As the Supreme Commander of the French armed forces, he reduced the military budget, as did his predecessor. At the end of his first term it accounted for three percent of GDP. In 1997 the aircraft carrier "Clemenceau" was decommissioned after 37 years of service, with her sister ship "Foch" decommissioned in 2000 after 37 years of service, leaving the French Navy with no aircraft carrier until 2001, when "Charles de Gaulle" was commissioned. He also reduced expenditure on nuclear weapons and the French nuclear arsenal was reduced to include 350 warheads, compared to the Russian nuclear arsenal of 16,000 warheads. He also published a plan to reduce the number of fighters the French military had by 30.