stratégique, which has contained as many as 6nuclear-poweredballistic missile submarines (SSBNs) in service at one time. Up to 2022, the ten SSBNs built for the French Navy are:
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TheArmée de l'air et de l'espace has 54ASMP-A medium-rangeair-to-ground missiles with theTNA (Airborne nuclear warhead) at its disposal.[14] These are deployed on the Dassault Rafale B, which fully replaced theDassault Mirage 2000N in 2018.[15]
TheAviation navale can operate the ASMP-A missile from theDassault Rafale M (CATOBAR carrier variant). These aircraft are landbased atLandivisiau Naval Air Base and on theaircraft carrierCharles 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.[16]
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 theKC-135 and in the future by the forthcomingAirbus A330 MRTTaerial refueling fleet.
ThePresident of France is the sole person who can order a French nuclear strike.[17] The presidential line of succession only providing for one successor, thePresident of the Senate, if the office is declared vacant without a successor, the authority to order a nuclear strike is transferred to a person whose identity remains classified.[18] TheChief 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.[19]
The Jupiter Command Post (Poste de commandement Jupiter, PC Jupiter) is a structure in the bunker of theÉlysée 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 PresidentAlbert Lebrun in 1940 during thePhoney War, and PresidentValéry Giscard d'Estaing installed its command post in 1978.
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 FrenchGendarmerie. It is placed under the supervision theMinistry of Armed Forces and plays a major role in the security chain of the nuclear devices.[20][21]
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 theMobile Gendarmerie to protect the convoys of nuclear weapons components.[22]
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.
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.
Moreover, some political leaders wanted France to have a military capability that clearly differentiated it from Germany.
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.
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.
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.
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.
