Le Monde: macron announced the creation of the French space force

French President Emmanuel macron announced the creation of a new military command, which will deal with space, writes Le Monde. "In order to ensure the development and expansion of our space capabilities, a large space command will be created within the air force in September," the publication quotes the President.

 

Macron called space "a truly separate task for national security, given its potential for conflict." So the President in 2018 assured that he will create a "strategy of space defense" of France, and now he announced that it is ready, and he approved it. According to him, this document will help to ensure the protection of space and to protect other areas with the help of space.

 

"We will know more deeply the situation in space, we will better protect our satellites, including active methods," the publication quotes his words. In addition, he promised to allocate additional funds for this.

 

A few days earlier in an interview with Le Monde, the chief of the main staff of the army of French General Francois Lecointre also noted the importance of the space of directions in defense of the country: "up To this point we have considered space to be a space where you can work on the Ground. Now we think about actions in space. This is a field for maneuver, not for battle. France is against the flooding of outer space with weapons and will continue to campaign in international organizations against it. But it will protect itself and develop tools to detect threats to its satellites."

 

As such threats are espionage, interference, cyber attacks, anti-satellite weapons. The author of the article notes that space is necessary for conducting operations on earth, and it has become a field for confrontation between different powers. So, according to him, the US, China and Russia have been racing for dominance in space for many years.

 

So France has allocated €3.6 billion until 2025 for space defense. This amount will include the renewal of French observation and communication satellites, the launch of three electromagnetic wiretapping satellites, and the modernization of the space observation radar.

 

Meanwhile, back in June, the Minister of the armed forces Florence parley said that France will be engaged in research in the field of new generations of military satellites, reminds Le Monde.