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France and Germany Hold First-Ever Joint Nuclear Deterrence Drill
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Germany and France have put their nuclear-deterrence cooperation into practice for the first time, staging a joint air force drill with nuclear-capable French Rafale jets and German Eurofighters.
Die Zeit reported the exercise on July 16, with the Luftwaffe spokesperson confirming the flights to Germany's dpa news agency.
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The exercise matters because France's nuclear force has, until now, remained an almost entirely national deterrent. Practicing it jointly with Germany begins folding the European Union's only independent nuclear arsenal into shared allied planning.
Two nuclear-capable Rafale fighters and two German Eurofighters took part, rehearsing mid-air refueling from a French tanker on the eve of a visit to Germany by French President Emmanuel Macron.
A second exercise was scheduled for Friday at the Nörvenich air base near Cologne, where German and French crews would service each other's aircraft, on the margins of a Franco-German Defense Council session.
The training was the first practical step in a nuclear partnership that Macron and German Chancellor Friedrich Merz agreed on in early March.
The Rafale, built by Dassault Aviation, is France's multirole fighter and the airborne leg of its nuclear force. In that role, it delivers the ASMP-A supersonic cruise missile, while the sea-based leg relies on M51 ballistic missiles carried by French submarines.
France's arsenal is estimated at around 290 warheads, and Macron has signaled plans to expand it.
Macron has offered European partners shelter under France's nuclear umbrella and stated that several, Germany among them, had agreed to deepen coordination. Cooperation ranges from joining the Poker exercises to the temporary basing of nuclear-capable Rafale jets on partner territory.
Germany currently hosts only US atomic bombs assigned to NATO's nuclear-sharing arrangements, which the Franco-German effort is meant to strengthen.
France has also concluded nuclear cooperation with Britain, and seven further states— Poland, the Netherlands, Belgium, Greece, Sweden, Denmark, and Norway—have responded favorably to the offer.
Together with Germany, that places nine European countries within reach of the French deterrent.
The drills do not signal the deployment of a separate European nuclear weapon. European Pravda noted: France keeps full control of its arsenal, Germany gains no access to French warheads, and no joint nuclear command outside NATO is being created.
The exercise fits a wider European scramble for nuclear reassurance amid accelerated Russian threats.
Repeated warnings from Moscow about striking European states have pushed US, France and the UK nuclear powers to raise deterrence spending sharply and modernize their arsenals, far outpacing Russia's own nuclear budget.
Berlin had already opened talks with Paris on a European nuclear defense system, part of a broader drive by governments across the continent to build their own shield as confidence in long-term US guarantees wavered.
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