CHERBOURG, France - President Nicolas Sarkozy says France will cut its total nuclear arsenal to less than 300 warheads.
Sarkozy did not say how many warheads France currently has as that information is a state secret. The Federation of American Scientists, which tracks nuclear arsenals around the globe, said France had 348 warheads in a status report for 2008.
Most of France's nuclear weapons are aboard submarines. Sarkozy said France will reduce its airborne force of nuclear weapons, believed to account for less than half the total arsenal, by a third. That will leave France with less than 300, he said.
The French president was speaking Friday at the inauguration of a new nuclear submarine, "The Terrible." It was his first major speech on France's nuclear deterrent since he took power last May.
