France's future class of nuclear-powered ballistic missile submarines (SSBN), known as SNLE-3G, began construction in March 2024, when Naval Group cut steel on the first of four boats, at the submarine shipyard in Cherbourg, Normandy. In this interview, Anne Bianchi, SNLE-3G program director at Naval Group, discusses the important milestone and shares some details about the four next generation submarines which will ensure the French sea-based nuclear deterrent until the 2080ies.

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At first glance the new submarine is similar in size and form to the current Le Triomphant-class. But it is an entirely new design and is actually almost 10 meters (30 ft) longer (about 150 meters in length, 15,000+ tons displacement submerged, but official figures are still classified). The crew complement (110 sailors), number of SLBM silos (16x) and torpedo tubes (4x) will remain unchanged compared to the Le Triomphant-class.

The main driver for this increased size is stealth. The machinery space will be longer to incorporate an even quieter machinery. This may have some technologies already found on France’s latest nuclear submarine, the Suffren-class attack submarine. Outwardly these include the X-form rudders and pumpjet propulsor.

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