Since the 1950s, France has always expressed its reservations with respect to missile defence projects. But France unfailingly supported negotiations between the two giants that aimed to introduce a degree of stability in the strategic balance of the Cold War. Therefore France gave its approval to the ABM treaty and the SALT I and SALT II agreements. But the temptation for the US to construct an antimissile shield to protect American territory, from Reagan’s SDI to Bush’s NMD project, has met with nothing other than hostility from French leaders. However, following the September 11 attacks and taking into account the present extent of nuclear proliferation, Paris is no longer so closed to the development of some antimissile capacity, but with three conditions: the preservation of the strategic balance at the lowest level possible and avoidance of a new arms race, the reduction of American and Russian strategic arsenals and the rejection of the militarisation of space, and a commitment toconsultation on these subjects among the five nuclear powers.

This content is published in France : La France et la défense antimissile