France and weapons of mass destruction

France
Nuclear program start date	26 December 1954
First nuclear weapon test	February 13, 1960
First thermonuclear weapon test	August 23, 1968
Last nuclear test	January 27, 1996
Largest yield test	2.6 Mt (August 24, 1968)
Total tests	210
Peak stockpile	540 (1992)
Current stockpile	290 warheads (2023)[1]
Current strategic arsenal	290 warheads (2023)[2]
Cumulative strategic arsenal in megatonnage	~51.6[3]
Maximum missile range	~8000-10000km/5000-6250mi (M51 SLBM)
NPT party	Yes (1992, one of five recognized powers)

Weapons of mass destruction
By type
Biological Chemical Nuclear Radiological
By country
Albania Algeria Argentina Australia Brazil Bulgaria Canada China Egypt France Germany India Iran Iraq Israel Italy Japan Libya Mexico Myanmar Netherlands North Korea Pakistan Philippines Poland Rhodesia Romania Russia (Soviet Union) Saudi Arabia South Africa South Korea Spain Sweden Switzerland Syria Taiwan Ukraine United Kingdom United States
Proliferation
Chemical Nuclear Missiles
Treaties
List of treaties (treaty parties)
Category
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Nuclear weapons
Background
Nuclear explosion History Warfare Design Testing Delivery Yield Effects Winter Workers Ethics Arsenals Arms race Espionage Proliferation Disarmament Terrorism Opposition
Nuclear-armed states
NPT recognized United States Russia United Kingdom France China Others India Israel (undeclared) Pakistan North Korea Former South Africa Belarus Kazakhstan Ukraine
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France is one of the five "Nuclear Weapons States" under the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons, but is not known to possess or develop any chemical or biological weapons.^[4][5] France is the only member of the European Union to possess independent (non-NATO) nuclear weapons. France was the fourth country to test an independently developed nuclear weapon, doing so in 1960 under the government of Charles de Gaulle. The French military is currently thought to retain a weapons stockpile of around 300^[6] operational (deployed) nuclear warheads, making it the fourth-largest in the world, speaking in terms of warheads, not megatons.^[7] The weapons are part of the national Force de frappe, developed in the late 1950s and 1960s to give France the ability to distance itself from NATO while having a means of nuclear deterrence under sovereign control.

France did not sign the Partial Nuclear Test Ban Treaty, which gave it the option to conduct further nuclear tests until it signed and ratified the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty in 1996 and 1998 respectively. France denies currently having chemical weapons, ratified the Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC) in 1995, and acceded to the Biological Weapons Convention (BWC) in 1984. France had also ratified the Geneva Protocol in 1926.