The Air and Space Force unveils its new logo.
The symbol of the State's investment in the fifth area of military confrontation: space.
With 2,000 satellites currently positioned, the threats are varied.
A dedicated command will be installed in Toulouse in five years.
France is giving itself the means to observe what is happening above our heads.
The new logo of what is now called "The Air and Space Army" will be unveiled this Friday.
Space is the fifth domain of military confrontation after land, air, sea and cyberspace.
In the military programming law (2019-2025), the budget devoted to this new area is five billion euros.
A stake for the future, because if there are currently 2,000 satellites in space, they will be four times more in five years.
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An evolution of the military practices necessary to face the threats which accumulate, more and more varied.
"It ranges from the cyber threat, to the threat of total destruction with missiles. And in the middle of it all, you have threats of jamming, of espionage, you have spy satellites, you have suicide satellites, you have satellites. which can come with articulated arms to tear off a part of another satellite and simply kill it, ”says General Friedling, chief of the space command.
Premises in Toulouse
Good protection requires surveillance, and the ability to detect and identify a space object quickly enough, to know whether it is friend or foe.
It will also soon be possible to trace the launch site of a suspicious device, lurking around French aircraft.
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The space command, inter-army, will be installed within five in a single location: new premises in Toulouse, next to the CNES.
Its numbers will have doubled: they will be almost 500 soldiers.
Currently, the personnel are trained by civilians, in order to learn to pilot their own satellites.