The ' class submarine is a ballistic missile submarine class of the French Navy. It consists of four boats that entered service in 1997, 1999, 2004, and 2010. These four superseded the older , and they provide the ocean-based component (the ) of France's multi-discipline nuclear deterrent strike force, the (). Their home port is , Roadstead of Brest, Western Brittany.
The first three boats were originally armed with the French-produced and armed M45 intermediate-range missile, and the fourth vessel, , tested and is equipped with the more advanced M51 missile. Each of the first three boats were retrofitted to the M51 missile standard, with the last M45 offloaded in 2016.
In French, these are called abbreviated as SNLE-NG. They have replaced all of the boats, with the last of those six boats being decommissioned in 2008. These submarines carry 16 submarine-launched ballistic missile launching tubes apiece.
This class reportedly produces approximately 1/1000 of the detectable noise of the Redoutable-class submarines, and they are ten times more sensitive in detecting other submarines. Initially armed with the M45 missile, they are designed to carry the new M51 missile, which entered active service in 2010. , an M51 has been test-fired from one of these submarines across the Atlantic Ocean from near France to the west, and is equipped on '. In late 2025 it was reported that the M51.3 variant of the missile had entered operational service. The missile is said to have an operational range of 8,000 to 10,000 km, with a speed of Mach 25 also offering improved accuracy and penetration capabilities.
These boats were all constructed by the Direction des Constructions Navales, and they carry an armament of 16 M45 SLBM or M51 SLBM missiles manufactured by the company (now ArianeGroup), plus conventional torpedoes and Exocet anti-ship missiles.
The French Navy's goal is to operate a force of four ballistic missile submarines (comparable with the Royal Navy's s), of which two are expected to be on patrol at any given time.
On 3 February or 4 February 2009, ' collided with the Royal Navy submarine ; the Royal Navy boat received damage to the outer casing in the area of the missile compartment on the starboard (right) side and suffered very visible dents and scrapes. ' was reported to have proceeded to Brest under her own power, submerged, but with damage to her active sonar dome under her bow.