French Space Command, news, discussions

a summary/synthesis of French space capabilities:

(theconversation, oct.05)
Satellites: the eyes, ears and mouthpiece of French defence in space

Convinced from the outset of the strategic dimension of space, the French political authorities have, since the end of the 1950s, made substantial and continuous efforts in this field.

This policy has borne fruit, so much so that our armed forces are today equipped with high-performance space capabilities covering a very broad spectrum of missions (space telecommunications, observation and electronic surveillance), which few countries can put forward. A new generation of satellites designed to support joint operations is currently being put in place.

At the end of this movement, the armed forces will have their own three CSO optical observation satellites, a constellation of three CERES electronic listening satellites and two Syracuse 4 military telecommunications satellites; in a way, they will be the eyes, ears and voice of French defence in space.


CSO: the eyes

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In 1995, the first European military optical observation satellite was put into orbit. It was French and called Helios 1. With it, the French armed forces gained access to high-resolution space imagery. The two Helios 1s were replaced in the mid-2000s by two Helios 2s with improved performance.

The Helios family has been replaced in orbit since December 2018 by the CSO programme (for Cosmic Space Component), which provides for three identical satellites in sun-synchronous polar orbit; two at 800 kilometres for the reconnaissance mission and one at 480 kilometres for the identification mission, providing access to more precise information. The first two CSOs are operational, the third will be operational in 2023.

CSO provides access to visible and infrared image quality that is unmatched in Europe. Technological innovations applied to its large-diameter mirror and its focal planes make it possible to acquire extremely high-resolution colour images, i.e. images that not only make it possible to detect features of interest, but also to understand their nature and identify them. For example, with CSO, it is possible to distinguish whether an individual is armed or the details of a weapon system.

Thanks to its infrared capability, which captures the thermal signature of the scenes observed, the CSO instrument can also take night-time images at a level of performance that is unmatched by Helios 2.

But for the military, seeing, characterising and identifying is not enough in itself. It is also a question of geolocating the objects observed with the best possible precision, and from this point of view, the performance obtained by CSO enables it to meet the highest military requirements. With CSO, intelligence gathering from space not only makes a considerable qualitative leap forward, thanks to the very high performance of the satellites, but it is also strengthened in terms of the volume of information obtained and responsiveness. Compared to the previous generation, there are many more images available and they are delivered much more quickly.

In this programme, the French government and the French space industry have combined their talents to produce a system of the highest world standard. The Direction Générale de l'Armement (DGA) led the programme, assisted by the Centre National d'Etudes Spatiales (CNES), to which it delegated the contracting of the satellites and the ground segment of the mission, while the national industry was also able to meet the technological challenges of the programme.


CERES: the ears

For some, Ceres is the Roman goddess of harvest and fertility; for the French military, the name evokes a space intelligence system.

Since November 2021, three CERES (CapacitÉ de Renseignement Électromagnétique Spatiale) satellites have been in orbit. The CERES constellation enables the detection, characterisation and precise location of electromagnetic signals emitted by radar or communication systems. The system covers a wide range of frequencies and allows the detected transmitters to be revisited every day.


With CERES, the French military can monitor the electromagnetic spectrum for the purpose of developing an enemy order of battle or preparing electronic warfare measures; they can also accurately monitor potential targets. The CERES system, the first of its kind in Europe, is the heir to 25 years of national effort in the field of electromagnetic listening from space and capitalises on the achievements of a series of demonstrators that have validated the technologies on board CERES.

In the 1990s, the Cerise and Clémentine demonstrators first validated the feasibility of detecting an electromagnetic signal from space, then the Essaim demonstrators in the 2000s and Elisa in the 2010s validated the principle of locating a transmitter on the ground through formation flight.

It is precisely by using this technique that the three CERES satellites determine the position of a transmitter on the surface of the globe. The more accurate the satellites' position keeping, the more accurate it will be. This is where the know-how of the CNES teams, who maintain CERES in orbit, comes into play. With the Essaim and Elisa demonstrators, the precursors of CERES, these teams have developed and refined a technique for building up a satellite formation and maintaining it accurately and efficiently over time.


