France Pursuing Space Weapons to Protect Satellites
takyon writes:
To protect its satellites, France outlines ambitious space-weapons program
After French President Emmanuel Macron called for a space high command to protect his nation's satellites earlier this month, military officials on Thursday released their plans in more detail.
As reported in the French financial newspaper Les Echos, the French Defense Minister, Florence Parly, outlined a new space weapons program that would allow the country to move from space surveillance to the active protection of its satellites.
"France is not embarking on a space arms race," Parly said, according to the publication. However, the projects outlined Thursday by French officials include swarms of nano-satellites that would patrol a few kilometers around French satellites, a ground-based laser system to blind snooping satellites, and perhaps even machine guns on board some satellites.
Parly said one of the country's biggest challenges would be to develop these capabilities with about one-tenth of the budget that the US spends on civil and defense space activities.
Troupes de espace marine.
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