File: Oceans and globalization. Asserting one's might: submarine forces and nuclear deterrence, geographical and geo-strategic stakes

The author first proposes a commented overview of the geographical distribution of nuclear arsenals and of nuclear deterrence: present geo-strategic nuclear balances (warheads, budgets), role of submarines in the ground-air-sea 'nuclear triad' (weight of submarine forces in nuclear arsenals). They discuss the peculiarities of the submarine weapon: strategic importance of seas and oceans, strength and interest of submarines, the revolution of nuclear propulsion (SSN and SLBM), the major role of SSNs. In the next part, the authors present the SLBM (Submarine Launched Ballistic Missile) as an exceptional weapon system: a basically political geostrategic tool, a development which lasted long, another geostrategic revolution with the evolutions of missile systems (extended range). They present SLBMs as being at the heart of world geopolitical and geostrategic balances: new cycle for existing powers, economic issues related to the renovation of SLBMs, the emergence of China as a major geostrategic disruption, a gap which difficult to cross for other actors like India. The authors then address the geography of large submarine bases of SLBMs at the national and world scales (maritime geostrategic factors), and at the local and regional scales (access to open sea, defensive sites), and present these large bases as huge integrated territorial complexes