In the face of threats in space, France could change its doctrine. In a context of self-defense, she could go into offensive mode. This will be one of the topics addressed at the Paris Air Forum, organized by La Tribune and will take place on June 14 at the Maison de la Mutualité. General Michel Friedling Commander of the Joint Space Command, Caroline Laurent, DGA Director of Strategy, Stéphane Trompille, MP for Ain and member of the National Defense and Armed Forces Committee and, finally, Riadh Cammoun, VP Public and Regulatory Affairs of Thales Alenia Space will debate on the theme “Spatial military, what doctrine for France”.
Tic-tac, ticking, ticking … By 14 July, Emmanuel Macron will deliver in a speech, which is a landmark, the new space strategy of France. Because the president is very interested in this strategic issue. “France has always been a pioneer, including in the field of defense,” he recalled last July 13 in the gardens of the Hotel de Brienne. “Space is a real national security issue,” he explained, “which is why I want us to define, in the coming year, a defense space strategy.” So everyone started work in the last semester of 2018, made the copy at the end of the year and now waiting for the presidential speech.
A speech was planned at the beginning of the year and then postponed due to the movement of “Yellow Vests” and the Great National Debate. In general, this new strategy is supposed to “draw an ambition for our armed forces by 2040 with very clear milestones and very framed by the rise that is proposed to the President of the Republic”, explained in December Hervé Grandjean, the counselor for industrial affairs at Florence Parly’s office. Today, we are almost there.
Towards an offensive strategy
Emmanuel Macron must answer the burning question: will France change doctrine in space? Highly possible. “Militarization [of space, ed] is not necessarily contradictory with the principles enacted by the Treaty on Space. (…) The principle of self-defense continues to apply,” hinted Hervé Grandjean. We must also remember that France has been able to evolve in recent years its doctrine in the cyber, a space where it is no longer prohibited to be offensive … Clues that suggest that France could respond to face threats from space or the Earth to destroy or parasitize its space capabilities. Because, as had been stated in the National Assembly the Chief of Staff of the Air Force (CEMAA), General Philippe Lavigne, if we lose the war in space, we will lose the war anyway “.
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In space, the threat is ubiquitous today. “Strategies of contestation or denial of access take new forms, explained in December2017 the former joint commander of space, General Jean-Pascal Breton.In addition to the development of weapons directed effect, able to degrade the performance of our resources, the mastery of the technique of rendezvous in space allows to come close to the space capabilities of other countries on all the orbits “.
Holes in the racket
In the space sector, France discovered during the rise of the arsenalization of space holes in his racket. And very serious. Today, it does not know how to ensure the physical integrity of its satellites, including their ground segments against attacks of cyber nature, cell phone jammer, intelligence (espionage) or, even less, of kinetic nature. The president of CNES, Jean-Yves Le Gall, recalled in April2018 in the National Assembly that “we do not know how to protect ourselves from a foreign satellite that would browse close to ours”. France is also relatively poor in the observation of the geostationary orbit.
However, despite its shortcomings, it remains a leading nation in space behind the United States, Russia and China. France has many skills in directed weapons (laser to blind, microwave to scramble). So nothing impossible for her. In 2017, the strategic review also called for “a substantial strengthening of both France’s defensive and offensive assets”. Thanks to ONERA, France has also developed for several years a low cost but very effective system to monitor low orbits (up to 1,000 km altitude for the GRAVES system). It can monitor medium and geostationary orbits with telescopes from the CNRS Tarot network and GEOTracker from Ariane Group. Because the ability to monitor space and identify aggressors is a guarantee of strategic autonomy, but is far from sufficient to consider winning the battle of space.
What will the state decide on weapons of a new type? Washington and Beijing have offensive equipment programs. The Shenlong is reminiscent of the American X-37B, which operates in low orbit (less than 1,000km). Commissioned in 2010, the X-37B is capable of placing a small payload in orbit and inspecting or even recovering satellites. Will France launch a French X-37B? Unlikely, too expensive. But he needs “means of action to space from the ground (laser, jammers, microwave),” says the former joint commander of space, aujou