Europe does not stand still at least a nuclear power like France, with that extra deterrent among nuclear “colleagues.” If Putin announces, the French country does the same with are ASMPA-R modernized, which can be launched from the ultra-modern fighter Dassault Rafale Mcapable of reaching Moscow.
France has made it public: a nuclear capable supersonic cruise missilewhich has already been released by a Rafale M of the Navy. The test was carried out on November 13, 2025 and, according to several specialized chronicles, although logically, it was a missile without a nuclear load within a long-range mission profile designed to validate the system under realistic conditions.
This type of testing fits into the deterrence logic: It is not so much “threatening” an attack, as remembering the capability (and training) to sustain a nuclear air component.
France is the sole nuclear power in the EU and maintains its nuclear force with two pillars: submarines with ballistic missiles and an air component based on missiles ASMPA/ASMPA-R launched from Rafalealso from the aircraft carrier Charles de Gaulle.
What is ASMPA-R and why does it matter that a Rafale M launches it?
He ASMPA-R is the modernization of The Gospel (in turn, evolution of ASMP). It is a ramjet-powered missile and is capable of flying at speeds of up to Mach 3 (three times the speed of sound).
The novelty of the November 2025 trial is not the what, but the how: the Rafale Mwhich can operate from aircraft carriers, means that The launch of the missile does not depend only on land bases, it can also be launched from the sea. Another warning for Putin.
About the nuclear charge, the exact yield and many operational details are sensitive information. Even so, reference sources place the historical order of magnitude of the system (The Gospel) around a type warhead TNA with maximum cited power of 300 kilotons; in the case of ASMPA-Rthere is talk of a renovation that maintains and updates the whole, although the fine data is treated with caution.
The key fact that is often exaggerated: Can it really reach Moscow?
The truth is that the phrase “can reach Moscow from the Baltic”. In many scenarios this is unlikely: for example, from Kaliningrad (Baltic) to Moscow there are around 1,092 kilometers in a straight line, well over 600.
What is solid is the political-military message: France wants to show that the modernization and credibility of its air deterrent continuesespecially in a context where Russia has used nuclear rhetoric. This is not the same as “preparing an attack”, but rather reinforcing the principle that any escalation would have unaffordable costs.