Syracuse: the megaphone

Over the past forty years, several generations of telecommunications satellites have provided the French armed forces with a very long-distance communication capability. The Syracuse 1 to 3 systems have followed one another, and Syracuse 4 is currently being installed. With this system, with its tenfold increase in performance, the ambition is to meet the increase in throughput requirements of the armed forces linked to the growing digitisation of the battlefield, and to provide a service to new users such as aircraft or vehicles in motion.

To this end, in addition to its very high jamming resistance and X-band communication capabilities, Syracuse 4 provides new military Ka-band capabilities. This new system takes full advantage of the dynamics of the commercial civil sector, where our manufacturers are particularly well placed, by drawing on the most promising innovations in digital technology. The first Syracuse 4 satellite is in place in geostationary orbit and will be joined in 2023 by a second platform.


Towards a new era

"The phrase is from Auguste Comte and conveniently links three verbs essential to the military art in a logical sequence. In this field, more than in any other, they cannot be combined without the contribution of space capabilities.

French defence has understood this and has been engaged for several years in the replacement of its space intelligence and telecommunications systems. With CSO, CERES and Syracuse 4, it now has capabilities at the highest level. However, it is already working with CNES and industry to prepare the next generation, which is expected at the beginning of the next decade. Iris, Celeste and Syracuse 4C will then open a new era. /Translated with www.DeepL.com/Translator (free version)
 
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asat-inde-20190327.jpg

ASAT PDV MkII anti-satellite missile developed by India

(opex360 (fr), nov.30)
France pledges not to test "destructive direct-ascent anti-satellite missiles"

From the beginning of the space conquest, the United States sought to acquire an anti-satellite weapon by developing the "Bold Orion" missile, fired by a B-47 Stratojet bomber. This programme demonstrated that it was indeed possible to hit an object in orbit. However, this capability was achieved in 1985, when a US Air Force F-15 Eagle fired an AASM-135 ASAT [Ascent Anti-SATellite] missile against the P78-1 [Solwind] satellite, then flying at an altitude of 550km.​
The United States demonstrated this capability again in 2008, when the US Navy destroyed a sinking spy satellite with a RIM-161 SM3 missile, designed for missile defence. This was seen, at the time, as a response to China's successful test of an anti-satellite weapon [an intermediate-range ballistic missile, in this case] in January 2007.​
Since then, India has joined the very select circle of countries with such a capability... A circle that Russia is part of, as it confirmed in November 2021, with the destruction of the Cosmos-1408 satellite with a new direct-ascent weapon called PL-19 Nudol. This test, which endangered the International Space Station [ISS], generated some 1,500 pieces of space debris, which are a danger to satellites operating at an altitude of between 200 and 1,000 km. Hence the admonitions made to Moscow by the United States [and France]...​
That said, the military use of space was the subject of intense debate in October in the UN General Assembly's First Committee on Disarmament and International Security. There were two opposing camps: one led by Russia and China, the other by the West in general and the United States in particular.​
Several draft texts have crystallised the opposition. For example, resolutions L-67 and L-70, championed by Russia and China, dealt respectively with "no-first deployment of weapons in outer space" and "further practical measures to prevent an arms race in outer space". While they were [hardly] adopted, they were opposed by most Western countries, including France, the United States and the United Kingdom.​
"The aim of these resolutions should be to enhance the safety of the space environment. In order to further this process, it is the resolution proposed by the United States that offers additional means of combating terrorism. On the other hand, the resolutions submitted by Russia do not adequately address the threats. For example, they do not define what a 'weapon in space' is. A civilian satellite can be used as a weapon. The Russian draft also contains unrelated terms, such as 'joint efforts for a community of shared future for humanity', which means nothing," French diplomacy argued.​
At the same time, despite opposition from Russia and China [but also from Iran, Syria, Cuba and Belarus], resolutions L-62 and L-27 were largely adopted. The former proposed to ask Member States to commit themselves not to conduct "destructive direct-ascent anti-satellite missile tests", while the latter aimed to "reduce space threats through norms, rules and principles of responsible behaviour".​
Russia explained its vote on draft resolution L-62 by pointing out that it did not provide for "a moratorium" on the use of existing ASAT weapons. China described L-27 as a "hypocritical initiative".​
However, while the United States announced in April that it would no longer test direct-ascent ASAT weapons, France has indicated that it will do the same.... although it has never had such a capability.​
"France formally undertakes not to conduct tests of destructive direct-ascent anti-satellite missiles," the French Ministry of Defence announced in a statement issued on 29 November. It "has never conducted such tests, which it considers destabilising and irresponsible. They are the source of a lot of debris that can have serious consequences for space security and safety, in particular by compromising the integrity of satellites in orbit," he said.​
France "fully supports this new standard of responsible behaviour and its universalisation, within the multilateral framework of the United Nations" and "will continue to work with all volunteer States to strengthen trust and transparency among all actors in space", he concluded.​
That said, there are other ways to render a satellite inoperable without blowing it up in orbit. For example, it is possible to take control of an orbiting spacecraft through a computer attack. Laser systems or electromagnetic pulse weapons can also be used, especially to disable on-board electronics. /deepl
 
