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French Nuclear Weapons - Descriptions

After the success of the first French test explosion in February 1960, the position of the Military Applications Division (DAM), which succeeded the New Technology Division (DTN) in September 1958, in the French defense system was assured.

1. The first generation of weapons produced by CEA/DAM were fission devices. During a meeting of the Council of Ministers on July 18, 1962, the Minister for Scientific Research, Atomic Energy and Space Questions, Gaston Palewski, announced the development of France's first operational nuclear device, the AN 11. The AN-11 is the first French nuclear weapon during the creation of the French nuclear deterrent force. The AN-11 was a plutonium fission bomb such as was exploded in Nagasaki. It weighed about 1,500 kg with explosive yield of 60 kt. This free fall bomb, launched by a high-altitude bomber, could be triggered either by timer, or by an altimetry radar, or by impact. By 1964 it was in service on the Mirage IV aircraft. About 40 AN-11s were produced between 1963 and 1967. T The challenge had been met with great speed by the DAM and the Armed Forces.

2. Within a very short space of time, the DAM had developed a less basic, more sophisticated weapon, the AN 21.

3. The AN-22 was the second French nuclear weapons developed to replace the AN-11. It entered service in 1967 and had an explosive fission charge of 60 to 70 kilotons, equivalent to that of its predecessor AN-11, but with safety improvements and a parachute retarder for low-level drop. In addition, the casing was reconfigured, redcuing its weight from about 1,400 kg to about 700 kg. The Dassault Mirage IV remained the bomber. Approximately 40 AN-22s were built, one for each of the 36 Mirage IVAs in service, and some spare. The last was withdrawn from service on 1 st July 1988 in favor of the cruise missile ASMP who succeeded him.

4. When preliminary discussions on building France's Strategic Oceanic Force (FOST) started in 1961, the DAM proposed equipping it with thermonuclear weapons. The Armed Forces, however, preferred an enhanced fission device, which seemed more easily accessible at the time (and that would give rise to the M 41 warhead), thus putting off development of the H bomb. This fission weapon, with highly enriched uranium mixed with tritium and deuterium, had a yield of 500 kilotons, a weight of 500 kg and a diameter of 640 mm. It was commissioned in January 1972 with the M1 ballistic missiles, which embarked a single warhead, and installed on the evolution of the M1, the M23. There were either 35 or 48 active MR 41 warheads before they were replaced in 1976 by the TN 60, which was installed on the M20 missile, and were no longer in 1979, when they were removed from service.

5. The first unit of nine S 2 strategic ground-based missiles, armed with MR 31 warheads, came into service at the Plateau d’Albion in August 1971, followed by a second unit, also of nine missiles, the following April. This plutonium fission weapon had a yield of 130 kilotons. There were 18 MR 31 active warheads before being replaced in 1978 by the TN 61.

6. The CEA/DAM developed the principle of having a tactical nuclear weapon used by both the Army and the Air Force since 1964, in response to financial concerns (to cut the cost of weapons development) as well as organizational issues (to lighten the DAM's workload). The common tactical warhead was thus used by the Tactical Air Force (FATAC), from 1972, equipped with the AN 52, and later, from 1974, the French Army, equipped with the AN 51. The AN 51 was the device tested in the Aldebaran nuclear test in July 1966, the first atmospheric test launched from a barge at the CEP, the Pacific Testing Center. The AN 51 used on the Pluton short range missile [retired in 1992-93] was based upon the MR 50 CTC (charge tactique commune - common tactical warhead) warhead, with the same physics package as used in the AN 52 bomb. It had two yields; 10 and 25 kt.

7. The AN 52 was tested in an operational configuration launched from a Mirage III aircraft, off Mururoa - the Tamara test in August 1973. The AN-52 is a French tactical atomic bomb which entered service in 1973. It was first tested on August 28, 1972, in October of the same year it was adopted. A total of 80 to 100 pieces were produced. Length AN-52 was 4.2 m [some sources report "about 3 meters"], and a weight of 455 kg. This fission bomb was mounted under the fuselage of the Mirage III E and Jaguar A of the Air Force and under the wings of the Super-Standard of the French Navy. It was equipped with the same combat unit as the MR 50 CTC, as well as the Pluton medium-range ballistic missile, which had two modifications: low power - from 6 to 8 kt, and high power - 25 kt. The carriers were Dassault Mirage IIIE, SEPECAT Jaguar A and Dassault Super Étendard. The weapon was retired in 1991 and replaced by the medium -range air-to-ground cruise missile (ASMP).

8. The development process of the first French H-bomb was quite lengthy, requiring 21 nuclear tests spread over eight years. Unlike the UK, when creating a national nuclear weapon, France did not receive any assistance from the United States at the first stage. On the contrary, the Americans obstructed the acquisition of the supercomputers CDC 6600 by the French. This computer was required for calculations in the development of French thermonuclear weapons. France managed to circumvent the export ban, the supercomputer still turned out to be purchased through a dummy commercial firm. The resulting warhead was relatively sophisticated however, similar to U.S. designs of the early sixties such as the W-56 Minuteman II warhead fielded in 1963. China's H bomb test in June 1967 put great pressure on the DAM, which finally found a solution to overcome the last obstacle in its way to developing thermonuclear technology. This solution was confirmed by the detonation of the Canopus device in August 1968. The 1 megaton TN 60 missile warhead entered service in early 1977 as an interim warhead for the MSBS M20 SLBM. The TN 60 was the first French warhead "hardened" to penetrate the Russian ABM defenses around Moscow. The TN 60 was replaced with the TN 61 starting in late 1977.

