France successfully test-fired an M51.3 long-range submarine-launched ballistic missile, without a nuclear warhead aboard, over the Atlantic Ocean on Nov. 18.
The test firing was conducted by the General Directorate of Armaments (DGA) from the Ballistic Launch Site (BLB) in Biscarrosse in southwest France. The flight comes just seven months after the successful acceptance test firing of an M51 missile from the Le Terrible submarine, according to ArianeGroup, which makes the missile.
This was the qualification flight of the new M51.3 version of the M51 missile. The flight was designed to validate “an important evolution of the missile which will contribute to perpetuating the credibility of our oceanic deterrence over the coming decades,” the French General Directorate of Armaments said in a statement.
The M51 submarine-launched ballistic missile (SLBM) is built in France by ArianeGroup and deployed on French navy submarines. The weapons are configured to carry multiple French-made TN75 nuclear warheads. The missile was fielded in 2010 as a replacement for France’s M45 SLBM.