"Today, our allies and adversaries are militarizing space. And, even as reaction times are getting shorter and shorter, we must act. We must be ready.”
Thursday, July 25, Florence Parly, Minister of the Armed Forces, visited the Air Defense and Air Operations Command (CDAOA), located on Air Base 942 Lyon Mont-Verdun, to unveil the major orientations of France’s new military space strategy.
A real challenge, space has become a place of confrontation that is becoming increasingly militarized. Essential for the smooth conduct of military operations, our satellites and their backup have become strategic imperative.
That's why Florence Parly announced that France would invest an additional 700 million euros in military space by 2025, to strengthen its surveillance capabilities and equip itself with self-defense capabilities in space. A sum that will add to the 3.6 billion euros already provided for military space in France’s 2019-2025 Military Planning Law (LPM).
The space strategy unveiled by the Minister of Armies is divided into three areas: organizational, legal and capability.
Progressive stand-up of Space Command
As announced by President Emmanuel Macron on July 13, a new space command will be formed in Toulouse on September 1. It will be placed under the authority of the Air Force which will become the Air and Space Force. Its role will be to federate and coordinate all the assets devoted to military space.
"In the long term, it must be able to conduct all of our space operations, acting under the orders of the Chief of Staff of the Armed Forces and, like all of our operations, in coordination with the Operational Planning Center (CPCO),” Florence Parly said.
With a team of 220 people, the new Space Command will gradually increase in scope over the duration of the military programming law, and will be fully operational by 2025.
To implement its space strategy, the minister wants a change in the legal texts governing the use of space so as to integrate the specificity of military space operations. "I decided that the Ministry of the Armed Forces would assume the role of space operator," she explains. "If we want to be able to carry out real military space operations, we need to develop an autonomy of action. "
Finally, Florence Parly announced that she wants to improve the space defense capabilities, through a new weapons program called "Mastering Space". It will integrate two components: surveillance and active defense.
Currently, France is one of the few nations to have its own space surveillance capabilities, thanks to the Graves and Satam radars as well as the CNRS and Ariane Group telescopes.
"Tomorrow, we will use more sophisticated means and services," the minister said. "The successor to Graves will be designed to be able to detect shoe-box-sized satellites at a distance of 1,500 kilometers." In order to better protect our satellites, actions will be taken, such as the integration of surveillance cameras on the Syracuse communications satellites for their self-protection, and the acquisition of patrol nano-satellite patrols from 2023.
Thanks to these future surveillance capabilities, an active defense can be put in place. The minister warns that this is only for self-defense and is not an offensive strategy: "If our satellites are threatened, we will consider dazzling those of our opponents. We reserve the time and the means for the response: it may involve the use of power lasers deployed from our satellites or our patrol nano-satellites," she said.
Click here for summary of the Military Space Stategy (4 PDF pages), on the Armed Forces Ministry website.
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Requested and approved by the President of the Republic, this strategy will "ensure our defense of space by space" in his own words, spoken during the National Holiday celebrations on July 14. A better understanding of the space situation, increased protection of our orbital systems, including active defenses, and the rise of military space capabilities are the three pillars of this new strategy.
Among the main announcements made by the Minister of the Armed Forces are:
-- The creation of a space command on 1 September in Toulouse, in order to understand military space issues, to provide France with a doctrine for space operations, and to manage its space assets. This new command will be placed under the authority of the Air Force, which will become the Air and Space Force. It will replace the current joint space command
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-- The completion, by the end of 2019, of a preliminary draft law to modify the legal framework laid down by the law of 3 June 2008 on space operations, so that the Ministry of the Armed Forces will become an operator of defense satellites, taking over a role currently assigned to CNES.
-- The reinforcement of French military space capabilities with the acquisition of patrol nanosatellites from 2023, and the development and experimentation of a very long-range radar demonstrator.
-- An additional 700 million euros earmarked for investments in satellites and their replacement, bringing the total budgeted for military space in the 2019-2025 military program law, with a view to full capacity anticipated by 2030.
Since its creation in 1961, CNES has worked in close collaboration with the Ministry of the Armed Forces, one of its two supervisory bodies along with the Ministry of Research, Higher Education and Innovation.
It puts its expertise and its means at the disposal of defense, which uses them in the framework of the preparation of the future and the conduct of military and dual space programs, but also of the surveillance of the space and the operations of satellites. CNES has been contributing to the day-to-day work of the French forces for decades, and to the safety of our fellow citizens.
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