Military Space Operations

"Military space operations encompass all activities carried out by or on behalf of the Ministry of the Armed Forces in, from and to space to guarantee the availability, monitoring, safety and security of national space capabilities and services or those of national interest, and thus preserve our freedom of assessment, access and action in this environment." - Defense space strategy (July 2019)

Military space operations (MSO) consist of operating space capabilities in support of government authorities and military operations, thus contributing to their effectiveness. They also include actions taken in space to protect our assets and prevent aggression. They contribute to the security of our national territory, the robustness of our economy and the protection of our populations.

Since its creation, the French Space Command has developed its ability to conduct military space operations and exercise operational control over the resources allocated to it. Bringing together the Armed Forces' space units withina Space Operations Air Brigade (BAOS), the CDE fulfills the missions of supporting national space capabilities, providing space support to operations, space situational awareness and action in space.

The Space Operations Command and Control Center (C3OS) is the operational command level for military space operations. It contributes to the planning and conduct of space operations, mainly in the fields of Space Domain Awareness (SDA) and action in space, in conjunction with the National Center of Space Studies (CNES), the Operations Planning and Management Center (CPCO), as well as tactical units, government and commercial operators and allies. It also has functional authority over tactical space units on CMOS and COSMOS. It has the secure communications resources required for national, interministerial and international operational dialogue.

C3OS

C3OS has secure communications systems for maintaining continuous operational dialogue in the national, interministerial and international domains. From C3OS, the French Space Command :

• establishes space situational awareness and carries out strategic-level operational analyses for the authorities, based on contributions from its units and partners;
• conducts national operations, usually in multinational cooperation - sensor alignment and analysis of space domain situations and space intelligence (RIS - “Renseignement d’Intérêt Spatial”);
• provides support to operations - space weather, GPS signal precision and satellite overpass prediction;
• contributes to broadcasting warnings of dangerous atmospheric entries.

CMOS

The Satellite Observation Military Center (CMOS) brings together all the military resources needed to implement space observation and eavesdropping from space. A unit of the French Space Command, based at Creil air base, the center receives its operational directives from the CDE, supplemented by those of the Military Intelligence Directorate (DRM).

As a service provider, CMOS meets the needs of accredited defense customers for images acquired by satellite systems. It is responsible for gathering requirements and for all image processing operations, apart from their exploitation. The DRM, as operational controller of the satellite payload, sets national priorities and prioritizes requests in collaboration with its foreign counterparts for satellites operated by France. CDE, as operational controller of satellite platforms, ensures satellite availability in conjunction with CNES.

CMOS guarantees access to space-based information (imaging, signals intelligence) to ensure processing of this information by the relevant users on the ground. For this purpose, CMOS:

• guarantees permanent access to space imaging for the French Ministry of the Armed Forces;
• maintains the links and transmits the data necessary to provide service between:
  • users located in France;
  • partner countries in MUSIS* (Germany, Belgium, Italy and Sweden), Cosmo-Skymed (Italy) and Sar-Lupe (Germany);
  • operation controllers for payloads (Directorate of Military Intelligence - DRM) and platforms (CDE) ;
  • satellite station-keeping centres.

COSMOS

The Operational Center for Military Surveillance of Space Objects (COSMOS) has been in existence since 2014. It has seen the nature of its missions evolve with the creation of the French Space Command in 2019. Thus, risky atmospheric re-entries, anti-collision service, space weather, and operations support products are no longer the only activities of COSMOS. Firmly committed to operations, and in line with current space activity, COSMOS is striving to make progress in the fields of proximity orbital encounters(RPO) in low earth orbit(LEO) and geostationary orbit(GEO), special launches and ASAT anti-missile launches.

The missions of COSMOS are to:

• establish, consolidate and maintain an autonomous space situational awareness centre;
• detect and analyze all space events that threaten France’s national interests, thereby contributing to the protection of France’s orbiting space assets and national territory;
• providing an operational alert capability in coordination with our allies;
• provide space-based support to operations.

DPOE

The Operational Readiness and Employment Division (DPOE) is responsible for French Space Command (CDE) matters concerning employment, doctrine, exercises and RETEX. As the main point of contact for other armies, directorates and services in its area of competence, the division also responds to various requests from BAOS and CDE.

LISA

The Defense Space Innovation Laboratory (LISA) was established in 2019 in the Aerospace Valley business and research cluster in Toulouse. Its mission is to drive innovation in the space domain and to promote the emergence of innovative solutions to meet the needs of the CDE and of France’s armed forces. The lab works in coordination with the French Defence Innovation Agency (AID), the Defence Procurement Agency (DGA), the National Centre for Space Studies (CNES) and the National Aerospace Lab (ONERA).