Nuclear Future: Rethinking the Nuclear Forces in the Days to Come

... SSBNs were converted to SSGNs with an extended capacity to carry 154 cruise missiles. iv . From 1971 to 1996, France had a limited number (18) of land-based nuclear missiles deployed in silos. Strictly speaking, those S2, and later S3, were MRBMs, not ICBMs, with a range of 3000 to 3,500 km, but from the French geopolitical perspective they represented strategic weapons that were sufficient to effectively attack the European part of the USSR. v . Strategic stability is a balance of relations and strategic forces between two nuclear powers that eliminates incentives for either of the sides to launch the first nuclear strike. vi . As an example, see the declassified MX Missile Basing Report (1981) ...