Massive expansion in the largest space ecosystem in Europe

The French Space Command (Commandement de l'Espace - CDE) has expanded rapidly since its creation in 2019. Staff numbers are increasing every year and are expected to reach a total of approximately 500 people. The CDE is progressively setting up its base in close proximity to the Toulouse Space Centre (CST) of CNES, at the heart of the biggest space ecosystem in Europe, in order to develop synergies with CNES teams, in a dynamic environment of skills transfer and accelerated concentration of expertise, especially in the fields of defence satellite control, space surveillance and space operations. The CDE facilities, which will be delivered in 2025, will be both a visible expression of France’s ambitions and a key operational resource built around ASTREOS, the new Military Space Operations Command and Control Centre. The new infrastructure will also include the Military Space Operations Training Centre (CFOSM) and the French Armed Forces Space Innovation Laboratory (LISA). The NATO Space Centre of Excellence (COE), an international military organisation that NATO has entrusted to France, will also be located in immediate vicinity of the CDE, thereby creating opportunities for synergy between the two organisations.

Reinforced space cooperation with foreign partners

In a domain that is global by its very nature, multilateral and bilateral cooperation are not only central to operational effectiveness and resilience but also vital for augmenting France’s military capabilities in space, improving our knowledge of an increasingly complex, densely populated and contested space environment and responding to current and future challenges.

At bilateral level, the CDE is developing cooperation with numerous partners and allies spanning from the United States to Japan, and encompassing several European countries, the United Arab Emirates and South Korea. The most recent letter of intent was signed with India in January 2024. Four liaison officers (from Germany, US, Spain and Italy) are also based at the CDE.

In 2020, France, together with Germany, joined the multilateral Combined Space Operations (CSpO) initiative, which brings together the United States, United Kingdom, Canada, Australia and New Zealand, and, since 2023, Italy, Japan and Norway. This unique forum provides an opportunity to exchange views on the political, legal, capability-related and operational challenges of space operations. The aim is to establish the ability, in a multi-domain context, to coordinate allied capabilities, augment their resilience, guarantee free access to space and protect space-based assets. France fully supports the EU Space Strategy for Security and Defence, which it upheld during its presidency, together with NATO’s vision of space as the 5th operational domain. Moreover, France is the host nation of NATO’s Space Centre of Excellence (COE) 

Generating the skills for the new military space professions

One priority of France’s Space Defence Strategy is to generate the necessary expertise in the Ministry of the Armed Forces, to attract talents and to provide them with specially tailored training. Since the creation of the CDE, skills generation has been based on:

• general training (“space courses”), created and organised by the CDE for the personnel of the Ministry but also for other external ministries and institutions (Centre National d'Etudes Spatiales, Office National d'Études et de Recherches Aérospatiales, etc.). These courses comprise three independent training formats tailored to the functional level of the participants (basic, advanced and strategic) and provide a 360° view of the specific space defence challenges. Every year, over a hundred people attend these courses, and the number of participants is constantly increasing. An English course is also provided for international partners;
• recruitment of young specialists with at least a specialized master’s degree in the space domain;
• specialised advanced certification courses in space studies at France’s top scientific and technological schools (“grandes écoles:”) for officers in mid-career who already hold a postgraduate diploma (“M2” masters or engineer), as preparation for taking up positions as space programme officers;
• transfers of operational and technical skills by the CNES to establish the core of the future leadership capability for military space operations and to provide suitably qualified personnel for the future Military Space Operations Command and Control Centre. Feedback from these first training modules is vital for improving and optimising the curricula, identifying the new professions, requisite skills and available resources and for training our future experts;
• internships, organised in partnership with major industrial, institutional and academic players in the space domain (in France and abroad).

The Training Centre for Military Space Operations (CFOSM) in Toulouse, located in close geographical proximity to the key operational organisations, is the entity of the CDE responsible for generating expertise in the operational aspects of space defence. It contributes to creating the professional training curricula of the personnel assigned to the CDE. It also contributes to the training programmes provided by the Space Defence Academy, of which the CDE is one of the partner members.

Operational preparation based on national and international exercises

The development of expertise in the space domain will include military exercises designed to train operational personnel in the full spectrum of military space operations, from the tactical to the strategic level. Four exercises in particular will contribute to this: 

• AsterX: a major operational and tactical exercise organised annually by France after its first edition in 2021. The space assets, operating procedures and systems deployed by the operators are stress-tested with the aim of training the units of the CDE in military space operations in a realistic simulated environment The exercise also provides an opportunity for developing cooperation with international partners and private industry.
• Schriever Wargame: a multinational political and strategic exercise, projected 10 years into the future;
• Global Sentinel:  a multinational tactical and operational exercise dedicated to space surveillance;
• Sprint Advanced Concept Training: a multi-year joint civilian and military exercise designed to boost the development of space surveillance technology in a highly competitive environment, with approximately fifty commercial operators, including operators from France. 

The CDE also regularly takes part in exercises organised by the other branches and commands of the armed forces to provide space support in the planning and control of operations.