Macron launches space command to rival Trump as cosmic ‘arms race’ looms

New unit announced a year after US president raised fears of creeping militarisation of void beyond Earth

A rocket lifts off carrying satellites from the European Space Center in French Guiana (Getty)

Emmanuel Macron has approved the creation of a space command within the French air force to improve the country’s defence capabilities.

The new unit is likely to be seen as rivalling a similar one being set up by Donald Trump and another step towards a creeping arms race in space. The two leaders have clashed in recent months despite previous good relations and macho back-slapping during the French president’s state visit to Washington.

Addressing military personnel a day before a Bastille Day parade, Mr Macron said the new military doctrine setting up a space command would strengthen protection of French satellites.

In 2017, Paris said it suspected Russia was trying to intercept secret communications when it flew a spy probe close to a European satellite 22,000 miles above the Earth.

“To give substance to this doctrine and ensure the development and reinforcement of our space capabilities, a space command will be created next September in the air force,” Mr Macron said, adding that it would later become the Space and Air Force.

Russia previously warned of an “arms race” in space when Mr Trump announced a new missile defence strategy involving orbiting sensors, accusing Washington of attempting to resurrect Ronald Reagan’s “Star Wars” plan.

Russia and China have proposed an international treaty that would ban space-based weapons.

The French military spending programme for 2019 to 2025 has earmarked €3.6bn (£3.23bn) for investments and renewal of French satellites.

Florence Parly, the French defence minister, said last year she was committed to giving the country strategic space autonomy in the face of growing threats from other powers amid a race in space militarisation.

Mr Trump said when he announced the US initiative last June: “It is not enough to merely have an American presence in space. We must have American dominance in space.”

He also promised that the US would return Americans to the Moon and would eventually send people to Mars.

His comments raised fears of an arms race in space, with the Russian foreign ministry warning of a space arms race that could be more intense than the 20th-century rush to develop nuclear weapons.

The US and Russia are both members of the 1967 Outer Space Treaty, which bans nuclear weapons from space and restricts use of the Moon to peaceful purposes.

In response to Mr Trump, Ms Parly said France should invest more in surveillance of outer space to ensure war never breaks out there.

Nato aims to recognise space as a domain of warfare this year, senior diplomats told Reuters last month.