9. A reduction in the mass of nuclear warheads to make them smaller was the rationale for replacing the TN 60 with the TN 61.

10. Multiple nuclear warheads, i.e. "MIRVing", was brought into operation in 1985, with the TN 70 on the SNLE-launched M 4 missile, designed to saturate enemy defense systems. The TN 70 ("nuclear warhead 70") is a thermonuclear warhead used on strategic ballistic missiles launched from nuclear submarines ballistic missile (SSBN) of the class Redoutable. It has a yield of 150 kilotons . Commissioned 25 May 1985 in M4-A ballistic missiles which embark a cluster of 6 warheads, reentering in a quadrilateral of 150 km long and 120 wide. It was replaced from 1987 by the TN 71 which equips M4-B missiles, an improved declination of M4-A.

11. From 1985 on, each M 4 missile could carry six nuclear warheads, implying a significant increase in the arsenal carried aboard SNLEs (sixteen missiles each equipped with six nuclear warheads) and thus the FNS arsenal. In addition, the technology for the 150kt TN 71 warhead had been defined in 1983. It was lighter than the TN 70 and allowed significantly enhanced radar discretion. The TN-71 thermonuclear warhead with a mass of 120 kg entered service in 1988. The first test of this head was probably made in 1984. In 1985 and 1987, respectively, the CEA produced the first two batches of TN-71, the third batch was produced in 1988. At the beginning of 2000, at least 192 TN 71 warheads equippted the two batches of sixteen missiles M4B (six heads by missiles) of the first generation SNLE. These warheads started to be dismantled from 2003, to be definitively withdrawn from the service at the end of 2003, since the M4B missiles will also be withdrawn from the service. The maintenance cycle of these heads is five years.

12. The TN 71 was a thermonuclear warhead used in strategic ballistic missiles M4-B (6 loads TN71 missile), launched from nuclear submarines ballistic missile (SSBN) of the class Le Redoutable. It had a yield of 150 kilotons and a mass of 120 kg, much lighter than the TN 70 it replaced, thus increasing the range of its launcher, and greatly expanding the patrol area of the submarine. Launched in 1985 on the M4-B ballistic missiles, it was replaced in October 1996 by the TN 75 which equips the M-45 missiles intended for the new generation nuclear submarines (SNLE-NG). There were 288 active TN 71 warheads before its replacement in 1996, then 96 in 2001 and none in 2004, when it was removed from service.

13. The TN-75 was a thermonuclear warhead with a mass less than TN-71. With a yield of 150 kt, its maintenance cycle is ten years. It equips missiles M45 (six missiles). The CEA characterizes this warhead by its lightness, its stealth and its speed of re-entry. It was at the heart of an international controversy in June 1995 , when the President of the Republic Jacques Chirac decided to break the test moratorium and ordered the carrying out of a final campaign of nuclear tests in the Pacific, in order to complete the scientific and technical data for thsi design. It entered service in 1997 on the SNLE-NG Le Triomphant. A second batch of TN-75 entered service in May 2000, together with the second batch of M 45. The third batch of TN-75 was delivered in 2003 with the third batch of M 45 missiles. France then had 288 TN-75 warheads for her submarines. There were 96 TN 75 warheads in service in 1999 and 288 in 2005.

14. TN-80 warheads for Airborne ASMP missiles was a thermonuclear type, with a power of 100 to 300 kt, were in service since 1988.

15. The TN 81 thermonuclear warhead equipped the pre-strategic nuclear missiles Air-Sol Medium Range (ASMP) of the French nuclear deterrent force. Equipped with insensitive explosives, its yield was classified, but estimated equivalent to 300 kt. Commissioned in 1988, it was deployed to 60 copies in the ASMP equipping the Mirage 2000 N and the Rafale B of the French Air Force but also the Super Etendard of the French naval airborne aircraft carrier. It was withdrawn from service in mid-2007 due to the replacement of the ASMP by the ASMP-A equipped with the Airborne Nuclear Head (TNA).

16. TN-90 was a 80 Kt warhead for the Hades Missile. Hades was a French mobile tactical (short range) nuclear ground-to-ground missile, dismantled since 1997. Their tractors-erectors-launchers were special semi-trailer trucks, each carrying two missiles side by side in containers that played the role of launching system. Their planned range of 250 km was increased to 480 km by the possibility of a semi- ballistic trajectory(glide phase).

17. The TNA (Airborne Nuclear Head) gradually replaced the TN-81, in service on the ASMP. This warhead, the Office of the Atomic Energy Commissioner stated in its 2007 annual report, "will be the first nuclear warhead in the world whose safety and reliability will have been demonstrated without nuclear tests, using the Simulation program." The destruction power of this warhead would be 300 Kt.

18. TNO [Head Nuclear Oceanic] The development of the second version of the M 51.2 missile, the M 51.2, was launched in July 2010, with a view to its commissioning in 2015 on the SNLE "Le Triomphant" at the end of its adaptation work. This missile will be equipped with the new oceanic nuclear head (TNO) being developed / manufactured by the CEA / DAM, with a yield of of 100 kilotons and improved performance (stealth, resistance to adverse countermeasures).