French President Emmanuel Macron inaugurated the country’s first Space Command facility in Toulouse this week—simultaneously gifting a very generous increase in funding for the country’s military space program. Pass go, collect €4.2B.
Before the announcement, France had committed €6B to military space programs between 2024 and 2030. Combining those two commitments (and assuming the spend is roughly the same each year), France could have as much as €9B left to spend on space defense before the decade is out. Even more if any of the civil funds Macron proposed—an increase of the nation’s civil space spending to €16B by 2030—find their way into the dual-use arena.
So what could all that money buy?
Echo chamber: Macron’s speech echoed themes raised by officials across Europe in recent months, especially the threats in space: jamming, spoofing, increased dynamic maneuvers, and the prospect of directed-energy weapons. As such, much of the verbiage was familiar, though in French, and harped on themes of sovereignty, resiliency, and global competitiveness.
“Space is no longer a sanctuary; it has become a battlefield,” Macron said, translated via Google translate. “If we want to preserve our freedom to communicate, to observe, to monitor the climate, to continue to take action and defend ourselves, it is essential to make decisive choices today.”
The shopping list: Macron went on to outline the specific capabilities the increased funds would bolster, including:
- Increasing France’s access to space by ramping up the launch cadence of Arianespace Ariane 6, and investing in its French Guiana launch infrastructure;
- Improving the country’s ability to monitor the skies, by financially supporting the military-funded Thales AURORE space surveillance radar, and developing early warning capabilities alongside Germany.
- Developing in-space defensive capabilities, by supporting projects like the upcoming two-sat mission to demonstrate protect-and-defend capabilities in orbit.
Chipping in: While France has yet to share its intended contribution to ESA at the agency’s council of ministers this month, the speech this week could serve as a signal that France is ready to increase cooperation on international projects to secure European sovereignty, and improve the entire region’s in-space capabilities.
“Our European space program is fragile. It is under attack by those who would like to fragment it to prevent us from being stronger together,” Macron said. With that sentiment in mind, it’s easy to assume that France could also direct its purse to contribute to other Europe-wide programs, like the proposed European Space Shield.
