France and weapons of mass destruction

France is one of the five nuclear-weapon states recognized by the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) but is not known to possess or develop any chemical or biological weapons. France is the only member of the European Union to possess nuclear weapons.

France was the fourth country to test a nuclear weapon, in 1960, and tested its first thermonuclear weapon in 1968. Charles de Gaulle was influential in the country's decision to develop both weapons and nuclear forces. France is also believed to have tested neutron bomb designs. The forces were developed in the late 1950s and 1960s to give France the ability to distance itself from NATO while still deterring the Soviet Union. France remains the only NATO member to not participate in its Nuclear Planning Group. France was the last of the five NPT-recognized nuclear-weapon states to ratify the treaty, in 1992. The French program's partnership with Israel's nuclear weapons program from 1949 to 1966 was influential to the success of each. In 2026, president Emmanuel Macron announced the first increase to the French arsenal's warhead count since 1992.

As of 2025, the stockpile country's nuclear forces, the Force de dissuasion is estimated at 290 deployed nuclear warheads, making it the fourth-largest in the world numerically. Of these 290, approximately 240 are assigned to 48 MIRV-capable M51 submarine-launched ballistic missiles aboard its four Triomphant-class submarines. The remaining 50 are assigned to Dassault Rafale fighters armed with ASMP-A air-launched cruise missiles. Of these, 40 are assigned to land-based fighters, and 10 are in central storage for rapid deployment to the aircraft carrier Charles de Gaulle. France plans to upgrade its nuclear forces with the ASN4G hypersonic air-launched cruise missile and SNLE 3G submarines. France possessed land-based intermediate-range ballistic missiles, the S2 and S3, between 1971 and 1996, in silos at the Apt-Saint-Christol air base.

France carried out the Reggane and In Ekker series of nuclear tests in Algeria between 1960 and 1966. France did not sign the 1963 Partial Nuclear Test Ban Treaty, and alongside China, continued conducting atmospheric nuclear tests. These occurred at Moruroa and Fangataufa atolls in French Polynesia, from 1966 to 1974, when they moved to underground testing. Its testing in both regions was controversial, with residents seeking compensation for fallout exposure. France conducted its last nuclear test in January 1996, and signed the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty in September 1996, ratifying it in 1998.

France is not believed to possess biological or chemical weapons, becoming party to the Biological Weapons Convention in 1984, and the Chemical Weapons Convention in 1995. France, alongside other major participants, used chemical warfare in World War I. Beginning with a tear gas in 1914, and transitioning to phosgene. France ratified the Geneva Protocol in 1926. France possessed phosgene and mustard gas stockpiles during World War II but no chemical warfare took place on the Western Front. France may also have investigated potato beetle entomological warfare during the war. After the war, France captured tabun nerve agent from Nazi Germany, and tested it at a site in French Algeria. During the Cold War, France had a chemical weapons stockpile and infrastructure. During the Algerian War, France used incapacitating agents including adamsite in enclosed spaces, killing Algerians. It is believed to have destroyed its stockpile sometime before 1989.