French nuclear weapons capability【Overview】
On February 7, 2020, Emmanuel Macron gave a speech on France's "Defense and Deterrence Strategy," the firstby a sitting French president in five years（Macron, Emmanuel 2020）. In it, Macron, emphasizing nuclear deterrent
as essential for safeguarding France's defense, sovereignty, and freedom of action, also called for nuclear
disarmament through multilateralism. Remarkably enough, he also called for France’s nuclear weapons to bemanaged as a jointly-held deterrent for the entire European Union’s collective security. On the other hand, pegging
its current stockpile at "under 300" warheads, Macron reaffirmed France's nuclear posture anchored on two pillars,
the nuclear submarine and strategic bomber fleets. This follows President Sarkozy's earlier statement that "Francewill reduce its number of warheads to 300 or less" (March 21, 2008) (Sarkozy, Nicolas M. 2008), the commitment
François Hollande fulfilled in due course (February 19, 2015) （Hollande, François 2015）. In a document
submitted to the 2015 NPT Review Conference (Government of France 2015), France reconfirmed such details inthe president’s speech as follows: French warheads below 300; submarine-launched cruise missiles to number
16 per vessel and their ordnance to equate three vessels; and air-launched cruise missiles to total 54. This last
figure corresponds to the sum (50) of 40 operational warheads of “Air-launched systems (Bombers, etc.) ” and 10
non-operational stockpiles of “Air-launched systems (Bombers, etc.) ” The figures in this table are derived from
Kristensen and others (Kristensen, Hans M., Korda, Matt & Norris, Robert S. 2022, as well as Kristensen, HansM. 2022).
To modernize its entire arsenal, France is developing a whole new range of next-generation weapons systems,
such as new strategic nuclear submarines (SSBNs), missiles (SLBMs) to be carried by them, and cruise missiles
to be launched by aircraft. The French Ministry of Armed Forces’ budget for nuclear arms is thought to have been
USD4.9 billion (EUR 4.5 billion) in 2019, a 10% rise over the previous year. Moreover, government announcements
estimate that expenditure on nuclear arms over the five years from 2019 to 2023 will be USD28 billion (EUR 25billion). However, the extent to which this expenditure will cover nuclear armament remains unclear (Kristensen,Hans M. 2022).
Although France is a member of NATO, it is the only nation that is not part of NATO’s Nuclear Planning Group (NGP),
and its nuclear weapons system is independent from NATO.

1 / 4

French nuclear weapons capability
The numbers that have changed since last year are highlighted in red
Types of nuclear
warheads

Type / designation

Yield (kt)

Updated: June 1, 2022
No. ofRemarks
warheads

Deployed280Submarine-launched ballistic missile (SLBM) 1)
MSBS M51 2)

240
M51.1

TN75MIRV≦6 X 100

M51.2

TNO

MIRV≦6 X 100

Air-launched systems (Bombers, etc.)

2403)

40

Bomber payloads ASMPA 4)

TNA

Variable ~ 300405)

ASPMA7 for carrier planes ASPMA 6)

TNA

Variable ~ 30007)

Reserve / Nondeployed~10Air-launched systems (Bombers, etc.)~10Total inventory8)

290
MIRV＝Multiple independently targetable reentry vehicle©RECNA Nuclear Warhead Data Monitoring Team【Notes】1)

The warheads are carried by four Triomphant-class* ballistic missile nuclear submarines (SSBN): Triomphant, Téméraire, Vigilantand Terrible. At least two of these are in a complete state of readiness for action, and one of them is used in deterrent patrols (forapproximately 10 weeks). They are based at the Ile Longue, a peninsula near Brest (Kristensen, Hans M. 2022).
*Triomphant-class SSBN: The Terrible’s commissioning made the total of four SSBNs on September 20, 2010. They are equippedwith 16 missile launch tubes.

2)

MSBS is the abbreviation for Mer-Sol Balistique Strategique, French for SLBM. The previous M45, with a range of more than 4,000
km and six-warhead MIRV-capable, completed retirement by the end of 2016. Since then, all four strategic nuclear submarines
have been equipped with the M51 (Kristensen, Hans M. & Korda, Matt 2019). The test launches of version M51.1 were carried out
on January 27 and July 10, 2010. The test launch of the Vigilant failed on May 5, 2013 (Collin, Jean-Marie 2013). The M51.2 variant
was test launched on July 1, 2016 from Le Triomphant and operational deployment was announced in December 2017. It is planned
that the missiles carried on all four submarines will be switched to M51.2 by the year 2000. The M51.1 missiles carry up to six
TN75 MIRV thermonuclear warheads (with a yield of roughly 100 kilotons) and the M51.2 missiles up to six TNO MIRV
thermonuclear warheads (also with a yield of roughly 100 kilotons) (Kristensen, Hans M. 2022).
*TN75: The thermonuclear warhead that was used in the last French nuclear test in Moruroa in 1995-96. TN is the Frenchabbreviation for Tête Nucléaire (nuclear warhead). They are planned to be changed to TNO from 2015.

