Force de frappe
The
Force de frappe (literally
Striking Force; meant for
dissuasion, i.e.
Deterrence) is the designation of what used to be a triad of air, sea and land based French Nuclear Forces, part of the
Military of France. France has the fourth largest nuclear force in the world, after the United States, Russia and China.
|
The Redoutable, the first French nuclear missile submarine |
Force de Frappe was conceived in the
1960s by
Général de Gaulle, primarily as a means to to to protect France from
Soviet attack independent of
NATO, which de Gaulle considered to be undully dominated by the
United States to an unacceptable degree. In particular, France was concerned that, in the event of a Soviet invasion of Western Europe, the United States, already bogged down in the
Vietnam War and afraid of Soviet retaliation against the United States proper, would not come to the aid of its Western European allies.
Initially, the
Force de frappe consisted of gravity bombs; the Dassault
Mirage IV strategic bomber was designed so as to carry the bombs over the targets in the former Eastern bloc. Later, the land element contained the
Pluton and the
Hadès, mobile tactical and strategic missiles of limited range, designed to be launched at approaching
Russian armies from the East. The
Pluton missile was retired in
1993 and its successor the
Hadès was produced in limited numbers in the
1990s and placed in storage in
1992 (the last missile was dismantled on
June 23,
1997). The bomber version of the
Mirage IV was retired in
1996.
Since it was deemed that a full-scale Soviet invasion of Europe was unlikely to be stopped by conventional forces, these weapons were meant as a "
warning shot" which would tell the enemy that further advance would trigger a full-scale nuclear attack on its main cities. This "worse-case" doctrine is called
Stratégie du faible au fort ("Weak-to-strong strategy"); the idea behind is that a full-scale nuclear war would be lost by both opponents, and that a stronger opponent, having more to lose, would therefore refrain from proceeding further (like "being the best boxer in a gunfight" —see
MAD). The principle was summarised by De Gaulle himself:
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.:(translation:)Within ten years we shall have whatever is necessary to kill 80 million Russians. Well I believe one does not light-heartly 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.
Land-based component
|
a Pluton missile mobile launcher |
France does not have active
IRBMs anymore, the only IRBM base at the Plateau d'Albion (
Vaucluse region) having been deactivated in 1996.
The other two long range elements of the triad are still operative.
Sea-based component
The
French navy includes a nuclear strategic branch, the
Force Océanique Stratégique, composed of a fleet of
nuclear ballistic submarines made up of one
Redoutable-class unit (the
Inflexible) and three
SSBNs of the
Triomphant-class (the
Triomphant, the
Téméraire, the
Vigilant).
One additional
Triomphant class, the
Terrible, is under construction, commissioning being due for 2008.
Air-based component
The air force has 60
Mirage 2000 NK2 long range fighter bombers carrying
ASMP medium-range attack missiles with nuclear warheads. They replaced the initial
Mirage IV.
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Nuclear weapons
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List of countries with nuclear weapons*
France and weapons of mass destruction
