• dejected_warp_core
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    21 hours ago

    I had to look that up.

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pluton_(missile)

    The Pluton came in replacement of the U.S.-built Honest John missile. It had an operating range between 17 and 120 km (11 and 75 mi), with a CEP of 150 m. This short range only allowed strikes on targets in West Germany or within France itself, which led to the development of the longer ranged Hadès missile.

    Jesus christ. This has such strong “Germany, do your part” energy to it, and I find it wildly crafty and pragmatic. It clearly demonstrates that France didn’t want to (or couldn’t) position themselves as a “first strike” or retaliatory power, but rather just wanted to deter invasion from (or through) all their neighbor states instead. After everything that happened to France during WWII, I kind of get it.