Ensuring territorial security and maintaining peace is one of the French Air Force's primary missions. Today, threats from the air are numerous. The wars in Ukraine, the Near East and the Middle East or the Houthi attacks in the Red Sea highlight the massive and indiscriminate use of aerial vectors of all sizes. Technological advances have made it increasingly difficult to detect and neutralise them. "The first difficulty? Speed. The slowest targets fly at a few hundred kilometres per hour, while the fastest, such as ballistic missiles or gliders, arrive at several kilometres per second," explains Christophe Cabaj, Armament Design and Techniques Senior Engineer and Ground-to-Air Defence Capability Architect at the French Defence Procurement Agency.

"Secondly, the altitude [zone] to be monitored and [in which to carry out interceptions] is very wide. These devices [which constitute a threat] can fly at very low altitude or at several tens of kilometres high, or even in exo-atmospheric flight [also known as very high altitude]. Finally, the latter, stealthier, ones can jam and decoy our defences," says the engineer.

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To face this, the French Air Force monitors the aerial situation every day, providing instantaneous information over French territory. The service members identify the 12,000 planes and other aircraft that daily transit through French airspace. At the slightest anomaly in the flight plan or in the behaviour of an aircraft, the airmen react: from assisting a pilot in difficulty to coercive measures, this is the permanent air security mission.

As the Paris 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games have shown, major international events greatly increase the risks and aerial threats. In response, special security systems are deployed, also known as air protection bubbles. "Our surveillance, detection and response capabilities are strengthened, as is our radar network. The number of fighter and surveillance aircraft, as well as helicopters, was increased and supplemented by ground-to-air defence systems", explains Wing Commander Jérémy Gueye, deputy ground-air defence officer to the general commanding the fighter group. These protection bubbles are also designed to detect drones, a very significant threat given the easy availability of these devices on the market and their limited cost. These devices could then fly over areas open to the public with a risk of falling, spy on sensitive sites or transport and drop explosive charges. The threats affect both the civilian and military spheres. The anti-drone fight is taken into account by various inter-ministerial bodies, coordinated by the French Air Force.

Space defence

Reacting to hostile acts in space is a challenge that has become a reality, with the attempted espionage of the Russian Louch-Olymp satellite in 2017. Launched three years earlier, it had drifted to position itself close to a Franco-Italian military satellite for three months. The then French Defence Minister at the time, Florence Parly thus declared: "Trying to listen to your neighbours is not just unfriendly. It's an act of espionage". This statement gave birth to the Space Defence Strategy in 2019, and the Space Command (CDE) within the French Air and Space Force. Five years on, "the threats have increased: jamming of communication satellites, cyber actions, development of anti-satellite systems", says Air Vice-Marshal Philippe Adam, Space Commander.

Faced with new threats, the CDE continues to grow in strength. A major milestone will be reached in 2025 with the inauguration of its new headquarters in Toulouse. The building is expected to accommodate around 500 people by 2030, representing a 40% increase in staff numbers compared to 2019. This site will become the central body of the space combat system that France is currently equipping itself with. In the short term, the CDE will be equipped with a real active defence capability in space. This will take shape with the geostationary orbit of the Yoda demonstrator¹ . Its primary mission will be to explore methods of protecting our military satellites from space. "This is an experimental programme that will be followed by the Egide system² , its operational version", explains the space commander. Also noteworhty is the announcement, on 17 September 2024, of the new demonstrator of action in Low Earth orbit. Its name: Toutatis³ . More generally, the aim of these first patrolling-watcher satellites is to give France a capacity for action in space. The goal is the ability to monitor space from space, to detect a suspicious act or aggression and intervene if necessary. Discouragement will be at the heart of the future system, which will be closely coordinated with our partners, as demonstrated, among other things, by France’s joining of the American Olympic Defender operation in 2024.⁴

¹ Eyes in orbit for an agile demonstrator.

² Geoderivative intervention and discouragement device.

³ In-orbit test of the use of action techniques against attempts at space interference.

⁴ Permanent military operation launched by the United States in 2013 to strengthen operational cooperation in the space domain.

The armed forces are also counting on Ariane 6 (the European Space Agency's new launcher¹), to regain sovereign access to space. The third and final satellite of the CSO² programme should therefore be put into orbit during the next launch. It will notably provide significantly enhanced observation capabilities. As a reminder, the last five years have seen the renewal of our three major classes of military satellites, namely Ceres, Syracuse and CSO.

¹ Intergovernmental Space Agency, created in 1975 and now comprising 22 Member States.

² Optical spatial component.

Laura Garrigou with EV1 Antoine Falcon de Longevialle