- Sputnik International
World
Get the latest news from around the world, live coverage, off-beat stories, features and analysis.

‘Prime Strategic Interest’: France Poised to Invest in More Space Assets

© AFP 2023 / Jody AMIETA picture taken on December 17, 2015 shows a Soyuz rocket blasting off from the European space centre at Kourou, French Guiana
A picture taken on December 17, 2015 shows a Soyuz rocket blasting off from the European space centre at Kourou, French Guiana - Sputnik International
Subscribe
The French Defense Minister has called for increased financing to support surveillance in outer space, just three days after US President Donald Trump ordered the creation of a “Space Force” as the sixth branch of the US military.

"We must be able to invest more in space than we do today, so that we can monitor it and prevent it from becoming a theater for major confrontations," French Defense Minister Florence Parley said June 21.

A piece of draft legislation laying out France's military plan from 2019 to 2025 calls space an area of "prime strategic interest" and says that "in the face of increasing risks and threats, the continued strengthening of new space assets and the systems using them is needed," according to Reuters.

The French space program is the largest such program in Europe and one of the oldest space programs in the world.

RD-180 - Sputnik International
Russia to Deliver US New Rocket Engines As Trump Creates Space Force

On Monday, Trump announced that "We are going to have the Air Force, and we are going to have the Space Force," adding that the branches would be "separate but equal."

"It's going to be something. So important."

However, only the US Congress can directly create a new military service. In a letter addressing the president's idea, US Air Force leaders including Secretary Heather Wilson, Chief of Staff David Goldfein and Chief Master Sergeant Kaleth O Wright said that "we should not expect any immediate moves or changes."

Newsfeed
0
To participate in the discussion
log in or register
loader
Chats
Заголовок открываемого материала