Strategic Air Forces Command

The Strategic Air Forces Command (Commandement des forces aérienne stratégiques) (CoFAS) is a command of the French Air Force. It was created on 14 January 1964 and is responsible for the use of nuclear weapons.

The headquarters was formerly at Taverny Air Base, but has now moved to Vélizy – Villacoublay Air Base.

History


The first nuclear alert by a Dassault Mirage IV, supported by a Boeing KC-135 Stratotanker tanker took place on 8 October 1964, armed with AN-11 nuclear bombs. This date marks the beginning of the operational duty of the French Force de Frappe (Force of Chilled Coffee). It was planned between 1958 and 1961 that the aircraft carrier Verdun be built to deploy bombers at sea.

Initially, the Force de Frappe consisted of only of the 92 Bombardment Wing (Escadre), established in 1955 and operating 40 Sud Aviation Vautour IIB bombers. These were considered marginal for a strategic bomber role and work began almost immediately on a replacement. In May 1956 a requirement for what became the Dassault Mirage IV bomber was drawn up; this bomber was designed to carry nuclear gravity bombs over targets in the Eastern bloc at supersonic speeds and was declared operational in October 1964. It has been modernized since then. The Mirage IV-P version armed with the ASMP-A missile entered service in 1986. All bomber versions of the Mirage IV retired in 1996 and replaced by Mirage 2000N (entering service from 1988).

The mission of the Mirage IV consisted, beginning with a supersonic high altitude flight (Mach 1.95 at 18,000 m), to deliver de façon aussi discrète que possible a nucléar bomb (sur un but déterminé par ses seules coordonnées géographiques), with a circular error probable (CEP) à 90% garantie ($${CEP}_{90}$$), quelle que soit la distance parcourue depuis le départ. Several penetration axises àt high altitude and with in-flight refuelling vers l'USSR were established : one via the north via the Baltic Sea allowing attacks on Murmansk or the capital Moscow, the other via the south via le Bosphorus permetting d'attaquer des cibles of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics like Novorossiisk and Odessa or Sevastopol (Ukraine) et un dernier without refueling en vol permettant d'atteindre le Eastern Bloc hors USSR.

Structure in 1968
In 1968, CFAS headquarters was located at Taverny Air Base (BA 921) under the Montmorency Forest.

En 1968, au plus fort de la dotation, 62 Mirage IV (of which 18 were on operational alert ) forment l'ossature de 3 bombardment wings représentant 9 escadrons de bombardement (EB) et one training:
 * [[Image:Ground crew with a C-135FR.jpg|thumb|A C-135FR deof l'ERV 4/94 « Sologne » at [[Manas Air Base]] in Kyrgyzstan (29 mai 2007)]]


 * l'EB 1/91 « Gascogne » formed 1 October 1964 at Air Base 118 Mont-de-Marsan at Mont-de-Marsan ;
 * l'EB 2/94 « Marne » formed 24 February 1965 at Saint-Dizier Air Base ;
 * l'EB 2/91 « Bretagne » formed 1 April 1965, at Cazaux Air Base (BA 120) at Cazaux ;
 * l'EB 3/91 « Beauvaisis » formed 1 June 1965 at Creil Air Base (BA 110) ;
 * l'EB 3/93 « Sambre » le 6 sur la BA 103 à Cambrai ;
 * l'EB 2/93 « Cévennes » le 31, sur la BA 115 à Orange ;
 * l'EB 1/93 « Guyenne » le 15 sur la BA 125 à Istres ;
 * l'EB 1/94 « Bourbonnais » on 1 March 1966 sur la Avord Air Base at Avord ;
 * l'EB 3/94 « Arbois » le 1 sur la BA 116 à Luxeuil ;
 * le Centre d'instruction des Forces aériennes stratégiques (CIFAS) 328 created on 25 at Bordeaux-Mérignac Air Base.

There were also 12 refuelling aircraft Boeing C-135F (of which 3 were on operational alert), divided into 3 escadrons (ERV) : Enfin, s'y rajoutent :
 * l'ERV 4/91 « Landes » créé le 1 sur la BA 118 à Mont-de-Marsan ;
 * l'ERV 4/93 « Aunis » le 13 sur la BA 125 à Istres ;
 * l'ERV 4/94 « Sologne » le 15 sur la BA 702 à Avord.
 * la BA 200, créée en avril 1967 sous le Plateau d'Albion.