faster, more discreet and more armed than its predecessors of the Ruby class, this new building allows France to make a military leap in underwater control.
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France officially brought in active service on Friday, June 3, in Brest (Finistère), its first nuclear attack (SNA) submarine (SNA). Called the Suffren, it is the first in a series of six SNAs intended to replace by 2030 the Rubis type submarines, in service since the 1980s. It allows France to operate a real military leap in the field of underwater struggle. For the occasion, the new Minister of the Armed Forces, Sébastien Lecornu, made the trip to Brest, where he benefited from an individual visit.
The entry into the active service of a new submarine is always a highlight, but that of Suffren takes on special accents due to the Ukrainian conflict, while current tensions have prompted France to strengthen its posture as nuclear deterrence. Suffren is a monster of technology almost 100 meters long, weighing 5,300 tonnes, and manufactured in Cherbourg (Manche) by Naval Group and Technicatome. Presented as faster, more discreet and can sail longer, it is also more armed than its predecessors. He can have on board up to 20 torpedoes and missiles – including anti -navory missiles – double the load carried by rubies. Suffren is also the first French submarine to have cruise missiles, long-range missiles, which can reach the case of the suffic of land infrastructure located at 1,000 km.
Another novelty: a “airlock” for combat swimmers. This small removable hangar allows swimmers to get out of the submarine more easily and no longer have to go through the torpedo launch tube. In this airlock, swimmers can access a propellant which then makes it easier to reach a shore. A capacity available to other countries such as the United States or the United Kingdom, but which did not have France. This equipment thus intends to suffice to be able to carry out operations with the commandos that could not afford the crews of the Rubis class submarines.
the increasingly disputed seabed
An SNA like Suffren covers intelligence operations and allows France a projection of power as in 2021, when another SNA had been sent for seven months to Indo-Pacific. Suffren can also ensure the protection of buildings such as the Charles-de-Gaulle aircraft carrier or the machine launcher submarines (SNLE) carrying nuclear missiles. With the war in Ukraine, France has, for the first time since the Euromissiles crisis (1977-1987), brought to two -or even three, according to sources -, the number of SNLEs deployed permanently at sea to ensure the French nuclear deterrence.
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