“We cannot protect ourselves from a foreign satellite snooping around close to our own”
JEAN-YVES LE GALL, PRESIDENT OF CNES
There are some indications that France might soon retaliate against threats from space and on Earth to destroy or interfere with its space capacities. And as France’s Air Force chief (CEMAA), General Philippe Lavigne, said to the National Assembly, “if we lose the war in space, we basically lose the war».
The threat is every-present in space. “The strategies to retaliate or deny permanent access are taking new forms”, General Jean-Pascal Breton, former joint-army space commander, explained in December 2017. “Alongside the development of directed-energy weapons that can degrade the performance of our resources, mastering the technique of rendezvous docking in space can bring us closer to the space capacities of other countries in all orbits».
As space gradually becomes more weaponised, France has discovered a number of chinks in its armour. And these are serious. Today, France cannot guarantee the physical integrity of its satellites and their ground segments against cyberattacks, scrambling, intelligence (spying) and, to an even lesser degree, kinetic attacks. The President of CNES (French national centre for space studies), Jean-Yves Le Gall, told the National Assembly in 2018 that we “cannot protect ourselves from a foreign satellite snooping around close to our own”. France also has limited resources for observing the geostationary orbit. But in spite of its shortcomings, France is still a leading nation in the world of space, behind the US-Russia-China trio. France also has access to broad expertise in directed-energy weapons (laser for blinding, microwave for scrambling). There is therefore nothing that France cannot do. Back in 2017, the strategic review was already calling for “a substantial reinforcement of France’s defensive and offensive capabilities”. Through its national aerospace research centre, ONERA, for several years France has also been developing a very effective, low-cost system for low orbit surveillance (up to 1,000 km above the earth’s surface for the GRAVES system). It can monitor medium and geostationary orbits using the CNRS Tarot network’s telescopes and the Ariane Group’s GEOTracker. While the capacity to monitor space and identify aggressors is a guarantee of strategic autonomy, much more is needed to ever envisage winning the space battle.
What will France decide in terms of the new types of weaponry available? Washington and Beijing have adopted offensive procurement programmes. The Emmanuel Macron wants to set out a space defence strategy, “an issue of true national security”. Here in Air Force NCOs Training School (EFSOAA), in June 2018.
Shenlong programme is reminiscent of the USA’s X-37B, operating in low orbit (below 1,000 km). The X-37B entered into service in 2010. This agile space plane is equipped with a bay into which a small payload can be placed in orbit, and which can inspect and even pick up satellites. Will France launch a French version of the X-37B? Probably not, too expensive. But France certainly needs “means for intervening in space from the ground (laser, scramblers, microwaves)”, claims the former joint-army space commander, now Chairman and CEO of the company OTA (Observation de la Terre Appliquée), Jean-Daniel Testé.
The defence ministry’s work has helped to delve into the threats that exist and to identify the capacity to address these at ground and space segment level, including the data links between the two and in the software. These segments may be vulnerable to varying degrees of threats, ranging from spying and denial of service attacks to neutralization of the satellite. The Minister has thus prioritised these threats in an effort to address the most serious and most likely. ”It is these threats that the Ministry will focus on most” explains Hervé Grandjean. But innovation is clearly key to the future success of France: directed-energy weapons, artificial intelligence on board satellites, the development of long-range, low-frequency radar for space surveillance (Thales), the miniaturisation of payloads on observation satellites (Thales and Airbus), hyperspectral imaging (ONERA) and stratospheric balloons (Thales), etc. It is now for Emmanuel Macron to provide the means... or not.