The French Space Command (french: Commandement de l'Espace, CdE) is a formation of the

French Air and Space Force The French Air and Space Force (AAE) (french: Armée de l'air et de l'espace, ) is the air and space force of the French Armed Forces. It was the first military aviation force in history, formed in 1909 as the , a service arm of the French Army; ...

, 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) The Chief of the Defence Staff (french: Chef d'État-Major des Armées 'CEMA'' ) is the military head of the Armed Forces of the French Republic, ensuring the commandment of all military operations (under reserve of the particular dispositions ...

. Within the Defense staff, it is under the supervision of the Deputy Chief of Operations. The JSC: * 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 Composante Spatiale Optique (CSO; English: Optical Space Component) is a French military Earth observation satellite program of third generation. It replaces the Helios 2 satellites. It is sometimes referred to as the MUltinational Space-based ...

** 2 satellites Helios 2 ** 2 dual civil/military satellites

Pleiades The Pleiades (), also known as The Seven Sisters, Messier 45 and other names by different cultures, is an asterism and an open star cluster containing middle-aged, hot B-type stars in the north-west of the constellation Taurus. At a distance of ...

* Signal intelligence satellite; ** 4 satellites

ELISA The enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) (, ) is a commonly used analytical biochemistry assay, first described by Eva Engvall and Peter Perlmann in 1971. The assay uses a solid-phase type of enzyme immunoassay (EIA) to detect the presence ...

** 3 satellites

CERES Ceres most commonly refers to: * Ceres (dwarf planet), the largest asteroid * Ceres (mythology), the Roman goddess of agriculture Ceres may also refer to: Places Brazil * Ceres, Goiás, Brazil * Ceres Microregion, in north-central Goiás ...

* Satellite communication: ** 2 satellites Syracuse III ** 1 satellite Syracuse IV ** 1 satellite

Athena-Fidus Athena-Fidus (Access on theatres for European allied forces nations-French Italian dual use satellite) is a French-Italian telecommunication satellite providing high-throughput secure communications to both nation's armed forces and their emerge ...

** 1 satellite Sicral 2 * Space situation awareness: **

GRAVES A grave is a location where a dead body (typically that of a human, although sometimes that of an animal) is buried or interred after a funeral. Graves are usually located in special areas set aside for the purpose of burial, such as gravey ...

** SATAM In relation with its German and Italian partners, France can access SAR imagery, respectively

SAR-Lupe SAR-Lupe is Germany's first reconnaissance satellite system and is used for military purposes. SAR is an abbreviation for synthetic-aperture radar, and "Lupe" is German for magnifying glass. The SAR-Lupe program consists of five identical (770&nb ...

and

COSMO-SkyMed COSMO-SkyMed (COnstellation of small Satellites for the Mediterranean basin Observation) is an Earth-observation satellite space-based radar system funded by the Italian Ministry of Research and Ministry of Defence and conducted by the It ...

Commanders

The JSC was created in 2010. From that date, the JSC commanders are: *

General de division Divisional general is a general officer rank who commands an army division. The rank originates from the French (Revolutionary) System, and is used by a number of countries. The rank is above a brigade general, and normally below an army corps ...

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

Quelle strategie spatiale pour la France?
interview 16 March 2021 Commands of the French armed forces Joint military units and formations Space units and formations {{Space forces