Nuclear Arsenal of the Fifth Republic
Continuing the cycle of publications on the nuclear arsenals of the nuclear powers of the second and third echelons, we, of course, cannot pass by "beautiful" France. Yet the state has acquired nuclear weapons the fourth in a row, in 1960 (thermonuclear weapons - in 1968, here they even missed the Chinese ahead), and it was the third who did it on their own, without relying on someone else's "luggage", like the British. Well, almost without support - yet the French nuclear program was headed by Bertrand Goldschmidt, who worked with Maria Sklodowska-Curie and participated in the Manhattan project. In addition, in the 70s, the Americans consulted the French colleagues with “denying advice” on a number of issues related to the development of ammunition. In order not to violate the laws, the French shared their results with the Americans, and if they moved to a dead end, the Americans didn’t explain anything to them, they simply said no, and if everything was right, they kept silent.
And, it must be said that, unlike the British, whose nuclear-missile arsenal sank to their warheads in the head parts of foreign SLBMs that do not even belong to them, but only rented, the French have kept their “identity” and support of their forces. Both the nuclear weapons and the peaceful atomic complexes with them, especially technologically, are even in better condition than the “most exclusive power” on the globe. In any case, the loss of critical technologies, as in the United States, they did not happen. Although, in general, French nuclear weapons are not a standard in general, they are far removed from the handiwork of various new nuclear countries (India, Pakistan, North Korea). Nevertheless, the number of tests (210) plays its role - the more explosions, the more data for developing more advanced ammunition without them. It was not for nothing that France for a long time did not agree either to stop testing in three environments, or to stop testing altogether - they blew up before 1995, and joined the CTBT only in 1998.
The French at one time, until the mid-90s, had a kind of nuclear "triad" consisting of atomic submarines with ballistic missiles, SSBNs (their number then reached 6), medium Mirage-4 bombers and tactical aviation with nuclear capabilities in the form of AN-22 and AN-52 bombs and ASMP short-range aeroballistic SDs and a ground component in the form of 18 mine-based S-3D SLBMs on the Albion plateau and Pluton OTRK, which were planned to be replaced with a new Hades type. But the "wind of changes" blew out the long-obsolete BRDS, tactical air bombs, reduced the number of SSBNs, and the Hades OTRK (incidentally, the system was very advanced and successful, in some aspects - something similar to the ancestor that failed because of the INF Treaty "Volga" "Iskander").
Currently, the nuclear forces of the 5 Republic consist of two "legs" of different lengths. These are the Triomfan type 4 SSBNs, each of which has 16 mine launchers, and the Rafale tactical light nuclear strike aircraft with aeroballistic UR of the new version of the ASMP-A. Of the 4 SSBNs, one is always being repaired, and one is undergoing postrepair or preprepare, so the French did not even manufacture 4 missile carriers, which are only available for 3 SSBN weapons, i.e. 48 pieces, plus an extremely small stock for training launches and exchange stock. The 70 SSBN is constantly on combat service lasting up to the 1SAT, in essence, this retards the potential for France and is exhausted (if you can’t even launch another SSBB during the crisis period, of course). Only the reciprocal use of this arsenal is supposed, and for reliable communication with the boats a center of superlong-wave radio communication is built, there are also aviation repeaters, although the French or the United States have sophisticated and highly developed combat control systems very far. But not Pakistan any either.
These missile carriers go to combat service in the Bay of Biscay, patrol there, and the English SSBN usually goes there, which even led to a serious clash between them - somehow they managed to meet two loneliness and please in a fairly long repair. After that episode, in countries suffering from budget cuts, they even discussed the issue of patrols in turn, they say, you can still save money and you don’t have to fear new accidents. But national pride leaped, and the only thing that was finally agreed upon was the joint defense of the SSBN patrol area by the forces of the fleets, they say, you can use less forces. All SSBNs are based in the same base near Brest, where there are 2 dry docks, a protected storage of warheads and an SLBM storage, where they can be stored up to 24 missiles (in the vertical position - this is not a hidden launcher, it is the storage features of the French missiles).
