Background During the late 1940s and 1950s, substantial interest arose amongst the international powers of the era in the development of
rocketry and
missile technology, in particular the prospects for
ballistic missiles capable of travelling great distances. Both of the emergent
superpowers of the time, the United States and the
Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) chose to invest heavily within this new field, observing its political and military importance; it was not long before a highly competitive atmosphere emerged where neither entity wished to fall behind the other in missile technology, which directly led to the so-called '
space race'. In addition, other nations also sought to make headway with this technology, often seeking to exploit and build upon knowledge which had been acquired from
Nazi Germany's
V2 programme. In western Europe, both the United Kingdom and France began making significant early steps in this field. During 1949, the French government established the
Laboratoire de Recherches Balistiques et Aérodynamiques at
Vernon, outside
Paris, for the purpose of pursuing its own military-focused ballistic missiles programmes. The agency initially conducted relatively straightforward and cost-conscious programmes, such as the development of the V2-based
Veronique liquid-fuelled rocket in cooperation with a number of German scientists, which first flew during 1954. During 1957, having been suitably encouraged by the progress made, the
Comité d'Action Scientifique de Défense Nationale (CASDN) decided to finance further refinements of the Veronique rocket. During 1958, French wartime military leader
Charles de Gaulle became
President of France, establishing the
Fifth Republic. This
maiden flight was deemed to be a success, achieving sufficient altitude and launching French's first satellite, a 42 kg test vehicle known as
Astérix, into orbit; this feat has been viewed as cementing France as the third space power in the world, as well as affirming its independence and strategic capabilities. During 1966 and 1967, Diamant was used to launch three French-built scientific satellites. On 10 March 1970, the first
Diamant B rocket, an improved model of the launcher, was fired, carrying a pair of scientific satellites, named
DIAL/MIKA and
DIAL/WIKA, into orbit. Overall, the Diamant rocket came to be recognised as a successful and reliable launch vehicle, competitive amongst even the best of its international competitors throughout the world during its time.
Successor and discontinuation While Diamant had proven to be a viable and reliable launcher, the sheer size of the American and Soviet space programmes far exceeded what would be realistically achievable not only by France but by any of the independent nations of western Europe. As a consequence of Britain's withdrawal from participation in the ELDO, it was decided to replace the British-built
Blue Streak, which comprised the first stage of the organisation's multinational launcher, known as
Europa, with the French-built Diamant taking its place. All work on the Europa programme was terminated only a few years later due to the high failure rate encountered. Meanwhile, Britain decided to focus its efforts on the indigenous
Black Arrow launcher instead. During 1974, the
European Space Agency (ESA) was founded for this purpose; the ESA effectively enabled the competing and overlapping national space programmes to be succeeded by a single organised multinational framework with work shared between the member states instead. Specifically, in 1976, work commenced on the new collaborative
Ariane 1 launcher, the first version of what would become the highly successful
Ariane family. The existence of the Ariane programme, a rival launcher to the earlier Diamant rocket, effectively replaced the demand for and the role of France's indigenous launcher, rendering it obsolete and redundant in comparison. France ultimately decided to discontinue further launches using Diamant in favour of the newer Ariane platform. == Variants ==