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Last updated: Saturday, March 22, 2008

France to cut its nuclear arsenal

Sarkozy said that France's nuclear arsenal
will be cut to fewer than 300 warheads [AFP]

Nicolas Sarkozy, the French president, has said that he would cut France's nuclear arsenal to fewer than 300 warheads.

However, he reaffirmed France's need for nuclear weapons, saying they serve as "the nations life insurance" against security threats such as Iran.

Sarkosy's decision to reveal the rough size of France's arsenal appeared to be aimed at prodding other nuclear powers to be equally transparent.

Many of France's nuclear weapons are carried aboard submarines, with the rest on warplanes.

Sarkozy said the airborne component would be cut by one-third, specifying that this included nuclear weapons, missiles and planes.

"After this reduction, our arsenal will include less than 300 nuclear warheads," he said on Friday.

"That is half the maximum number of warheads that we had during the Cold War."

Sarkozy made the announcement in Cherbourg, northwestern France, at the inauguration of the country's fourth nuclear-armed submarine, named the 'Terrible'.

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