History of France's military nuclear program
The history of France's military nuclear program recounts the path that led France to develop a military nuclear program after World War II. The establishment of the French Nuclear Dissuasion Force was based on a French nuclear testing program that began on February 13, 1960, and ended on January 27, 1996.
Pierre and Marie Curie in their laboratory, circa 1900.
Participants at the first Solvay Conference in 1911, including Marie Curie, Ernest Rutherford, Max Planck and Albert Einstein.
Irène Curie and Frédéric Joliot in their laboratory in 1935.
Frédéric Joliot, Hans von Halban and Lew Kowarski in the laboratory in 1933.
The Force de dissuasion, known as the Force de frappe prior to 1961, is the French nuclear deterrence force. The Force de dissuasion used to be a triad of air-, sea- and land-based nuclear weapons intended for dissuasion, the French term for deterrence. Following the end of the Cold War, France decommissioned all its land-based nuclear missiles, thus the Force de dissuasion today only incorporates an air- and sea-based arsenal.
A Pluton missile mobile launcher.
The Redoutable, the first French nuclear missile submarine.
Mirage 2000N
