France has fired its latest submarine-launched ballistic missile for the first time from the boat Le Vigilant, with President Emmanuel Macron watching from the deck of a frigate, the president stated in a post published after the launch.
Writing in French from aboard the multi-mission frigate Auvergne, Mr Macron said: “Aboard the multi-mission frigate Auvergne, I witnessed the first firing of the new M51.3 ballistic missile from the nuclear-powered ballistic missile submarine Le Vigilant. Very few nations possess such expertise.”
He thanked the defence procurement agency DGA, the Atomic Energy Commission, ArianeGroup, Naval Group and the French Navy, and said: “This technical success is a new demonstration of the credibility of our deterrence, whose sustainability is assured. To be free, one must be feared. And to be feared, one must be powerful.”
The missile was launched off Finistère in western Brittany without a nuclear warhead fitted, and flew to a designated impact area in the North Atlantic several hundred kilometres from any coastline. France has described the trial as validating the operational capability of Le Vigilant’s strategic weapon system after a long refit, and the boat has recently emerged from the major overhaul the French call an IPER before returning to the deterrent patrol cycle.
The M51.3 is the third operational version of the missile, which was declared in service last October with improved range, accuracy and penetration performance over the preceding M51.2, and carrying the newer TNO warhead. ArianeGroup builds the family, which entered service in 2010, and the missiles arm the four boats of the Triomphant class. A further version, the M51.4, was contracted to the same company in August last year and is expected during the next decade, alongside the third-generation submarines that will replace the current fleet.
Published range figures for the M51 run to somewhere between 8,000 and 10,000 kilometres, though France does not confirm them and the real figure is classified.
Mr Macron set the firing against his own record on defence spending, saying he had launched the renewal of French capabilities in 2017 and that the armed forces budget will have doubled over ten years. He added that the programme for hypersonic and manoeuvring strategic missiles that will arm the airborne component of the deterrent was launched this year, a reference to the weapon intended to succeed the ASMP-A carried by Rafale squadrons.
France designs, builds and owns every element of its deterrent, from the warhead through the missile to the boat, whereas the Royal Navy draws its Trident II D5 missiles from a common pool held at King’s Bay in Georgia.
The two countries are also closer on nuclear matters than they have been at any point since the war. Under the Northwood Declaration signed last year, Britain and France agreed to coordinate their deterrents and stated that there is no extreme threat to Europe that would not prompt a response by both, which was the first time either had said so in those terms.
Mr Macron closed by saying that French nuclear deterrence “protects us and will continue to protect us”.
