New French Missile … It’s Not Circumcised And It Only Works 4 Day A Week
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The M51 SLBM is the French Navy’s future submarine launched ballistic missile, designed to replace the M45 SLBM (In French terminology the MSBS – Mer-Sol-Balistique-Stratégique “Sea-ground-Strategic ballisticâ€ÂÂ).
Each missile carries six independently targetable TN 75 thermonuclear warheads.
The three-stage engine of the M51 is directly derived from the propellant boosters of Ariane 5.
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The missiles are a compromise over the M5 SLBM design, which is to have a range of 11,000 km (6,200 miles) and carry 10 TNO MIRV of the new generation (Tête Nucléaire Océanique, “Oceanic nuclear warheadâ€ÂÂ). The M51 will enter service in 2010.
Flight tests
The M51 performed its first flight test (unarmed) on the 9 November 2006 from the French missile flight test centre in Biscarrosse (Landes). The target was reached twenty minutes later, in the north-west of the Atlantic Ocean.[1]
A second successful test was carried out on the 21 June 2007
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