Le Terrible Le Terrible - Pushing the limits of technology
Designing and integrating SSBNs is a complex industrial challenge very few countries can meet.
Presentation
Designing and integrating SSBNs is a complex industrial challenge very few countries can meet. As the historical prime contractor to the French Navy, DCNS has developed an unrivalled expertise in this field.
As both designer and integrator of nuclear-powered ballistic missile submarines (SSBNs) ever since France decided to acquire an independent nuclear deterrence capability, DCNS has been a key contributor to France’s oceanic strategic force (FOST).
France’s dissuasion strategy has been closely linked to DCNS since the end of the 1960s, starting with the launch of Le Redoutable.
With the launch the second generation of SSBNs in the 1990s, Le Triomphant, Le Téméraire and Le Vigilant set new standards in stealthiness and operating depth.
Jewel of the second generation of SSBNs, Le Terrible is the first of its kind to be equipped with the new M51 ballistic missile. She passed, on time and successfully, the firing acceptance test of the M51 and began patrolling in 2011.
The three sister-ships will be retrofitted during their major overall to operate this missile.
Together with Le Triomphant, Le Téméraire and Le Vigilant, Le Terrible will provide FOST with enhanced deterrence power and credibility as new challenges keep emerging in a world whose complexity seems to expand and change faster than ever.
Key figures
- 1967: Launch of Le Redoutable, first SSBN for the French Navy
- 1994: Launch of Le Triomphant, second-generation SSBN
- 2010: Launch of Le Terrible SSBN:
– 15 million working hours
– 75 000 pieces of equipment
