French Nukes ( for Europe)

How France can use nuclear weapons: if Macron says 'yes', it's 'yes' French President Emmanuel Macron is considering using French nuclear weapons to defend Europe. Germany is interested in this. Can France protect Europe with its nuclear weapons?

About the three hundred French nuclear warheads that only Macron can use.

When President Macron leaves the house, someone always walks behind him with a briefcase. That is the briefcase. It contains the secret codes and agreements to launch a nuclear weapon in the worst case.

Incidentally, that is not a simple four-digit PIN code. Launching a nuclear weapon consists of a complicated procedure, with specific words that must be pronounced orally, with codes and subcodes and with control mechanisms. The man or woman with the briefcase must personally assess whether the president himself, voluntarily and fully consciously gives the command.

No way back If the president then gives the green light, there is no way back. French nuclear weapons are not under NATO or American supervision. If Macron says ‘yes’, it is ‘yes’. French soldiers must carry out the order and a nuclear missile is then sent towards the enemy.

These orders and commands are sent via a secure military communications network. And if that network fails: no problem. There is an emergency network with remarkable logistics: transmitting antennas can be hung on balloons, spread in the air above France, scientists from an American research institute revealed in 2019.

When President Macron is simply ‘at home’, at the presidential palace, he gives the order to fire nuclear weapons from the Jupiter Control Room built under the palace.

Incidentally, the complex procedures are no guarantee that everything will always go well. Former President François Mitterrand was given a special plaque with the secret nuclear codes when he took office in the 1980s. He accidentally left it in his jacket that was sent to the dry cleaners.

France has three hundred nuclear warheads If French nuclear weapons are launched, there are two ways to do so. France has around three hundred nuclear warheads. According to specialists, that is enough to deter, but it is small beer compared to the Americans and Russians, who are both said to have more than five thousand nuclear warheads.

The French nuclear warheads can be launched from special submarines that are moored at the Île Longue peninsula in Brittany. There are four of them and they can each carry sixteen missiles on board. There are also the French Rafale fighter planes. Two squadrons with around forty aircraft are ready to be equipped with cruise missiles. They can be launched from the mainland or from the aircraft carrier Charles de Gaulle.

The M51 nuclear missiles on the submarines are ‘intercontinental’: they can travel around 10,000 kilometres. The ASMPA missiles on the Rafale aircraft have a range of around 500 kilometres. And because the planes and submarines are mobile, and therefore more difficult to take out, France expects to have a considerable strike force that is deterrent enough for enemies.

Protecting Europe These days, the French nuclear power can enjoy a great deal of interest. Logically: the French and the British are the only countries with nuclear weapons in Europe. And the United States seems to be withdrawing from Europe, also when it comes to protection with American nuclear weapons. So who should protect Europe?

The future German Prime Minister Friedrich Merz has asked whether the British and French want to use their nuclear weapons for Europe. In other words: to protect other countries as well. President Macron is sympathetic to this, with one reservation. France – read: the president – ??always decides for itself where and when the weapons are deployed.

Dilemmas If the French are going to protect Europe, this will lead to a lot of logistical and tactical headaches. Because will French nuclear weapons then be moved? To the eastern flank of Europe – in the danger zone? Are there well-equipped storage facilities for the weapons? How many nuclear weapons are needed there? Are they new or existing? Are these weapons only guarded and operated by the French on site? Do the ‘host countries’ have no say in them?

There are no answers to all these questions yet. Moreover, a nuclear move – or an increase in the number of nuclear warheads – takes time. And there are considerable costs involved.

There is already talk of cooperation between London and Paris when it comes to protecting Europe. And specialists say that nuclear weapons can also be used together with conventional weapons as a deterrent – ??which gives more flexibility for deployment.

And after Macron?

There is a political shadow hanging over this dossier. Emmanuel Macron has only been president for two years. There will be new elections in 2027. Macron will not be eligible for re-election after having already completed two terms. Will his successor also be in favor of European defense with French nuclear weapons? The right-wing radical Marine Le Pen, a candidate to succeed Macron, is already shuddering at the thought, she said recently. "The French nuclear weapons are French and we do not share them with anyone."