The updating of the Strategic National Review, the content of which should be revealed in July, will give pride of place to the challenges related to space. This is indeed what President Macron hinted, this June 20, and what the projects suggest that the Ministry of the Armed Forces has just launched, on the occasion of the International Aeronautical and Le Bourget space.
Indeed, the General Directorate of Armament [DGA] notified the company EUTELSAT a framework agreement for the launch of the Nexus program [Neo-Espace pour de multiples Usages Sécurisés]which aims to complete, by means placed on a low orbit, the capacities offered by the military satellites of geostationary telecommunications Syracuse 4A and 4B.
A second contract was notified to the Greenerwaves company in order to provide the French forces with satellite antennas “particularly efficient and accessible”. This is the realization of a project launched by the Defense Innovation Agency [AID] In 2019. At the time, the objective was to develop new SATCOM Compacts terminals based on the properties of “reconfigurable metasurfaces”, which make it possible to control electromagnetic waves thanks to algorithms.
In terms of spatial surveillance, the DGA has attributed, on behalf of the space command [CdE]the Rivesalt market [Reconnaissance et Identification pour la Vigilance de l’Environnement Spatial à toutes les ALTitudes] to Aldoria society. No additional details were given on this program.
Another announced project: the optimization of the development of nanosatellites, through an industrial orientation note containing “several concrete measures” developed by the DGA.
Finally, defended for a long time by Éric Trappier, the CEO of Dassault Aviation and desired by the Air Force & Espace, the Vortex space plane project has been officially launched. This is indeed what announced [et justifié] Mr. Macron, on the occasion of his visit to the Bourget Fair.
“Our Europe must decide to become a spatial power, France being at the heart. And first [sur le plan] military. This implies endowing us with Europeans with space surveillance capacities, operations command, responsiveness, discouragement of the enemy, with greater resilience of our sovereign capacities. And on this, we were still talking about it yesterday with the minister [Sébastien Lecornu]the general delegate for armaments and the chief of staff of the armies, we must go even faster and stronger, “said the tenant of the Elysée first.
After mentioning the “revisit” of the military programming law [dont il donnera le détail le 13 juillet] And recalled that he considered Russia as an “existential threat” for Europeans, Mr. Macron supported the need to “set up the space investment” of defense.
“Again, we expect innovation and that is the whole meaning of the space plane project carried by Dassault [Aviation]baptized vortex [Véhicule Orbital Réutilisable de Transport et d’EXploration]. He has avant-garde possibilities for our defense. What was signed during this show is fundamental and it is, for me, an important advance, “said the head of state, without further details.
The Vortex project had been succinctly mentioned by Mr. Trappier, in the pages of the daily Le Figaro, on June 17. “It is ultimately a ‘space plane’, a inhabited vehicle, capable of maneuvering in space and returning to earth, a kind of space shuttle. […] We go there in stages, with a demonstrator that we will test in suborbital, then in orbital, then with a crew. We will need a very flexible little launcher to launch it, “he said after mentioning work carried out with the DGA and the National Center for Spatial Studies [CNES].
For the moment, the Ministry of the Armed Forces has not yet given details [calendrier, coûts, attentes] On this project … which, if it materializes, will provide France with an identical capacity to those implemented by the United States [avec le drone spatial X-37B] and China [avec le CSSHQ].
For the air force & space, such a machine would make it possible to place useful loads in orbit at lower costs, to recover objects, even maneuver around potentially hostile satellites.
For this project, Dassault Aviation intends to follow an “incremental innovation process aimed at initiating, adapting and accelerating the development of the capacities of space aircraft”. Four steps are planned: vortex d [démonstrateur à l’échelle 1/3]VORTEX S [« Smart Free Flyer » à l’échelle 2/3]VORTEX C [cargo] et VORTEX M [vol habité].
The Vortex D phase will aim to remove the risks “linked to the configuration of the space plane in the critical phases of a hypersonic back -to -school”, validate the principles of flight control and to test several key systems and new technologies.
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