(latribune (fr), nov.18) #EU

Kick-off of the new European IRIS secure satellite constellation​

The European Union has launched Iris², a constellation of satellites designed to secure the internet and its communications "everywhere" on its territory from 2027.

"Historic! After Galileo & Copernicus, welcome to... IRIS²", Thierry Breton said in a tweet on Thursday evening after negotiations between the European Parliament, the Council of the European Union (EU) and the European Commission. The European Commissioner for the Internal Market has indeed achieved a tour de force in just nine months by reaching an agreement to launch the new European constellation IRIS² (Infrastructure for Resilience and Secure Interconnection by Satellites), the new critical infrastructure for the EU. The first launches are planned for 2024, with the entire constellation coming into service in 2027.​
This constellation of satellites is intended to secure the internet and its communications "everywhere" in Europe from 2027, Thierry Breton assured. It must be able to resist cyber attacks. IRIS² will also be a constellation geared towards government services, including defence. It will offer connectivity to the whole of Europe, in particular to areas that do not currently benefit from broadband Internet, as well as to the whole of Africa, using the constellation's North-South orbits. Finally, IRIS² will be a multi-orbit constellation, capable of creating synergies with the Galileo and Copernicus constellations.​
Funding of over €3 billion
The project will benefit from an EU budget of €2.4 billion, to which will be added a €750 million contribution from the European Space Agency (ESA), to be validated at the ESA ministerial conference on 22 and 23 November, as well as private and national investments. The total cost of the project has been estimated at €6 billion. "IRIS² establishes space as a vector of our European autonomy, a vector of connectivity, a vector of resilience. It also makes Europe a true space power," said Thierry Breton on Linkedin.​
Following this agreement, the Commission's Directorate-General for Defence Industry and Space (DEFIS) will be able to launch the implementation phase, in particular by defining the constellation specifications and the eligibility criteria for operators applying to manage IRIS² from the first quarter of 2023. DG DEFIS will launch the calls for tender in the first half of next year. In addition, it will be open to start-ups, which will benefit from a 30% workload on the infrastructure. Finally, IRIS² will be a constellation at the cutting edge of technology, to give Europe an edge, for example in quantum encryption. "It will therefore be a vector of innovation", stressed the European Commissioner.​
Strict eligibility criteria
Thierry Breton wants to emphasise the sovereignty of this constellation because of an increasingly contested geostrategic environment. "Space is a contested area, in which the European Union must guarantee its essential interests," said Thierry Breton. In this context, he wants to impose very strict eligibility criteria and security requirements. Eutelsat and SES are warned if they want to apply.​
"It is also clear that communications must be fully guaranteed and resilient to potential interference by a non-European power, or even an enemy power. And I would remind you that Russia does not behave towards Europe as a friend, to say the least. So any project that has been linked to Russia is an extremely sensitive subject for us," explained Thierry Breton in an interview with La Tribune published at the end of September. /deepl
 
