France plans to develop anti-satellite laser weapons, its defense minister said Thursday, setting out French ambitions to bridge the gap with rivals developing new weapons and surveillance capabilities in space. The United States, Russia, and China have invested heavily in space technology that is seen as the new military frontier. The ability to detect and potentially destroy or cripple spy satellites is considered a key skill.
“When our satellites are threatened, we want to blind our opponents,” said Defense Minister Florence Parly. “We reserve the right and the means to respond. This could mean the use of powerful lasers deployed by our satellites or by patrolling nanosatellites.” It is estimated that around 2,000 active satellites are currently orbiting the earth, mainly for relaying commercial and military communications, but also for weather tracking and espionage.
“We will develop powerful lasers,” said Parly during a speech at an air base outside the city of Lyon. “It’s an area where France has fallen behind. But we will catch up. “Other weapon capabilities could include machine guns capable of shooting down the solar panels of enemy satellites to disable them, a government source said on condition of anonymity. Experts say the United States, Russia, China, and India are capable of destroying enemy satellites using rockets launched from Earth and likely targeted collisions as well.
A NATO military alliance official told AFP last month that there was no known use of space-based weapons in orbit, but concerns about “more aggressive behavior” from China and Russia were growing. “Our allies and adversaries are militarizing space … we have to act,” Parly said during her speech, adding that the first capabilities of their strategy should be ready by 2025 and completed by 2030. Last September, Parly accused a Russian satellite called Luch Olymp is attempting to spy on the French satellite Athena-Fidus.
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