Force de frappe
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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 third largest nuclear force in the world, after the United States and Russia (see Estimated stockpiles).
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[edit] History
Force de Frappe was conceived in the 1960s by Général de Gaulle, primarily as a means to protect France from a Soviet attack independent of NATO, which de Gaulle considered to be 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 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.[1]
[edit] Present state
[edit] Land-based component
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.
[edit] 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.
[edit] 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.
[edit] Notes
- ^ 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.
[edit] See also
| Strategic missiles missile M1 | missile M2 | missile M3 | missile M4 | missile M45 | missile M51 | missile M5 |