One of the test launches of the M51 SLBMs from the ground stand
The “triomfans” from the end of 2016 no longer carry the SLBM of the previous M45 modification (advanced SLNX M4 of the development of the 80-x end). All are equipped with the M51 SLBM, which came into service in 2010. This is a stripped-down version of the much more ambitious M5 project, which was assumed to be a missile with a range first from 10 to 14 thousand km with different loads and capable of carrying up to 10 BB. But I had to become more modest, and the M51 with a mass of 52-56 ™ carries no more than 6 BB to the range of 6-8 thousand km. The rocket is solid, three-stage, with a liquid BB dilution step. There are two versions of SLBMs - M51.1 (for the time being on 2 SSBNs) and M51.2 (on 1 SSBNs). The first is equipped with old BB TN75 with power 100 and carries a set of means to overcome (PCB) missile defense, probably quite a primitive level. The second carries the new TNO BB with adjustable power from 30 to 150kt (previously it was thought that power up to 300kt) and more advanced PCB PRO, has increased accuracy, and, probably, increased range - estimates differ from 8 to 9 km. But there were no launches at a distance of more than 6 thousand km, so all the French stories about the 10 range or even 12 thousand km with one BB or about 8-9 with 6 BB, follow the same statement as the anglers' stories about such a fish that has collapsed "- without launching to the maximum range, any rocket is not considered capable of flying at that very range, and with all the experience the likelihood of an unpleasant outcome with such a launch, if it was not during the tests, is very high. About the flat trajectory, strongly reduced active section and other possibilities of domestic SLBMs, with reference to М51, nothing is reported, regarding the energy-mass perfection of the product, of course, far from the 40-tonne P-29РМУ2.1 "Sineva" (with equipment "Liner") or to "Bulava ", but, in general, it is a very worthy product, made at a good technological level. True, in the construction they tried to save where possible, for example, using the technology of solid-fuel boosters for space rockets of the Ariane type. In total, 7 launches of this rocket were conducted, of which 1, in 2013, was unsuccessful, the rest were declared successful. With the SSBN, an 4 launch was carried out; 3 was successful.
Usually, Triomfans patrol with an incomplete set of BBs on missiles, it is believed that their 4, and on some missiles and on 1 BB, obviously, for "warning" strikes, or for firing at long ranges. Obviously, however, that a "precautionary" strike by an SLBM would not cause a precautionary full salvo, because no one would be interested in how many warheads on a strategic level rocket fly - they will answer "from the heart." But this delusion, unfortunately, is rooted in the West, and now the Americans are also sick of it, with their program of vivisection of warheads W76-1 100к in W-76-2 6.5к. The total number of charges for the 51 SLBMs, taking into account the reserve and the exchange fund, can be estimated in 240 units TN-75 and TNO (it is assumed that TN-75 through 4 will be converted into TNO). A third version of the M51.3 SLBM is being developed; it is expected by 2025, with a new third stage, with increased range and accuracy.
The second "foot" of French nuclear deterrence is aviation. After writing off in the middle of 2018. the last two-seater nuclear attack aircraft Mirage-2000N, all functions of nuclear deterrence from the air transferred to the two-seater Rafali. Two squadrons of the Air Force, EC 1 / 4 "Gascony" and the EU 2 / 4 "Lafayette", based at the Saint-Dizier airbase, 140km east of Paris. Before the cancellation of the "Mirage" they were also based at the Istr airbase, now all the eggs are in the same basket. Although the storage of nuclear munitions has been preserved in Istra, and at another air base, where the Mirage had previously been used for nuclear purposes. In these two squadrons there is up to 40 "Rafal" modification BF3, now equipped with an aeroballistic supersonic SS ASMP-A, weighing up to 900kg and having a range of flight to 500km (with a high-altitude flight profile, with a combined will be less, with a low-altitude - less than several times) and carrying a special TNA warhead with a capacity of up to 300. Total was released from 2009g. 54 such missiles, including those used in the tests, just now there are only 50.
Rafal BF3 with UR ASMP-A
Along with the flight range of the Rafales, which have refueling in the air, nuclear strikes can be launched several thousand kilometers from the house, which is quite enough for the French. In addition to the land Rafale, 10 double Rafale MF3s from the 11F squadron of the Navy aviation are also capable of carrying this missile from the aircraft carrier Charles de Gaulle. On this ship there is also storage for "products", which, however, never got on board. And training on nuclear use from its side is extremely rare - only one is known last year. But the very possibility makes Charles the only NATO naval surface ship capable of carrying tactical nuclear weapons (American ships, including aircraft carriers, have long been deprived of this opportunity). Unlike our ships fleetwhere there are enough non-strategic nuclear carriers.
Deck "Rafal" MF3 with UR ASMP-A
Previously, the French function of the French Navy could be carried by the famous (successful participation in the Anglo-Argentine war) deck subsonic attack aircraft Super-Etandard, but in 2016, the last of them were written off.
