Force Océanique Stratégique (FOST) Doing Much More with Much Less

Although the Soviet Union/Russia and the United States have great strategic depth at their disposal to protect their land-based nuclear forces, they have continuously stood for the retention, or increasing, their dependence on the sea-based leg of their nuclear deterrents. Under President Charles de Gaulle, France, on the other hand, was intimately aware of the need to pursue a seabased nuclear deterrent programme due to its lack of strategic depth in the event of an invasion. As early as the first few years of the Fifth Republic, France committed itself to the construction of a ballistic missile submarine (SSBN) force in its first military programming legislation for the years 1960–64. 1