France debates its near-space policy (jan.10)
France debates its near-space policy

To start off 2023, the Chief of Staff of the French Air Force organized a colloquium on Very High Altitude Operations, meaning operations between conventional airplane altitudes, under 20km, and “orbital space” above 100km. It featured Air Force officials, but also the companies and research institutes involved in developing platforms able to fly at these altitudes.

« Au menu », Industrial activities: Balloons, Solar planes, Spaceplanes, Hypersonic cruise missiles, Hypersonic glide vehicles.
And Views within the ministry of armed forces: Four high-ranking generals (3 or 4 stars) were involved in the discussion: the second in command of the Air Force, the head of state aeronautics safety, the head of space command (CDE, Commandement de l’Espace) and the head of operational air combat command (CDAOA, Commandement de la Défense Aérienne et des Opérations Aériennes). Also involved was a civilian representative from DGRIS, the high-level strategy directorate within the ministry.
(...)

worth reading.
 
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France debates its near-space policy (jan.10)
France debates its near-space policy

To start off 2023, the Chief of Staff of the French Air Force organized a colloquium on Very High Altitude Operations, meaning operations between conventional airplane altitudes, under 20km, and “orbital space” above 100km. It featured Air Force officials, but also the companies and research institutes involved in developing platforms able to fly at these altitudes.

« Au menu », Industrial activities: Balloons, Solar planes, Spaceplanes, Hypersonic cruise missiles, Hypersonic glide vehicles.
And Views within the ministry of armed forces: Four high-ranking generals (3 or 4 stars) were involved in the discussion: the second in command of the Air Force, the head of state aeronautics safety, the head of space command (CDE, Commandement de l’Espace) and the head of operational air combat command (CDAOA, Commandement de la Défense Aérienne et des Opérations Aériennes). Also involved was a civilian representative from DGRIS, the high-level strategy directorate within the ministry.
(...)

worth reading.
ANd now all the reasons behind the scene :
The key to multistatism is to do it from many different platforms. Imagine that one of these platforms is only 80 km above you ... Hemeria.
Given the gains in AESA radar clutter, this seems quite feasible.
You add a techno-brick like KERAUNOS to communicate vertically or horizontally.
A bit of quantum "mapping".

And a touch of ultra-fast information processing:
Thales announces the signing of a contract with the start-up NukkAI to develop an artificial intelligence solution for data fusion for military use.

Right away we see that the 20/100 km band has a crazy potential to make most military operations transparent, especially at sea and in the sky, and that France has all the technological building blocks to make it happen.

I have a very strong feeling that this will be a key point in the next LPM.
 
The French Air Force and Space Agency are thinking of acquiring a space plane
dassault-20180311-1.jpg

Photo: Dassault Aviation​

(opex360 (fr), jan.29)

The current Military Programming Law [LPM] had made the space domain a priority, with the elaboration of a defence strategy for space, the creation of the Space Command [CdE] and an investment of 5 billion euros for the development of new means, including the YODA programme [Yeux en Orbite pour un Démonstrateur Agile] which aims to prepare an "active defence" capability in orbit by 2030.

With a budget of 413 billion euros, the next LPM, the broad outlines of which were described by President Macron on 20 January, will also make space one of its priorities, probably with additional investments.

During a hearing at the National Assembly [the minutes of which were published this week], General Philippe Adam, the Space Commander, was asked to discuss the lessons learned from the war in Ukraine... But he also had to answer about the capabilities he considers to be priorities.

"Space allows the exploitation of grey areas. This is the parallel that can be drawn with cyber. Space is quite difficult to observe and very difficult to access, so it is not easy to see what is going on in it. It is an area where it is possible to hide military means of action quite easily behind civilian capabilities... and there is no reason why we should not also take advantage of this", General Adam began by explaining. Hence the need for "well-designed, high-performance surveillance and patrol satellites"... and hence the importance of the YODA programme, which has been slightly delayed, one of the difficulties being to find a launcher to put its two nano-satellites into orbit.

