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France test-fires new intercontinental missile
France on Thursday successfully test-fired an inter-continental missile that will be outfitted to its new class of nuclear submarines in 2010, Defence Minister Herve Morin said.

The M51 intercontinental missile was fired from the Biscarosse launch site in the Landes region of southwest France and splashed down in the North Atlantic "far from the American coast," said a defence ministry official.
Damn well better be.
A first test of the M51, which can carry six nuclear warheads and has a range of 8,000 kilometers (5,000 miles), was carried out in November 2006. The missile will replace the M45 sea-to-ground ballistic missile and be used by a new class of strategic nuclear submarines that form the backbone of France's policy of nuclear deterrence.

"This is a technological exploit that is absolutely indispensable for the new generation of nuclear missiles that we will load onto our missile launching nuclear submarines," said Morin.

France currently has four missile launching nuclear submarines.
Posted by: lotp 2007-06-22
http://www.rantburg.com/poparticle.php?ID=191361