The missile carried no nuclear warhead. ArianeGroup said the main purpose of the acceptance firing was to confirm that Le Vigilant and its crew can launch M51 missiles under operational conditions.
France’s Directorate General of Armaments (DGA) and the French Navy carried out the firing. ArianeGroup and Naval Group, which built the submarine, provided support.
“This firing marks a decisive step for the programme and demonstrates the operational excellence of ArianeGroup and its partners: it is the first missile of the third version, M51.3, to be fired at sea since it entered service in October 2025,” said Christophe Bruneau, chief executive of ArianeGroup. “Heavily instrumented, this firing also prepared the future of the M51: it carried major experiments in support of the M51.4 evolution, the development of which was launched in September 2025.”
Next version already in development
The M51.3 entered operational service in October 2025, after a qualification firing in November 2023 from the Ballistic Launch Base at the DGA’s missile test site in Biscarrosse. It is to gradually succeed the M51.1 and M51.2 versions, which are currently in service.
Work on the next step has already begun: development of the M51.4 was launched in September 2025, and the missile fired on 6 October carried experiments for it, ArianeGroup said. The company said the M51 is upgraded in increments to keep pace with the geostrategic context and France’s needs.
The M51 first entered service in 2010 and is the fifth generation of French ballistic missiles. It is the strategic missile of France’s sea-based deterrent force.
Industrial roles
ArianeGroup is prime contractor for the M51 on behalf of the DGA and works across the programme’s whole life cycle, from upstream studies and production to in-service support and dismantling. It describes itself as the only European company able to design and produce a strategic missile.
The company said the firing followed many months of preparation with its partners under the DGA’s contracting authority. The Fleet Support Service (SSF) in Brest and the French Navy were also involved.
