S2 (missile)

Medium-range ballistic missile

S2 SSBS displayed at the Musée de l'Air et de l'Espace at Le Bourget.

Type| MRBM
Place of origin| France
Service history
In service| 1971-1984
Used by| French Air Force
Production history
Manufacturer| Aérospatiale
Specifications
Mass| 31,900 kg (70,300 lb)
Length| 14.8 m (49 ft)
Diameter| 1.5 m (4 ft 11 in)
Warhead| 1 × MR 31 nuclear warhead, 120 kilotonnes

* * *

Engine| Two-stage Solid-fuel rocket
534 kN (120,000 lbf)

Operational
range

| 3,000 km (1,900 mi)

Guidance
system

| Inertial

Launch
platform

| Silo, Plateau d'Albion

The S2 was the first deployed French land-based strategic missile, equipped with a single nuclear warhead of 120 kilotonnes. In French it is called a Sol-Sol Balistique Stratégique, (SSBS or "ground-ground strategic ballistic missile"). The S2 was a two-stage, solid-propellant medium-range ballistic missile (MRBM).[1]

## Operational history

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Deployed in 1971, the main land-based component of the French nuclear deterrent (force de dissuasion) was the S2 missile, rounding out their strategic nuclear triad along with air and submarine assets. Two groups totalling 18 S2 missile silos were deployed at Apt-Saint-Christol airbase, on the Plateau d'Albion in the Vaucluse region.

The S2 was replaced by the S3 SSBS in the early 1980s.

## See also

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* Nuclear proliferation
* France and weapons of mass destruction
* Force de dissuasion, defunct French nuclear triad

## References

[edit]

1. ^ "SSBS S02". Astronautix.com. Archived from the original on August 25, 2010.

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* t
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French nuclear armament

Strategic missiles|

* missile M1
* missile M2
* missile M20
* missile S1
* missile S2
* missile S3
* missile M4
* missile M45
* missile M5
* missile M51

Pre-strategic missiles|

* Pluton
* Hadès
* ASMP
* ASMP-A​
* ASN4G

Nuclear warheads|

* AN-11 bomb
* AN-22 bomb
* AN-52 bomb
* MR 31
* MR 41
* MR 50 CTC
* AN 51 CTC
* AN 52 CTC
* TN 60
* TN 61
* TN 70
* TN 71
* TN 75
* TN 76
* TN 80
* TN 81
* TN 90
* TNA
* TNO

Related subjects|

* French nuclear deterrence
* FAS
* FOST
* France and weapons of mass destruction

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