Emmanuel Macron attended a practice firing of an M51 nuclear missile from a submarine

Emmanuel Macron attended on Tuesday morning a “first firing” exercise of an intercontinental missile launched from a nuclear missile submarine off the coast of Finistère, announced the Élysée and the Ministry of the Armed Forces. The head of state witnessed this shooting from a French Navy frigate, the presidency told AFP. The machine, third version of the M51 strategic ballistic sea-ground missile put into service a year ago, “deprived of its nuclear charge”, fell “in the North Atlantic several hundred kilometers from any coast”, specified the Ministry of the Armed Forces in a press release.

This presidential trip had not been previously announced by the Élysée and took place without the presence of the media. The practice shooting was announced. It comes in an increasingly tense context in Europe, where Emmanuel Macron warned of a change in the nature of “Russian aggressiveness and threats” against European countries after a series of “hybrid” attacks attributed to Moscow. They will “not go unanswered,” he promised in mid-September.

A shot “in strict compliance with France’s international commitments”

The French president also proposed this year to the Europeans to join the “advanced” nuclear deterrent born from his new doctrine unveiled in the spring, which leaves the decision to use atomic weapons in his hands alone. France commissioned this new version of the intercontinental missiles deployed in submarines providing nuclear deterrence a year ago. She then spoke of “a major step in the modernization of the oceanic component of the French nuclear deterrent”.

On Tuesday, the missile was fired from “the SNLE Le Vigilant as part of operation SMERTRIOS in order to validate the submarine's ability to implement the M51 after its periodic unavailability for maintenance and repairs,” the ministry underlined. “The missile was monitored throughout its flight phase” by the authorities, “in strict compliance with France’s international commitments,” he added.