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France’s Minister of Defence wants to put lasers on its satellites by 2030

Earlier this month French president Emmanuel Macron announced the country’s plan to create its own Space Command, akin to US president Donald Trump’s Space Force.

Now it looks like France is trying to one better than its American counterparts, with the country’s minister of defence, Florence Parly, explaining that France wanted to arm its satellites with guns and lasers as part of the Space Command project by 2030.

Yes you read that correctly, with Le Point reporting that Parly’s project would reallocate €700 million of France’s military budget for the defence of its assets in orbiting the planet. In particular France would be looking to upgrade its network of military satellites, with Parly adding that they will have cameras capable of identifying enemies, as well as the necessary firepower to attack and disable other satellites.

Given how crowded Earth’s atmosphere currently is with all the objects orbiting it, a desire to ensure the safety of one’s own assets makes a lot of sense. Shooting down the satellites of other countries, however, does not, and it’s unclear if France would have the authority to do so.

Also unclear is whether she will be able to get such an ambitious plan ready by 2030, especially if the next change of government does not have the same desire to patrol the planet’s orbit.

Either way it would not surprise us if the United States makes a similar announcement in coming weeks.

[Image – Photo by NASA on Unsplash]

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