[Satellite News 07-24-09] France is one of Europe’s major powers in space, with a rich and deep heritage in this area. In an interview with Satellite News, Lt. Gen. Gilles Desclaux, commander, French Air Defence and Air Operations Command, spoke about how the French government views space assets for military operations and his hopes for greater military cooperation with the United States.

Satellite News: A lot of your presentation at MilSpace earlier this year seemed to focus on improved military cooperation in Europe and with the United States. What is the next stage for this cooperation?

Desclaux: Both the sharing of expertise and the sharing of the financial burden are going well. A pending issue is how you disseminate all products coming from space assets, especially those that are intelligence based. Although it is not European-wide, we have some experience in the field of cooperation with a few nations through the Helios program. The next stage for cooperation is in the field of space surveillance. We already succeeded in working closely with Germany. Recently, a project team within the European Defense Agency (EDA) has been created to define a common objective. It should express by June 2010 common defense requirements for space situational awareness (SSA).

Satellite News: What is France doing in terms of SSA?

Desclaux: We already have this capability. We have a large radar looking at this. It provides us with good awareness of what is going on in low-Earth orbit between 250 and 1000 kilometers. This is where all the Earth observation satellites are orbiting. In cooperation, via this rada,r we are developing other capabilities. We have exchanged a lot of information with Germany. We are also working with tracking radars in France. We are underway to have a very precise knowledge of what is flying. We still need to upgrade the capabilities of the radar, but it is an ongoing process. Today, we are following 2,400 objects very precisely, and many of these data are given to CNES in France. They are responsible for collision avoidance for the satellites they operate. 

 

Satellite News: What impact do you think President Obama will have on European and French space policy?

Desclaux: Cooperation will be easier. What we are witnessing at the moment leads us to this conclusion: It is easier to discuss things. There is a less dogmatic approach. I think the new team around President Obama is ready to discuss issues in-depth. Previously, there was no point of contact at the political level. The present trend clearly shows that we may expect a major change when discussing between respective Ministries of Defence. The space cooperation forum is about to pave the way and strengthen space cooperation between our two countries. Air forces now have better opportunities to exchange space surveillance products.

The United States is far ahead of everyone else and we have a lot to learn from them, while France has always tried to promote space in Europe. We were pioneers in developing the launching capability. Ariane was a very good concept, although it was challenging at the beginning. France will continue to invest a lot of money. The European Defence Agency could be the right vehicle to federate and harmonize requirements. 

Satellite News: Is the economic crisis having an impact on French space policy?

Desclaux: We are seeing no signs of an impact on space funding, but we are not out of the crisis yet. As I mentioned earlier, the fact we are looking at more c-operation is a good incentive to continue with the momentum. When programs are national it is easier to delay investment, even if it is not cost-effective, but sometimes you have no choice. With cooperation, you are engaged on long-term commitment and any funding issue has a political impact.

As the French Armed Forces are concerned, we started reducing our potential last year, right after “The [French] White Paper on Defence and National Security” was issued. Right after that, another process started looking at how the French armed forces were spending money. One of the conclusions of this review was to reduce the numbers of installations, assets and personnel in the armed forces. In the air force, manpower will reduce from 64,000 down to 50,000 over the next six years, starting this year. The aim of such a downsizing is to regain budgetary room for maneuver allowing you to invest more into programs and services. Space is one of them. 

Satellite News: Did the paper mark a significant change in terms of French military space policy? 

 

Desclaux: The White Paper definitely marked a significant turn in French military space policy. It took 15 years for France to write a new “White Paper on Defence and National Security.” The previous one was released in 1994. At that time, space was mentioned as an important capability and that was it. This time, it is clearly stated that space is vital. First, space assets are important for our governmental authorities to get the knowledge of what is going on in the world. Knowledge guarantees our autonomy in decision making and enables France to preserve its strategic initiative. It is always easy to rely on U.S. information, but the Iraq experience taught us that it is vital for a nation to have its own observation assets. Secondly, space assets are very important as we rely more and more on them. Satellites are vital for our global economy and are key assets for military purposes. The white paper also stresses that these assets are fragile and subjected to hazards and threats. Therefore, SSA is a vital issue.

Satellite News: How do you view importance of satellite technologies against telecoms or terrestrial-based technologies?

Desclaux: There is no competition between the two. For any important system, you should develop redundancy. For example, if you use satcom for long distance communications it is necessary to rely on HF (high frequency) as a backup plan. HF is very relevant to communicate all over the world. We have developed our HF capability for strategic strikes. You can rely on HF and satcoms to control strategic strikes. We rely on GPS but developed our expertise in on-shore navigation. Of course, space is a key capability in many ways. In the same time, we try to develop the same standards based on terrestrial technology. On-shore navigation systems are much more accurate now. In 10 years time, you may not rely on GPS any more.

Satellite News: Do you think France will look at public-private financing partnerships similar to what the United Kingdom did with Skynet?

Desclaux: France is definitely having a look at this concept. We are still waiting, but we share this expertise. Some of the U.K.’s experience was good, some bad. It has provided mixed results. What we want to do is share satellites and put payloads on satellites. We developed and launched Syracuse, which is a generation of powerful military satellites, but I think the next satellite constellation could use a similar financing structure to what we have seen in the United Kingdom.

Satellite News: Was the Iridium-Cosmos satellite collision earlier this year a wake-up call to the satellite industry?

Desclaux: We were indeed surprised by this major event. We were surprised the U.S. space community was not able to prevent this extraordinary collision between these two big satellites. With our own means, we could have noticed that their orbits were crossing closely. In my opinion, the U.S. assessment was whether the probability of collision was low or they had very limited options to maneuver the Iridium satellite.

Satellite News: Are space assets more vulnerable now? 

 

Desclaux: There are two main aspects to this issue. First, you have the security of the infrastructure from where you manage the assets. These ground installations need to be well-protected. Most of them are not. It would be easy to disrupt these systems. They are easy targets. Second, you need to protect your systems against cyber attacks. We have to develop in Europe a common consciousness towards these problems. One of the main vulnerability is our own personnel operating the systems. Education is key in this respect.

Satellite News: Is it going to take a catastrophe for people to take the security issue more seriously?

Desclaux: We are not doing enough on this issue. We are not investing enough in cyber-warfare. We need to do more to better protect our systems. I had the chance to exchange ideas on the subject with my U.S. counterparts. They are, as usual, well advanced and have already developed a strong and reactive organization able to monitor and act in the cyber domain.

France has clearly understood that this is a major issue, but it is difficult to globally protect a very large number of vital networks. Monitoring the flows of information circulating on networks is a good first step, but it is not enough to prevent serious attacks simply because it will be too late. In fact you need to monitor the core system of every single computer to be able to detect the first signs of any irregular activity. Only this kind of early warning will allow you to react efficiently.

Satellite News: What are the next steps? 

Desclaux: The key issue is to understand what is going on in space. France has already invested a lot in SSA and developed relevant processes. We want to push this at the European level. We have nearly reached our maximum capability with our Graves radar in tracking 2,400 objects. The U.S. is tracking, let’s say 20,000 objects. We will not progress on this issue without European funding and expertise.