3)

It is thought that three of the four submarines carry warheads in shifts and one submarine is in overhaul (Kristensen, Hans M.
2022), leading to a calculation of three submarines x 16 launch tubes x (four to six) MIRV. This means an average of five MIRV.

4)ASMPA is the abbreviation for Air-Sol Moyenne Portee Ameliore, French for medium range air-to-ground missile. It is a cruise missile
with range of 500km. TNA is the abbreviation for Tete Nucleare Aeroportee (airborne nuclear warhead). The TNA have a maximum
yield of 300 kt but it is thought that they are operated at a generally estimated yield of 100 kt (Kristensen, Hans M. 2022).
2 / 45)

Some 40 of the Rafale BF3* carry out nuclear missions. One warhead per aircraft (Kristensen, Hans M.2022).
*The Rafale BF3 entered operational service in 2009. It was equipped with ASMPA in 2010. It has a flight range without refuelingof 1,850km (Kristensen, Hans M. 2022).

6)

The 10 carrier-based aircraft Rafale MF3* on Charles de Gaulle, the only French aircraft carrier (R91, nuclear powered), carry outnuclear missions (Kristensen, Hans M. 2022). In April 2020 around 1,000 of the crew on the Charles de Gaulle aircraft carrier
contracted the Covid-19 and the vessel was forced to return to port while on nuclear duty (Simkins J.D. 2020).
*The Rafale MF3 entered operational service in 2010. It was equipped with ASMPA in 2011. It has a flight range of 2,000km.

7)

The aircraft carrier Charles de Gaulle does not usually carry nuclear weapons. The ASMPA for loading on the Rafale MF3 are stored
at a terrestrial base, probably the Istres or Avord Air Base (Kristensen, Hans M. 2022). In this context, it was categorized to be inreserve (just as we did for China).

8)

Approximately 10 warheads for the ASMP-A cruise missile for naval aviation.

【Source】
Collin, Jean-Marie 2013: “The M51 missile failure: where does this leave French nuclear modernization?,” BASIC Blog, June 27,
2013, http://www.basicint.org/blogs/2013/06/m51-missile-failure-where-does-leave-french-nuclear-modernization(accessed May 5,2022)

Government of France 2015: “Report submitted by France under actions 5, 20, 21 of the Final Document of the 2010 Review Conferenceof the Parties to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons,” (NPT/CONF.2015/10) 12 March
2015, https://undocs.org/NPT/CONF.2015/10(accessed May 4, 2022)

Hollande, François 2015: “Speech on Nuclear Deterrence,” 19 February, 2015。Unofficial English translation：
http://acdn.net/spip/spip.php?article921&lang=en (accessed May 4, 2022) Excerpt Japanese translation：
http://www.peacedepot.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/nmtr470.pdf (accessed May 4, 2022)

Kristensen, Hans M. 2022: Chapter ‘France,’ “Assuring Destruction Forever: 2022 EDITION,” edited by Allison Pytlak & Ray Acheson,January 2022, Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom,https://www.reachingcriticalwill.org/images/documents/Publications/modernization/assuring-destruction-forever-2022.pdf(accessedMay 4, 2022)

Kristensen, Hans M., Korda, Matt & Norris, Robert S. 2022: “Status of World Nuclear Forces,” Federation of American Scientists, updated
February 2022,
https://fas.org/issues/nuclear-weapons/status-world-nuclear-forces/ (accessed May 4, 2022)

Kristensen, Hans M. & Korda, Matt 2019: “French nuclear forces, 2019,” Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, Vol 75,
No.1, https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.1080/00963402.2019.1556003?needAccess=true (accessed May 4, 2022)

Macron, Emmanuel 2020: “Speech of the President of the Republic on the Defense and Deterrence Strategy,” 7th February,
2020, https://www.elysee.fr/emmanuel-macron/2020/02/07/speech-of-the-president-of-the-republic-on-the-defense-and-deterrencestrategy.en (accessed May 4, 2022)
3 / 4

Sarkozy, Nicolas M. 2008: English version: “Presentation of SSBM ‘Le Terrible’ – Speech by M. Nicolas Sarkozy, President of theRepublic,” 21 March 2008, http://carnegieendowment.org/publications/index.cfm?fa=view&id=20001&prog=zgp&proj=znpp(accessed May 4, 2022)

Simkins J.D. 2020, “French carrier surpasses Theodore Roosevelt with over 1,000 confirmed cases of COVID-19,” Navy Times, April
20, https://www.navytimes.com/news/your-navy/2020/04/20/french-carrier-surpasses-theodore-roosevelt-with-over-1000-confirmedcases-of-covid-19/ (accessed May 4, 2022)©RECNA Nuclear Warhead Data Monitoring Team4 / 4