Indeed, General Adam continued, "the combination of space surveillance sensors and patrol craft will lead to a good knowledge of what is going on and a better operational efficiency in the fields of reconnaissance, communication and connectivity as well as in terms of action to defend our assets but also to oppose the assets of others.

Another priority for Space Command is early warning, to detect ballistic missile and hypersonic weapon launches.

"Early warning is not just about space. Ballistic missiles pass through space, so there are many adherences with this environment. What interests us more particularly are the means placed in space or on Earth to detect such strikes, ballistic or otherwise," said General Adam, for whom the so-called "hypervelocity" weapons are "particularly worrying" given that they are also "manoeuvrable".

"At least with a ballistic missile, if you detect the beginning of the trajectory, you know roughly where it's going to end up. With a manoeuvring missile, this is no longer possible, especially as their range is considerable. So we have a concern," he said.

"Today, on this early warning, we are essentially served by the Americans," General Adam continued, before stressing that France is "not totally" deprived, thanks to the capabilities provided by the Ground-to-Air Medium Range/Terrestrial system [SAMP/T]. But if this is effective against a "tactical range missile launch", it cannot do much against an "intercontinental launch".

Therefore, "we must indeed ask ourselves the question of going further", said the Space Commander. "Will we go through space? Will we use ground-based radars? The latter have the disadvantage of being constrained by the earth's rotundity. Space is a solution, but it has other problems. The answer will probably be a combination of the two," he said. In any case, a reflection on this subject is underway. "But it is difficult because the investments are considerable," he stressed.

General Adam also spoke of the development of a "space plane". The subject is not new: it had been mentioned by Éric Trappier, the CEO of Dassault Aviation in 2018, then by a parliamentary report on the consequences of the "covid" crisis on the Defence Industrial and Technological Base [DITB], published two years later and finally by Emmanuel Chiva, then director of the Defence Innovation Agency [DIA], in November 2021.

"We are in discussion with Dassault Aviation and the DGA [Direction générale de l'armement], in particular the SASD [Service d'architecture de systèmes de défense]. We also carry out projects with companies that we support. This is the case of Unseenlabs and Cailabs," Mr. Chiva [who has since become the General Delegate for Armaments] had declared in an interview published by La Tribune.

In any case, General Adam told the deputies that "space planes are one of the means we are thinking about", in particular for placing payloads in orbit. "We get what comes in, put a coat of paint on it, fill it with fuel and send it back," he said. Moreover, "the economic model is much more interesting and drives down launch prices", he noted.

Above all, the space commander explained, "the spaceplane allows for flexible means". He added: "This was the idea of the space shuttle, which was abandoned with Hermes, but which is now becoming seriously interesting again because the technology allows it, the uses are probably different, and it will be done in a more automated way - not necessarily piloted as drones can be. /deepl
 
(airbus, july06)

