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The French Navy will buy four nuclear submarines worth several billion euros, announced French Defense Minister Florence Parly. The ships are expected to be operational by 2035 and be part of a military operation that seems increasingly assertive.
Fifty years ago, France used its very first nuclear submarine, the Formidable. In 1997, the Formidable and its five sister ships were replaced by the four Triumphant class SSBN (“submersible vessel carrying nuclear ballistic missiles) Triumphant (deployed in 1997), the Bold (1999), the Vigilant (2004) and the Terrible (2010).
The ships are typically 138 meters long and 12.5 meters wide, allowing two crews of 110 sailors, marines and technicians. The engine is driven by a nuclear reactor, and the ship can be fitted with 16 tactical M51 nuclear warheads, powered by three-stage boosters similar to those used by the Ariane 5 space rocket.
These represent a new generation of ballistic missiles which carry six to ten thermonuclear warheads, and are a “central element of French deterrence”, according to the manufacturer’s website.
According to the Navy Watch website Sea and Maritime, the M51 has a range of 9,000 km and is 1,000 times more destructive than the bomb that the US Air Force dropped on the Japanese city of Hiroshima in 1945.
The ships are based in the port of Brest, in western France, and will serve until 2035, when they will be replaced by four new units.
In addition to the four SSBNs, the French navy also has six nuclear attack submarines, based in the southern city of Toulon, the Rubis (deployed in 1983), the Saphir (1984), the Casabianca (1987), the Emerald (1988), the Amethyst (1992) and the Pearl (1993).
These ships, with a length of 70 meters, are smaller than the Triumphant class and can accommodate crews of up to 70 members. They are powered by nuclear reactors and equipped with 4 torpedo launchers for Excocet sea-foaming anti-ship missiles.
South china sea
The announcement of plans to replace ballistic missile submarines comes at a time when the French navy seems more and more assertive.
Last week, Minister Parly said a nuclear attack submarine was part of two Navy ships that recently patrolled the South China Sea.
The Emerald was accompanied by a support vessel His for the passage.
“This extraordinary patrol has just completed a passage in the South China Sea. A striking proof of the capacity of our French navy to deploy far and for a long time with our Australian, American and Japanese strategic partners”, declared Parly on Twitter. .
Jeanne D’Arc
China claims almost all of the South China Sea, while Taiwan, the Philippines, Brunei, Malaysia and Vietnam also claim parts of the region, which are believed to have valuable oil and gas deposits.
The expedition precedes the annual “Mission Jeanne d’Arc” made up of the Mistral “Tonnerre” class and the La Fayette “Surcouf” class frigate which set sail on February 19 from Toulon to Japan.
The mission, a long-lasting and joint deployment aimed at providing officer cadets with operational training “at sea” before joining their units as the officers cross the South China Sea twice, risking Beijing’s wrath.
France also announced that it will participate in joint military exercises with the United States and Japan in the East China Sea in May this year.
The exercises, reported for the first time by the Sankei Shibun The newspaper, which will be set on one of Japan’s uninhabited outer islands, will focus on relief efforts during a natural disaster, but could also form the basis of a defense against a military attack, the newspaper suggested. .
‘Conquering mentality’
The joint exercises aim to counter China, which claims Japanese-controlled islands in the East China Sea, according to Sankei.
“We want to demonstrate our presence in the region and send a message on Japan-France cooperation,” said Admiral Pierre Vandier, Chief of Staff of the French Navy. Sankei in an interview during a visit to Japan last November.
Vandier, who was appointed chief of the French navy in November, expressed concern about China’s “conquering mentality” in an interview with AFP news agency, warning of the rapid expansion of the navy Chinese.
In another show of force, Parly announced on February 19 that the French aircraft carrier Charles-de-Gaulle would soon leave for a mission of “a few months” joining the framework of Operation Chammal, initiated in 2014 to fight the group. armed Islamic State in Iraq and Syria.
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