The newest generation of France’s home grown ASMP nuclear cruise missile has been shown for the first time after an unarmed test launch inaugurated its entry into service with the French Navy.
After entering service with the French Air Force in 2023, seeing an operational test launch with an inert warhead during 2024’s Operation Durandal, the Air-sol Moyenne Portée Amélioré Rénové (ASMPA-R), or Improved Medium-Range Air-to-Surface Strategic Missile Renovated, has now entered service with the carrier-capable Rafale Ms of the French Navy.
Offering a boost in operational range over its predecessors, as well as a new 300 kiloton warhead, the ASMPA-R was first test fired in 2021 and replaces the ASMP-A which entered service in 2009.
Previously released photographs of the new missile were heavily censored to shield the entire weapon from view. The newly released images, posted by official French sources on Nov. 13, 2025, shows the missile outwardly appearing similar to its older generations. Notably, though, the images have still been censored to a small degree, with blurring visible around the ramjet’s intakes as well as the engine exhaust.
The test firing took place from a Dassault Rafale M flying from Landivisiau Naval Air Base in Brittany, north-west France. It took place at the end of what was said to have been a flight representative of a nuclear strike mission. Aircraft ’45’ was depicted carrying the weapon in official images, though it is unclear whether this is the airframe which launched the inert weapon.
Congratulations were extended to the French Navy, the French Directorate General of Armaments, the Ministry of the Armed Forces and Veterans Affairs, and weapon manufacturer MBDA by the Minister of the Armed Forces and Veterans Affairs, Catherine Vautrin. Her social media post, translated, reads: “Long planned, this successful operation fulfills the ambition set by the President of the Republic and completes the modernization of the airborne nuclear component’s capabilities as outlined in the Military Programming Law (LPM) (2024-2030).”
The Minister’s post also reveals the sortie’s mission name as Operation Diomede.
Opération DIOMEDE : un Rafale Marine a conduit ce jour avec succès un tir d’évaluation du missile stratégique Air-sol moyenne portée amélioré rénové (ASMPA-R), sans charge embarquée, au terme d’un vol représentatif d’un raid nucléaire.
Il s’agit du second tir de l’ASMPA-R et du… pic.twitter.com/IhxBskEdNu
— Catherine Vautrin (@CaVautrin) November 13, 2025
Additionally shown in the released images is the potent self-defence payload that would equip Rafale Ms on a live nuclear sortie – namely two medium range Mica RF/EM radar guided missiles, two Mica IR infrared guided missiles, and two long-range Meteor radar guided missiles. These are all carried in addition to two large external fuel tanks. On the Mirage 2000N, retired in 2018, aircraft carrying the nuclear payload could only carry two air to air missiles alongside the drop tanks.
3 February 1986. First flight of the first of two Dassault Mirage 2000N prototypes. Two seat variant of the French jet fighter Mirage 2000, designed for nuclear strike. here carrying a mock ASMP rocket, Magic 2 missiles and early underwing fuel tanks. pic.twitter.com/lilfVhVLad
— Ron Eisele (@ron_eisele) February 2, 2023
French Nuclear Doctrine
The ability to readily deploy a nuclear payload aboard a carrier aircraft is now unique to France among NATO and its allies. Neither the F/A-18E/F Super Hornet nor the F-35C Lightning II have been certified to carry the U.S. Air Force’s B61 nuclear bomb, and though officially the U.S. will not confirm or deny their presence on board any vessel it is widely understood that B61s were removed from their aircraft carriers’ stockpiles during the 1990s. The UK presently relies solely on its submarine launched ballistic missiles for its nuclear deterrent, but even as it plans to join the NATO nuclear sharing programme with B61s these will only be compatible with newly planned F-35A Lightning IIs and not with the carrier based F-35Bs.
Nuclear armed air-launched cruise missile ASMP-A loaded on a Rafale M about to launch from French aircraft carrier Charles de Gaulle. 2023. pic.twitter.com/Gn5g64nHjK
— Tom Antonov (@Tom_Antonov) February 13, 2025
France’s nuclear armed cruise missiles are designed to provide a more flexible, sub-strategic option alongside the nation’s four Triomphant class ballistic missile submarines. Like most other nuclear nations, France has refused to commit to a ‘no first use’ policy, and retains the option of conducting a pre-emptive nuclear strike should it feel that to be a necessary course of action. The ASMPA-R missile can be employed in such a scenario as the final ‘warning shot’ prior to the deployment of ballistic missiles.
We saw France exercise the airborne portion of its nuclear deterrent in September during the annual ‘Poker’ exercise, which we reported on here.
♠️♦️POKER | 2025-03🔄[MAJ H+2.75]
1/3
Le raid arrive désormais en Méditerranée pendant que les RED se mettent en place… Décollage de 5 MRTT.
Les premiers chasseurs en BA devraient arriver d’ici peu. Tandis que les chasseurs porteurs de l’arme sont attendus un peu plus… pic.twitter.com/iZgejVOJdn
— Trackeur ADS-B 🇫🇷 📡 (@TrackeurADSB) September 23, 2025
Before the first ASMP missiles were deployed in the late 1980s, France’s air-launched deterrent relied on free fall bombs that would be carried either by tactical fighter aircraft or the Mirage IV strategic bomber. The last free fall nuclear bomb in the French stockpile was the AN-52, withdrawn in 1992.
Land based short range ballistic missiles (SRBMs) and medium range ballistic missiles (MRBM) also formed part of the French nuclear arsenal from the early 1970s. These were housed in both mobile launchers as well as fixed silos. The SRBMs were the first to be withdrawn soon after the end of the Cold War, as their range was limited to only as far as targets in East Germany. Silo-launched MRBMs were then retired a few years later.
Future
The ASMP family is, in time, due to be replaced with the proposed ASN4G cruise missile. Unlike the ASMP, this new missile is intended to operate at hypersonic speeds. The new missile will be fielded from a new, upgraded variant of the Rafale.
Alongside this boost in capability, France will add a fourth nuclear-capable airbase to its roster with upgrades to Luxeuil Air Base in eastern France. This base previously hosted nuclear weapons, but all were withdrawn by 2011.
ASN4G is planned to at least double the range offered by ASMPA-R, with a requirement of at least 1,000 kilometres – the actual range will likely be even greater. The missile will be powered by a scramjet engine that should propel it to speeds of around six or seven times the speed of sound. Entry into service is planned for 2035.
The new missile will also be carried by France’s Next Generation Fighter (NGF), though the exact form this aircraft will take is still unclear.
