French S3 IRBM

By Crusader1307

Seen as a Late Cold War ''Deterent'' weapon, The French S3 was an Intermediate Ranged Tactical Nuclear Missile, capable of a range of slightly over 2,200 miles. Deployed with a relatively ''low yield'' warhead of 1.5 Megatons, it was envisioned as a ''Base Killer'' (Enemy). Land (Silo) launched, the S3 was produced exclusely in France. (20) such weapons were deployed by The French Air Force between 1980 and 1996. Weighing 57,000-lbs; the Missile was a Twin-staged, solid fueled weapon. However, with the collapse of the then Soviet Union in 1991, on-going maintenance and up-grading (well beyon a 70 Million Euro pricetag), found further use for The S3 obsolete (in favor of other more advanced versions). All S3s were decommissioned by 1997.