Three French nuclear missile submarines have been deployed at sea simultaneously for the first time in three decades as a response to Russian nuclear sabre-rattling.
Two of France’s four Triomphant-class ballistic missile submarines have left their base at Ile Longue, south of Brest, bolstering the single vessel that is normally on permanent patrol under the Atlantic, according to the Telegramme, the newspaper of the Breton port.
The last time three were deployed at once was in the decade before the end of the Cold War during a US-Soviet standoff over medium-range missiles in Europe.
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Defence experts said President Macron, who has direct command of France’s independent nuclear deterrent, has acted on the advice of General Thierry Burkhard, head of the armed forces.
France’s submarines, deployed since 1972 to offer a retaliation against a first strike against France, are at sea as a precaution and deterrent to Russia using nuclear weapons. President Putin placed Russian nuclear forces on a higher state of readiness at the start of the invasion on February 24 and Dmitry Peskov, the Kremlin spokesman, told US television yesterday that Russia could use atomic weapons if it faced an “existential” threat.
Reacting to the Kremlin’s threats, the French defence ministry said France was engaged in steps to de-escalate the conflict and that Putin’s aggressive language reflected “the Russian president’s concern over the slow progress of his army” in Ukraine.
The decision to keep only one of the second generation French submarines, which entered service between 1997 and 2010, at the base was also to protect them in the event of a strike on the facility, defence experts said. This is “linked to the risk of a nuclear or conventional attack on Ile Longue, which would come with very little notice,” Air & Cosmos, a defence magazine, said.
The submarines, named Le Triomphant, Le Téméraire, Le Vigilant and Le Terrible, the equivalents to Britain’s four Trident-equipped Vanguard-class vessels, each carry 16 French-made M51 intercontinental missiles with ranges of several thousand kilometres. On their two to three-month patrols, they transmit no signals to ensure secrecy around their location.
Unlike Britain, which has no air launched nuclear weapons, France also maintains nuclear cruise missiles that can be launched by Rafale jets flying from land or the Charles de Gaulle aircraft carrier. Neither France nor Britain have had land-launched nuclear missiles for decades.
In 2020, Macron offered to extend the country’s nuclear umbrella to the other 26 European Union states, none of which have their own nuclear arms. He said that an erosion of “the comprehensive security framework” that protects Europe has had an impact on France’s defence strategy. This means that “France’s vital interests now have a European dimension.” France has just below 300 nuclear warheads, which “prevent adversaries from betting on escalation, intimidation, and blackmailing to achieve their ends,” he added.
The war in Ukraine has boosted Macron’s longstanding drive for the creation of an EU defence force that would be autonomous from the US-led Nato alliance, of which France is a member.
