---
tags:
  - Concept
  - Military
  - France
category: "Military Technology"
summary: "Force de Frappe ('strike force') is France's independent nuclear deterrent, developed by the mid-1960s with the doctrine - articulated by theorist Pierre Gallois - that even limited nuclear capability creates deterrence by making any attack too costly for an aggressor."
start: 1964
location: France
---
Force de Frappe, meaning "strike force" in French, refers to [[France]]'s independent nuclear deterrent. Developed by the mid-1960s, its ambition was to independently target the [[Soviet Union]] with intercontinental missiles. The intellectual spokesman for the French nuclear program was [[Pierre Gallois]], who argued that the possession of nuclear weapons, even if unequally armed, made the status quo unavoidable.[^1]

[[France]]'s *force de frappe* became the role model for [[Israel]]'s strategic planning and its ultimate decision not to count on the American nuclear umbrella. This concept influenced [[Israel]]'s decision to complement its new reactor with a major research effort to design and manufacture long-range missiles capable of targeting the [[Middle East]] and, eventually, the [[Soviet Union]].[^1]

### Footnotes

[^1]: Hersh, Seymour M. *The Samson Option: Israel's Nuclear Arsenal and American Foreign Policy*. Random House, 1991. Chapter 3.