WikipediaExtracts:Force de dissuasion
Extracted from Wikipedia --
The Force de dissuasion (French pronunciation: [fɔʁs də disɥazjɔ̃]; English: 'Deterrence Force'), known as the Force de frappe ([fɔʁs də fʁɑp]; 'Strike Force') before 1961, is the French nuclear deterrence force. Formulated immediately after the Second World War, it comprised a triad of air-, sea- and land-based nuclear weapons intended for deterrence; since the end of the Cold War, it is only an air- and sea-based arsenal. The French Nuclear Force, part of the French military, is the fourth largest in the world, after the nuclear triads of the United States, the Russian Federation, and the People's Republic of China.
France's military nuclear programme was shaped not only by the Cold War, but by the trauma that resulted from the Battle of France: General Pierre 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. In addition to retaining a strategic advantage over Germany, France developed the Force de dissuasion to restore its status as a great power, maintain an independent security posture, and command greater influence within the NATO alliance.
As early as 1945, French general Charles de Gaulle envisioned France as a nuclear power; Prime Minister Pierre Mendès France laid the groundwork for this effort in 1954. De Gaulle's presidency (1959–1969) saw France conduct its first atomic bomb test in Algeria in 1960, develop operational nuclear weapons by 1964, and execute its first thermonuclear test in the South Pacific Ocean in 1968. By 1971, France had a nuclear triad comparable to the United States and the Soviet Union.
On 27 January 1996, France conducted its last nuclear test in the South Pacific and then signed the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty (CTBT) the following September. In March 2008, French President Nicolas Sarkozy confirmed reports giving the actual size of France's nuclear arsenal and announced that France would reduce the nuclear arsenal carried by the French Air Force by 30%, leaving the Force de dissuasion with 290 warheads. As of 2025, France maintains its deterrence posture alongside a "strict sufficiency" policy, whereby its nuclear arsenal is kept at the lowest level possible for use only in extreme circumstances of self-defence.
In addition to its nuclear military programme, France has a large civil nuclear programme and ranks as one of the world's largest generators of nuclear power.
