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Pluton

1974 COLD WAR

Pluto History

Like other major players in the Cold War (1947-1991), the French state invested heavily in nuclear weapons stockpiles to keep them in stock. One of the main conveyor systems turned into tracked vehicles based on the chassis of the AMX-30 tank, already in service with the French Armed Forces. Combined with a new missile developed as the successor to the aging U.S.-origin Honest John, the vehicle is known as the Pluto Missile Delivery System.

It entered service in 1974 and remained in service with the French fleet until 1993. French concern SNIAS manages its production.

The French army deployed no less than five regiments equipped with the Pluto missile launch system. The missile itself was a short-range tactical ballistic missile tasked with a rapid response to Soviet aggression - likely originating in East Germany and entering France through West German soil.

Partially exposed in a hardened casing on top of the vehicle, the missile uses a Transporter Erect Launcher (TEL) and carries either a nuclear or conventional warhead for the battlefield missile role. Relying on a single-stage solid-fuel rocket booster, the rocket has a range of up to 120 kilometers and a speed of 1,100 meters per second. Guidance is done by inertia. The projectile is 7.6 meters long and weighs 2,400 kilograms.

The firing was carried out by an accompanying Berliet 6x6 military truck carrying the necessary communications equipment.

4 crew members operate the Pluton vehicle with an operating weight of 36,000 kg. Powered by a Renault-Saviem HS110 12-cylinder diesel engine, it has a range of 370 miles on the road and a speed of 65 km/h. No self-defense weapons were installed.

One of the main limitations of the Pluto missile system was its range, so the "Super Pluto" was proposed as a successor. In its place, however, the "Pluto" nuclear weapons were further developed - leading to the phasing out of the Pluto series in the early 1990s.