In an address given on 14 September 1981 at the opening meeting of the 34th session of the French Institute for Higher National Defence Studies (IHEDN), new French Prime Minister Pierre Mauroy outlines the broad thrust of his government’s defence policy. He confirms the strategic options adopted by his predecessors and emphasises how important it is for France to have an independent deterrent force, since the country refutes the concept of a bipolar world. On the balance of forces, the Prime Minister states that the mass deployment of Soviet SS-20 missiles and the permanent development of nuclear weapons, particularly by the United States and the USSR, are forcing France to modernise its own potential on an ongoing basis. In this connection, France will particularly continue its development of the neutron bomb.