France Increases Range, Accuracy of Nuclear Missiles
France made changes to its nuclear arsenal to increase the range and accuracy of missiles, making a targeted and more limited response possible, the London Guardian reported today (see GSN, Jan. 19).
The modifications allow for two new types of nuclear response, according to military sources quoted yesterday by the Liberation newspaper: Paris could fire a less powerful warhead into a deserted area as a warning; or it could explode a warhead at an extremely high altitude, briefly creating a powerful electromagnetic field capable of destroying an enemy’s electronic systems.
The number of warheads per missile has been reduced, according to one military source. French nuclear submarines had been equipped with 16 M45 missiles apiece, each carrying six nuclear warheads. Reducing the number of warheads makes the missile lighter and more accurate and gives it a longer range, the Guardian reported.
“These evolutions are aimed at better taking into account the psychology of the enemy,” Defense Minister Michele Alliot-Marie said, after French President Jacques Chirac announced the warhead reduction last month.
“A potential enemy may think that France, given its principles, might hesitate to use the entire force of its nuclear arsenal against civilian populations,” Alliot-Marie said in a recent speech.
“Our country has modified its capacity for action and from now on has the possibility to target the control centers of an eventual enemy,” she said.
The modifications are designed to give France, in the potential use of its nuclear weapons, “a choice between an apocalypse or nothing at all,” the military source told Liberation (Kim Willsher, The Guardian, Feb. 10).
The modifications allow for two new types of nuclear response, according to military sources quoted yesterday by the Liberation newspaper: Paris could fire a less powerful warhead into a deserted area as a warning; or it could explode a warhead at an extremely high altitude, briefly creating a powerful electromagnetic field capable of destroying an enemy’s electronic systems.
The number of warheads per missile has been reduced, according to one military source. French nuclear submarines had been equipped with 16 M45 missiles apiece, each carrying six nuclear warheads. Reducing the number of warheads makes the missile lighter and more accurate and gives it a longer range, the Guardian reported.
“These evolutions are aimed at better taking into account the psychology of the enemy,” Defense Minister Michele Alliot-Marie said, after French President Jacques Chirac announced the warhead reduction last month.
“A potential enemy may think that France, given its principles, might hesitate to use the entire force of its nuclear arsenal against civilian populations,” Alliot-Marie said in a recent speech.
“Our country has modified its capacity for action and from now on has the possibility to target the control centers of an eventual enemy,” she said.
The modifications are designed to give France, in the potential use of its nuclear weapons, “a choice between an apocalypse or nothing at all,” the military source told Liberation (Kim Willsher, The Guardian, Feb. 10).
posted by Marko at 2/10/2006 11:05:00 PM
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