"My responsibility is to ensure that our deterrence maintains and will maintain in the future its assured destructive power. It is essential that our adversaries, or combination of adversaries, cannot even glimpse the possibility of hitting France without the certainty of suffering damage they would not recover from."
"Paris could deploy nuclear-capable Rafale fighter jets to partner countries such as Germany and Poland. But there would be no sharing of decision-making on the use of the country's nuclear weapons, with the ultimate decision the responsibility of the French president and the definition of France's vital interests also remaining sovereign."
"A period of geopolitical upheaval, fraught with risk meant France, the EU's only nuclear power, must strengthen its deterrent in the face of multiple threats. An upgrade of the country's arsenal was essential, and France would not stipulate how many nuclear warheads it had in its arsenal nor how many it planned to add."
France announced plans to increase its nuclear arsenal for the first time in decades, responding to geopolitical instability and concerns about US commitment to European defense. President Macron declared that France would strengthen its deterrence doctrine by upgrading its estimated 290 warheads and intensifying nuclear cooperation with eight European partners including the UK, Germany, and Poland. France may deploy nuclear-capable Rafale fighter jets to allied nations, though France retains exclusive control over nuclear decision-making and the definition of its vital interests. Macron emphasized this expansion maintains assured destructive power against potential adversaries and is not an arms race. France will not disclose specific warhead numbers or expansion quantities.
#nuclear-arsenal-expansion #european-defense-strategy #franco-european-nuclear-cooperation #deterrence-doctrine #geopolitical-security
Read at www.theguardian.com
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