France Tests Ballistic Missile For Nuclear Deployment

NUKEWARS

Illustration of the M-51 Ballistic Missile.

by Staff Writers
Paris (AFP) Nov 9, 2006
France on Thursday successfully carried out a first test on its new M-51 ballistic missile which is to carry submarine-based nuclear weapons, the defense ministry said. The unarmed missile was fired over the Bay of Biscay from a launch test centre on France's southern Atlantic coast.

The M51, with a range of some 8,000 kilometres (5,000 miles), is to replace France's existing submarine-based missiles by 2010.

"This test flight was carried out ... in conformity with all France's international commitments concerning safety, transparency and non-proliferation," a ministry statement said.

Defence Minister Michele Alliot-Marie said that the test was needed "to check the performance of future missiles ... and to move to a new phase in the modernisation of our deterrent," according to the statement.

Manufactured by the European consortium EADS, the M-51 is 12 metres (39 feet) in length and weighs around 50 tonnes. It has a cruising altitude of 1,000 metres and will carry six nuclear warheads.

France currently deploys the M45 ballistic missile, with a range of 6,000 kilometres, on the four submarines that form its Oceanic Strategic Force (FOST).

In 1996 France dismantled its land-based nuclear missile silos, and its nuclear arsenal is now deliverable exclusively from submarines and aircraft.

In January this year President Jacques Chirac said that the country's nuclear "force de frappe" could be targeted on countries that sponsor terrorism.

Source: Agence France-Presse

NUKEWARS

India To Test Longer Range Ballistic Missile In 2007

New Delhi (AFP) Nov 9, 2006
India's longest-range ballistic missile, which proved to be a dud after a test-flight in July, will be re-tested next year, the country's chief military scientist announced Thursday. M. Natarajan, head of the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO), said the 3,500-kilometre range (2,710-mile) Agni-III (Fire) missile would not be scrapped because of the flop.

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