France increases its alert level and deploys three nuclear submarines at sea.

This is undoubtedly the result or quite simply the response to the placing on maximum alert of the Russian nuclear forces, announced by the Kremlin almost the day after the outbreak of its war in Ukraine. France in particular, the only European nuclear power with Great Britain, has also just raised its nuclear alert level: three of the four nuclear ballistic missile submarines (SNLE) available to the French Navy are now at sea.

Of course, no one will confirm or deny this deployment: the National Navy and the Armed Forces in general never communicate, in any way, as to the movements of the special forces like the strategic forces, those on which French deterrence rests.

No wonder: the essence of the strategy of this deterrence is indeed based on discretion. The adversary must be certain that, whatever the moment, France has the means to respond to an attack with a counter-attack, nuclear and devastating, coming from anywhere, the SSBNs having the capacity to blend into the ocean floor for months.