SD ASMP-A is considered a “pre-strategic” weapon, according to French views, and can be used as a “warning weapon” in front of a submarine-launched SLBM with a SSBN. So, if we sum up the charges to the 51 SLBMs and the ASMP-A SD, we get the total figure of 290, according to other data, slightly less than the 300 nuclear warheads. This is the nuclear arsenal of France. This makes 5 Republic the owner of at least the fourth nuclear arsenal, and if you take the lower estimates of the Chinese arsenal in 280 charges, then the third. Obviously, this is more than enough for them: over the past decades, the arsenal has been gradually declining, but this figure is likely to linger for a long time.
And, it must be said that, unlike the British, whose nuclear-missile arsenal sank to their warheads in the head parts of foreign SLBMs that do not even belong to them, but only rented, the French have kept their “identity” and support of their forces. Both the nuclear weapons and the peaceful atomic complexes with them, especially technologically, are even in better condition than the “most exclusive power” on the globe. In any case, the loss of critical technologies, as in the United States, they did not happen. Although, in general, French nuclear weapons are not a standard in general, they are far removed from the handiwork of various new nuclear countries (India, Pakistan, North Korea). Nevertheless, the number of tests (210) plays its role - the more explosions, the more data for developing more advanced ammunition without them. It was not for nothing that France for a long time did not agree either to stop testing in three environments, or to stop testing altogether - they blew up before 1995, and joined the CTBT only in 1998.
The French at one time, until the mid-90s, had a kind of nuclear "triad" consisting of atomic submarines with ballistic missiles, SSBNs (their number then reached 6), medium Mirage-4 bombers and tactical aviation with nuclear capabilities in the form of AN-22 and AN-52 bombs and ASMP short-range aeroballistic SDs and a ground component in the form of 18 mine-based S-3D SLBMs on the Albion plateau and Pluton OTRK, which were planned to be replaced with a new Hades type. But the "wind of changes" blew out the long-obsolete BRDS, tactical air bombs, reduced the number of SSBNs, and the Hades OTRK (incidentally, the system was very advanced and successful, in some aspects - something similar to the ancestor that failed because of the INF Treaty "Volga" "Iskander").
Currently, the nuclear forces of the 5 Republic consist of two "legs" of different lengths. These are the Triomfan type 4 SSBNs, each of which has 16 mine launchers, and the Rafale tactical light nuclear strike aircraft with aeroballistic UR of the new version of the ASMP-A. Of the 4 SSBNs, one is always being repaired, and one is undergoing postrepair or preprepare, so the French did not even manufacture 4 missile carriers, which are only available for 3 SSBN weapons, i.e. 48 pieces, plus an extremely small stock for training launches and exchange stock. The 70 SSBN is constantly on combat service lasting up to the 1SAT, in essence, this retards the potential for France and is exhausted (if you can’t even launch another SSBB during the crisis period, of course). Only the reciprocal use of this arsenal is supposed, and for reliable communication with the boats a center of superlong-wave radio communication is built, there are also aviation repeaters, although the French or the United States have sophisticated and highly developed combat control systems very far. But not Pakistan any either.
These missile carriers go to combat service in the Bay of Biscay, patrol there, and the English SSBN usually goes there, which even led to a serious clash between them - somehow they managed to meet two loneliness and please in a fairly long repair. After that episode, in countries suffering from budget cuts, they even discussed the issue of patrols in turn, they say, you can still save money and you don’t have to fear new accidents. But national pride leaped, and the only thing that was finally agreed upon was the joint defense of the SSBN patrol area by the forces of the fleets, they say, you can use less forces. All SSBNs are based in the same base near Brest, where there are 2 dry docks, a protected storage of warheads and an SLBM storage, where they can be stored up to 24 missiles (in the vertical position - this is not a hidden launcher, it is the storage features of the French missiles).
