For six days, the French Space Command conducted a space threat simulation exercise from the Cité de l'Espace in Toulouse.
Planned for a long time, this exercise, launched on the day of the invasion of Ukraine, aims to test – and show – French capabilities to respond.
If we are not yet in a space war configuration, threat signals are multiplying, like this cyberattack, certainly Russian, of which a satellite was the victim depriving Ukraine of connection.
A red satellite of the Piros State was launched and put into orbit in the greatest secrecy, before getting dangerously close to a French military observation satellite which it risks colliding with voluntarily.
Do not look for Piros on the map, this warlike nation does not exist.
But the disaster scenario, at the heart of the AsterX space threat simulation exercise, seems very realistic to him.
This virtual star wars, 21st century version, took place over six days at the Cité de l'Espace in Toulouse.
Launched on February 24, the very day of the invasion of Ukraine by Russia, this training was planned for a long time.
This tactical and operational exercise made it possible to train the CDE in military space operations, to deal with the emergence of space threats using a realistic simulation, and to strengthen space #cooperation with its foreign partners, in particular Europeans.
pic.twitter.com/VAXALaphyS
– Air and Space Force (@Armee_de_lair) March 4, 2022
Access to this content has been blocked to respect your choice of consent
By clicking on "
I ACCEPT
", you accept the deposit of cookies by external services and will thus have access to third-party content
I ACCEPT
You can also modify your choices at any time via "choice of consent".
More information on the Cookie Management Policy page.
But in the light of this news and the international tensions that result from it, it takes on its full meaning.
Especially since the battle has already been launched above our heads.
As of last Thursday, thousands of operator customers were deprived of a satellite Internet connection.
Hostile actions increase
The Viasat satellite was the subject of a cyberattack, depriving access to satellite communications in certain areas in Europe, in particular Ukraine.
Which led to Zelensky's country asking Elon Musk for help.
“Today we face hybrid conflicts that take place in the cyber field, in the information field and in the space field.
Attempts at interference are numerous and hostile actions are increasing.
Our defense is played in all these environments, it is essential that we master them to maintain our operational superiority.
Because France, like Europe, is firmly opposed to the looters of space, “said Florence Parly, the Minister of the Armed Forces.
Neither she, nor the European Commissioner Thierry Breton in charge of these issues, or the representatives of the 27 foreign countries present in Toulouse, hid that AsterX was also a means of showing potential aggressors that France and Europe have of the respondent.
That they were ready to face all situations and to play as a team.
Especially, when we know that the threat is no longer really in the realm of the scenario.
In November, Russia did not hesitate to destroy one of its satellites with a missile fired from the Earth and thus pollute space with thousands of debris "in a desire to make a show of force", notes the minister .
And it was far from a first for Moscow.
Russian precedents
Because if in terms of space exploration, cooperation between the Kremlin regime and Europe was until recent days quite good, it was far from being a long calm river in other space domains.
A few years ago the Russian spy satellite Lutch-Olymp approached a little too close to a Franco-Italian telecom satellite Athena-Fidus.
These threats in outer space, whatever their origins, are far from negligible.
“These are things that we are seeing more and more frequently.
When the President of the Republic asked for this strategy to be drawn up, we had weak signals, we were starting to behave abnormally, things that were a bit strange”, underlines General Michel Friedling, head of the command of the Space.
After Luch-Olymp in 2018, and which continues its activity in geostationary orbit, there are two anti-satellite missile launches from India in 2019, then from the Russians at the end of 2021. “We also had a certain number of activities in geostationary orbit by other nations.
Because tens of kilometers above our heads, "it is sometimes difficult to characterize very precisely what people are doing there, who they are and what their intentions are", insists the boss of the command center of the space.
If the conflicts are not yet open there, everyone pushes their pawns there.
Especially in times of stress.
Because today, in any war, satellites play a fundamental role in providing information on the position of enemy troops.
It is also crucial for the daily lives of civilian populations.
"This space is essential but it is increasingly contested" according to Florence Parly
“Space is vital for our economies and vital for our defence.
If we were able to carry out Operation Hamilton in 2018 to strike against chemical installations in Syria, it is because we have observation, telecommunications and navigation satellites.
Without these capabilities, there would have been no operations.
Under these conditions, outer space is vital for our military operations.
This space is essential but it is increasingly contested.
Our presence here is to reaffirm the absolute necessity of our strategic autonomy, the crisis in Ukraine strengthens us in this conviction”, recalled Florence Parly, the Minister for the Armed Forces.
Collision, laser, telecom jamming
Helped by teams from CNES and space sector manufacturers, nearly 130 men therefore “played” to thwart the attacks.
They tested their ability to counter telecom jamming by enemy ships, to manage the fragmentation of a satellite, the risk of collision or even a laser that burns out the lens of a satellite.
A total of sixteen space events that had to be managed, while limiting their consequences on the aircraft or even the forces present on the ground.
“The threats for which we train are threats that are present and that could take place.
AsterX allows us to prepare operational personnel, to shed light on the near future and to try to learn from our mistakes”, underlines Colonel Guillaume Bourdeloux, Commander of the Space Operations Support Brigade who led this exercise.
Called to renew next year.
And maybe before in a much more realistic version if the situation escalates in the East.
Planet
War in Ukraine: Should we be worried about Russian retaliation in space?
Science
The next French spy satellite will not be launched by the Russian Soyuz rocket but by Ariane 6
Toulouse
War in Ukraine
Satellite
World
Space
Army
0 comment
0 share
Share on Messenger
Share on Facebook
Share on Twitter
Share on Flipboard
Share on Pinterest
Share on Linkedin
Send by Mail
To safeguard
A fault ?
To print