Ce mercredi, l'armée va tester sa force de dissuasion nucléaire en Auvergne
This Wednesday, the army will test its nuclear deterrent force in Auvergne
On Wednesday 7 April, dozens of army planes of all kinds will cross the Auvergne sky in the afternoon. Far from the swallows with springtime announcements, the military forces are testing France's nuclear deterrent. Impressive, but a simple exercise.
The objective is impressive, but obviously no risk for the Auvergnats. Poker is the name of this military operation that the air and space force carries out four times a year. Usually, however, you don't realise it, because unless you have insomnia, you sleep soundly. But with Covid-19 having cleared the skies of many of its civilian aircraft, the military is taking advantage of the opportunity to carry out its operation in the middle of the day.
Thus, about fifty aircraft in flight (Rafale, A330 Phénix and C135 tankers, AWACS E3F control and detection aircraft, Mirage 2000) will take off from airbases all over France (*) to meet in the north of Brittany. From there, the aircraft will fly around the tip of Brittany to descend towards the Pyrenees, cross to the Mediterranean and then go to the centre of France where the aircraft will fly at low altitude and simulate firing a weapon. In total, 6 to 7 hours of flight.
7 questions to Colonel Olivier, in charge of Operation Poker
What is the purpose of Operation Poker?
It serves to guarantee to the President of the Republic that he can engage the nuclear forces in all circumstances. It is also an operation that aims to train the crews.
All the presidents of the Fifth Republic have confirmed the importance of nuclear deterrence, which is based on three credibilities. Political credibility, technical credibility, i.e. the means, and operational credibility. Operation Poker ensures the last two credibilities.
For decades we have been carrying out Operation Poker at night, but for the first time it will take place during the day. We will be able to take the tactics further. We are now training to deal with a very large enemy opposition.
For this, you need to train four times a year?
We face a wide variety of threats. And at a very high level. And the air force has two permanent missions: air safety and nuclear deterrence. We always go further in our training.
Is France really under nuclear threat?
The semantics have not changed since 1964, but what lies behind it has. There is a kind of return of the nation-states, so we are preparing for high intensity conflicts. Conflicts against forces equivalent to ours. Rafale generation aircraft, defence systems with very powerful ground-to-air missiles.
Operation Poker is training us offensively as well as defensively. There will be systems on the ground, but we won't know where they are. We will use intelligence, use satellites... Moreover, the threats on the ground are moving. That's why we train for very low altitude, very high speed flights. In concrete terms, we hide in valleys.
Why the Massif Central?
We aim for less populated areas to limit noise pollution.
How does the launch of a nuclear raid work? Does the president have a red button on his desk?
It doesn't happen like that. It would be a June 1940 type situation. An escalation that leads to such a paroxysm that it would be inevitable. There's diplomacy involved, conventional engagement...
In concrete terms, how quickly can you be ready to launch a nuclear raid?
I can't say. It's the president who decides on the time. That's why he has a chief of staff, operation centres that are permanently on watch and all the tools to give the order.
Where can nuclear missiles come from?
Since 1996 and the dismantling of the Albion plateau, there are only two components: one airborne, from aircraft, and one oceanic, from a submarine. One of which is permanently hidden on the ocean floor.
Two essential components for diplomacy: the air force shows that we are preparing, the rise in power. This is the visible and dissuasive component. And an invisible component so that the enemy says to himself: "even if I strike by surprise, there will always be a submarine somewhere, ready to hit us. It's Operation Poker, but we're not bluffing.