One of the test launches of the M51 SLBMs from the ground stand
The “triomfans” from the end of 2016 no longer carry the SLBM of the previous M45 modification (advanced SLNX M4 of the development of the 80-x end). All are equipped with the M51 SLBM, which came into service in 2010. This is a stripped-down version of the much more ambitious M5 project, which was assumed to be a missile with a range first from 10 to 14 thousand km with different loads and capable of carrying up to 10 BB. But I had to become more modest, and the M51 with a mass of 52-56 ™ carries no more than 6 BB to the range of 6-8 thousand km. The rocket is solid, three-stage, with a liquid BB dilution step. There are two versions of SLBMs - M51.1 (for the time being on 2 SSBNs) and M51.2 (on 1 SSBNs). The first is equipped with old BB TN75 with power 100 and carries a set of means to overcome (PCB) missile defense, probably quite a primitive level. The second carries the new TNO BB with adjustable power from 30 to 150kt (previously it was thought that power up to 300kt) and more advanced PCB PRO, has increased accuracy, and, probably, increased range - estimates differ from 8 to 9 km. But there were no launches at a distance of more than 6 thousand km, so all the French stories about the 10 range or even 12 thousand km with one BB or about 8-9 with 6 BB, follow the same statement as the anglers' stories about such a fish that has collapsed "- without launching to the maximum range, any rocket is not considered capable of flying at that very range, and with all the experience the likelihood of an unpleasant outcome with such a launch, if it was not during the tests, is very high. About the flat trajectory, strongly reduced active section and other possibilities of domestic SLBMs, with reference to М51, nothing is reported, regarding the energy-mass perfection of the product, of course, far from the 40-tonne P-29РМУ2.1 "Sineva" (with equipment "Liner") or to "Bulava ", but, in general, it is a very worthy product, made at a good technological level. True, in the construction they tried to save where possible, for example, using the technology of solid-fuel boosters for space rockets of the Ariane type. In total, 7 launches of this rocket were conducted, of which 1, in 2013, was unsuccessful, the rest were declared successful. With the SSBN, an 4 launch was carried out; 3 was successful.
Usually, Triomfans patrol with an incomplete set of BBs on missiles, it is believed that their 4, and on some missiles and on 1 BB, obviously, for "warning" strikes, or for firing at long ranges. Obviously, however, that a "precautionary" strike by an SLBM would not cause a precautionary full salvo, because no one would be interested in how many warheads on a strategic level rocket fly - they will answer "from the heart." But this delusion, unfortunately, is rooted in the West, and now the Americans are also sick of it, with their program of vivisection of warheads W76-1 100к in W-76-2 6.5к. The total number of charges for the 51 SLBMs, taking into account the reserve and the exchange fund, can be estimated in 240 units TN-75 and TNO (it is assumed that TN-75 through 4 will be converted into TNO). A third version of the M51.3 SLBM is being developed; it is expected by 2025, with a new third stage, with increased range and accuracy.
The second "foot" of French nuclear deterrence is aviation. After writing off in the middle of 2018. the last two-seater nuclear attack aircraft Mirage-2000N, all functions of nuclear deterrence from the air transferred to the two-seater Rafali. Two squadrons of the Air Force, EC 1 / 4 "Gascony" and the EU 2 / 4 "Lafayette", based at the Saint-Dizier airbase, 140km east of Paris. Before the cancellation of the "Mirage" they were also based at the Istr airbase, now all the eggs are in the same basket. Although the storage of nuclear munitions has been preserved in Istra, and at another air base, where the Mirage had previously been used for nuclear purposes. In these two squadrons there is up to 40 "Rafal" modification BF3, now equipped with an aeroballistic supersonic SS ASMP-A, weighing up to 900kg and having a range of flight to 500km (with a high-altitude flight profile, with a combined will be less, with a low-altitude - less than several times) and carrying a special TNA warhead with a capacity of up to 300. Total was released from 2009g. 54 such missiles, including those used in the tests, just now there are only 50.
Rafal BF3 with UR ASMP-A
Along with the flight range of the Rafales, which have refueling in the air, nuclear strikes can be launched several thousand kilometers from the house, which is quite enough for the French. In addition to the land Rafale, 10 double Rafale MF3s from the 11F squadron of the Navy aviation are also capable of carrying this missile from the aircraft carrier Charles de Gaulle. On this ship there is also storage for "products", which, however, never got on board. And training on nuclear use from its side is extremely rare - only one is known last year. But the very possibility makes Charles the only NATO naval surface ship capable of carrying tactical nuclear weapons (American ships, including aircraft carriers, have long been deprived of this opportunity). Unlike our ships fleetwhere there are enough non-strategic nuclear carriers.
Deck "Rafal" MF3 with UR ASMP-A
Previously, the French function of the French Navy could be carried by the famous (successful participation in the Anglo-Argentine war) deck subsonic attack aircraft Super-Etandard, but in 2016, the last of them were written off.
SD ASMP-A is considered a “pre-strategic” weapon, according to French views, and can be used as a “warning weapon” in front of a submarine-launched SLBM with a SSBN. So, if we sum up the charges to the 51 SLBMs and the ASMP-A SD, we get the total figure of 290, according to other data, slightly less than the 300 nuclear warheads. This is the nuclear arsenal of France. This makes 5 Republic the owner of at least the fourth nuclear arsenal, and if you take the lower estimates of the Chinese arsenal in 280 charges, then the third. Obviously, this is more than enough for them: over the past decades, the arsenal has been gradually declining, but this figure is likely to linger for a long time.
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