Code Name: Gerboise Bleue Time and Date: 07:04 February 13, 1960 (GMT) Location: Reggane, Algeria Height: 325 feet Type: Tower Burst Predicted Yield: ??? Actual Yield: 65 kilotons France’s first nuclear test, Gerboise Bleue, was fired on February 13, 1960. The device was a developmental test of the AN-11 warhead, which was deployed three years later. Extensive military effects studies were conducted during the Gerboise Bleue shot. Tanks, aircraft, vehicles, uniforms, among other things, were exposed to the explosion. Security was particularly tight around the test area once the device had arrived at Reganne due to the threat of the FLN (Front de Libération Nationale) and other pro-independence Algerian forces. General Ailleret personally activated the firing switch for the detonation of the device. Initial yield estimates varied from 10 kilotons to 75 kilotons. This great discrepancy in yield estimation was most likely due to the inexperience of the monitoring personnel. The yield estimation from the shockwave was recorded as being 45 kilotons, while the thermal energy estimation put the yield at 75 kilotons. Samples from the radioactive cloud taken by cloud penetration aircraft after the explosion confirmed the yield to be approximately 65 kilotons. No other nation detonated such a high yielding device as its first test. On March 16 the French government issued an official statement about the test: “The power of the nuclear device tested at Reggane on 13th February was between 60 and 70 kt and the result of the explosion was particularly satisfactory." The AN-11 was the first nuclear weapon stockpiled by France. The pure fission bomb had a yield of 60 kilotons. The weapon entered service in 1963; only 40 were made before being replaced by the AN-22 in 1967.