French Space Command

Space command of the French Air and Space Force
You can help expand this article with text translated from the corresponding article in French. (November 2015) Click [show] for important translation instructions.
  • Machine translation, like DeepL or Google Translate, is a useful starting point for translations, but translators must revise errors as necessary and confirm that the translation is accurate, rather than simply copy-pasting machine-translated text into the English Wikipedia.
  • Consider adding a topic to this template: there are already 6,164 articles in the main category, and specifying|topic= will aid in categorization.
  • Do not translate text that appears unreliable or low-quality. If possible, verify the text with references provided in the foreign-language article.
  • You must provide copyright attribution in the edit summary accompanying your translation by providing an interlanguage link to the source of your translation. A model attribution edit summary is Content in this edit is translated from the existing French Wikipedia article at [[:fr:Commandement de l'espace]]; see its history for attribution.
  • You should also add the template {{Translated|fr|Commandement de l'espace}} to the talk page.
  • For more guidance, see Wikipedia:Translation.
French Space Command
Commandement de l'Espace
Active2019
Country France
BranchFrench Air and Space Force
TypeSpace force
RoleSpace warfare
Garrison/HQToulouse Space Center1
Commanders
CommanderGénéral de division aérienne Michel Friedling
Military unit

The French Space Command (French: Commandement de l'Espace, CdE) is a formation of the French Air and Space Force, which deals with space issues. It supersedes the Joint Space Command, which was created in 2010.

Mission

A formation of the Ministry of the Armed Forces, the JSC is placed under the authority of the Chief of the Defence Staff (France). Within the Defense staff, it is under the supervision of the Deputy Chief of Operations.

The JSC:[1]

  • contributes to the national space policy, in coordination with the Directorate General of International Relations and Strategy (DGRIS);
  • contributes to the operations in coordination with military operators: the Command of Air Defense and Air Operations (CDAOA), the Joint Directorate of Infrastructure Networks and Defense Information Systems (DIRISI) and the Directorate of Military Intelligence (DRM);
  • is responsible for coordinating defining guidelines for the use of French space capabilities available to the Ministry of the Armed Forces;
  • shapes the future by federating the expression of operational needs and participates in the development and the implementation of space capability acquisition strategies with the Directorate-General for Armament (DGA) using the French Space Agency: the National Center for Space Studies (CNES);
  • deals with all European, international and multilateral military cooperation for matters regarding space;
  • orients the space situational awareness efforts, while this spatial situation is produced by the CDAOA.

French space assets

France possesses all major kinds of military assets :

  • Earth observation:
    • 2 satellites Composante Spatiale Optique
    • 2 satellites Helios 2
    • 2 dual civil/military satellites Pleiades
  • Signal intelligence satellite;
    • 4 satellites ELISA
    • 3 satellites CERES
  • Satellite communication:
    • 2 satellites Syracuse III
    • 2 satellites Syracuse IV
    • 1 satellite Athena-Fidus
    • 1 satellite Sicral 2
  • Space situation awareness:
    • GRAVES
    • SATAM

In relation with its German and Italian partners, France can access SAR imagery, respectively SAR-Lupe and COSMO-SkyMed.

Commanders

The JSC was created in 2010.[2] From that date, the JSC commanders are:

  • General de division Yves Arnaud (2010–2014)
  • Général de brigade aérienne Jean-Daniel Testé (2014–2017)
  • Général de brigade aérienne Jean-Pascal Breton (2017–2018)
  • Général de brigade aérienne Michel Friedling (2018–present)

References

  1. ^ "Hearing of the French Joint Commander for Space". SatelliteObservation.net. February 5, 2018. Retrieved April 13, 2018.
  2. ^ "French Joint Space Command On Schedule to Open in July". Space News. April 25, 2010. Retrieved January 7, 2023.
  • Quelle strategie spatiale pour la France?, interview 16 March 2021
  • v
  • t
  • e
  • v
  • t
  • e
France French Armed Forces
Armée de Terre (Army) Marine nationale (Navy) Armée de l'air et de l'espace (Air and Space Force) National Gendarmerie (Gendarmerie)
Leadership
Ranks
Formations & Commands
Joint forces
Nuclear forces
Equipment
Military bases
  • v
  • t
  • e
Space forces
Air forces with space units and formations
Space commands