France conducts first military exercises in space

The French military carried out drills to test the capabilities of its Space Command in tackling threats to its satellites.

Context

The French military carried out drills to test the capabilities of its Space Command in tackling threats to its satellites.

The French Space Forces Command was created in 2019.
The exercises are part of France's strategy to become the world's third-largest space power.

A defense exercise: During the drill, the French military will monitor a potentially dangerous space object as well as a threat to its own satellite from another foreign power possessing a considerable space force.
France also planned to develop anti-satellite laser weapons and to strengthen surveillance capabilities in an area that it believes could become a major theater of confrontation between powers on Earth.
Cooperation:The new US Space Force and German space agencies are taking part in the French exercises.
Potential threats:In 2017, a Russian “spy-satellite” had tried to approach a Franco-Italian satellite in what Paris called “an act of espionage.”

- ASAT:On March 27, 2019, India had become the fourth country to conduct an anti-satellite (ASAT) missile test (after the United States, Russia, and China).
- In 2019 India conducted a test of the ASAT missile making it the fourth country with that capability. In April 2019, the Indian government established the Defence Space Agency or DSA.
- India reportedly adapted its missile defense interceptor, the Prithvi Defense Vehicle Mark-II into an ASAT weapon, making it the third country to demonstrate the capability for a direct-ascent kinetic kill.
Mission Shakti: Under the “Mission Shakti”, the test entailed launching a ballistic missile into outer space to destroy an Indian satellite located about 300 kilometers above the earth’s surface, in low earth orbit (LEO).