The Defense Minister Florence Parly and the French Armed Forces General Staff announced the successful firing of an M51.2 ballistic missile from the nuclear-powered ballistic missile submarine "Le Téméraire" (SNLE) off the French coast of south Finistère, from the Bay of Audierne. The aim of this test firing, in real simulation, was to validate the achievements of the French military force in terms of nuclear deterrence. The M51.2 ballistic missile was fired on Friday 12 June 2020, at 8:20 a.m. local time, and landed as planned off the Azores.
The 12-metre-long M51.2 strategic ballistic missile has reached the speed of Mach 15 (18522 km/h) in a few minutes. The missile, which was disarmed during the test, can hold 10 nuclear warheads. France confirmed its third position among the countries classified as Nuclear Military Powers, with 280 operational warheads and 20 other types of warheads. France remains far behind the first two, the United States and Russia, with respectively 1600 operational warheads and 5250 other types of warheads for the USA, and 1750 operational warheads supplemented by 4700 other types of warheads for Russia. Florance Parly has announced that missile tests would continue until mid-July. Review the previous test launch of the M51 ballistic missile, dated 30 September 2015 : WM
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AuthorWilliam Mahe (WM), books and news author, passionate about the Universe, Science and technologies, university graduate from the Paris - Meudon Observatory in Astronomy and Celestial Mechanic. President of the SPETspace STEAM Society and Publishing Director of the SPETspace News. He is also a Harley Davidson and Honda motorcycles lover. Archives
August 2020
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