France conducts first military exercises in space
- Posted By
10Pointer
- Categories
World Affairs
- Published
13th Mar, 2021
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Context
The French military carried out drills to test the capabilities of its Space Command in tackling threats to its satellites.
Background
About the exercise in space
- A defense exercise: During the drill, the French military will monitor a potentially dangerous space object as well as a threat to its own satellite from another foreign power possessing a considerable space force.
- France also planned to develop anti-satellite laser weapons and to strengthen surveillance capabilities in an area that it believes could become a major theater of confrontation between powers on Earth.
- Cooperation:The new US Space Force and German space agencies are taking part in the French exercises.
- Potential threats:In 2017, a Russian “spy-satellite” had tried to approach a Franco-Italian satellite in what Paris called “an act of espionage.”
India and space
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- ASAT:On March 27, 2019, India had become the fourth country to conduct an anti-satellite (ASAT) missile test (after the United States, Russia, and China).
- In 2019 India conducted a test of the ASAT missile making it the fourth country with that capability. In April 2019, the Indian government established the Defence Space Agency or DSA.
- India reportedly adapted its missile defense interceptor, the Prithvi Defense Vehicle Mark-II into an ASAT weapon, making it the third country to demonstrate the capability for a direct-ascent kinetic kill.
- Mission Shakti: Under the “Mission Shakti”, the test entailed launching a ballistic missile into outer space to destroy an Indian satellite located about 300 kilometers above the earth’s surface, in low earth orbit (LEO).
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