SYRACUSE 4B secure military communications satellite successfully launched

The SYRACUSE 4B communications satellite, built by Airbus and Thales Alenia Space, has been successfully launched from the Guiana Space Center, Europe’s Spaceport in Kourou, French Guiana. It was the last launch of Ariane 5, the European heavy launcher.​
SYRACUSE 4B, along with SYRACUSE 4A already in orbit, constitutes the space segment of SYRACUSE IV, the fourth generation secure military satellite communications system for the French Armament General Directorate (DGA - Direction Générale de l’Armement), the French Air and Space force and the French Space Command, built by the industrial consortium formed by Airbus Defence and Space and Thales Alenia Space.​
SYRACUSE 4A and 4B will deliver increased capacity and enhanced functionality for the French Armed Forces, including higher throughput and flexibility, along with a broader coverage area. The increased flexibility will ensure the satellites can meet the needs of forces deployed anywhere in the coverage area, while also efficiently managing its X-band and Ka-band resources.​
“Observation, signal intelligence, space situational awareness, and of course secure communications across key theatres of operation, are paramount for a nation’s autonomy and freedom of action. Airbus is proud to be a trusted partner of the French Armed Forces: thanks to SYRACUSE 4B, and other programmes, we support our national ambitions and capabilities in all these fields, today and in the decades to come!” said Jean-Marc Nasr, Head of Space Systems at Airbus.​
SYRACUSE 4B, built on Airbus’ Eurostar E3000 platform, in its full-electric variant and equipped with in-orbit proximity surveillance, is embarking the same payload as SYRACUSE 4A, built by Thales Alenia Space with key components provided by Airbus.​
SYRACUSE 4B features critical technologies such as anti-jamming, to guarantee service continuity and resilience, cyber-defence and data encryption technologies.​
In the frame of the global SYRACUSE co-contract, Airbus is responsible for the SYRACUSE 4B satellite. Thales Alenia Space was responsible for SYRACUSE 4A satellite as well as both payloads with key component provided by Airbus.​
The satellite, a true example of pan-European industrial cooperation, will guarantee French sovereignty, while also being able to support operations led by NATO and other allied nations. /end
 
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Tour of French New Space 2023 [part I]: Yoda & Hemeria

June and July 2023 were packed with conferences and announcements by the French New Space sector. The traditional Paris Air Show returned after four years of absence due to COVID, and was preceded by the Paris Air Forum, a day of talks and roundtables by aerospace executives. A few days later, the second edition of the French New Space conference took place, still in Paris (France is a very centralized country after all). (...)

For this first article, let’s start with Hemeria, a builder of small satellites. Hemeria was presenting at the Paris Air Show with a to-scale mock-up of YODA, which is a patroller satellite on order by the French Ministry of Armed Forces to have eyes on orbit in geostationary orbit (GEO):

yoda-1.jpg

YODA and its big eye

YODA means eYes on Orbit for Demonstration of Agility (yes it sounds as convoluted in the original French), and two copies will be launched in mid-2025 as rideshares to GEO . There, it will protect high-value assets like the Syracuse military communication satellites. French Space Command is also thinking of putting such satellites in low earth orbit, where it has observation satellites to protect. By 2030, a larger, laser-armed patroller called EGIDE will be added. (...):
 

French Space Command - Le Commandement de l’Espace (CDE) - is pleased to present the 4th edition of its annual military space exercise, which remains unique in Europe. AsterX 2024 has the objective of perfecting the training of the CDE in a realistic and complex simulated space environment, in order to meet the new challenges emerging from increasingly numerous and diverse threats.

To preserve a credible multi-domain environment, the exercise is based on the same geopolitical scenario as defined for ORION 23, the major joint exercise for training in large-scale combat operations, which featured live drills in all domains. The space component will perform its key mission of supporting the other components, while at the same time its own assets will be confronted by new threats that it must obviously counter. The players will face the full spectrum of space warfare, ranging from restricted freedom of action to the tactical and technical constraints of an inevitable orbital battle conducted by an adversary engaging in the uninhibited use of force. They will be working on a specially produced technical platform, augmented by new functionalities compared to previous editions, with a scenario comprising 23 space events affecting every possible orbit.

A key aspect of this year’s exercise is that it has been opened to more international partners than in previous years. These partners will be fully integrated into the exercise to advance the development of interoperability in the space domain. The French space agency (Centre National d’Etudes Spatiales - CNES) and all our industrial partners remain fully engaged in the exercise as part of this broader coalition, which is united in shared concerns for sustainability in the space domain.

Ensuring safety, security and peace in space is a major challenge, and we must rise to this task collectively. This is the spirit and aim of the AsterX exercise and is key to our common goal of tackling the emerging threats. Together, we are learning and advancing as we further develop a shared culture of military space operations as a fundamental pillar of strengthened international cooperation.

GENERAL ADAM - SPACE COMMANDER
 
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