(Bloomberg) -- France is increasing the funding of its military space procurement program by 19% to protect critical infrastructure from aggressors.
The government will add another 700 million euros ($780 million) by 2025 to its 3.6 billion euro space procurement program, Defense Minister Florency Parly said in a speech in Paris on Thursday. Weapons such as lasers will be used defensively to protect French assets, she said while unveiling the country's new military space policy.
Nanosatellites, which will patrol the skies and are designed to detect “unfriendly moves or hazardous debris,” will be launched from 2023, the minister said.
Read more: France Joins 21st Century Space Race Fearing Future Conflict (1)
France's “Space Command”, announced by President Emmanuel Macron earlier this month, will start operating on Sept. 1, Parly said. The project is meant to beef up the country's military presence in the Earth's outer atmosphere. It was meant as a nudge for the EU to accelerate its own space programs to compete with its geopolitical rivals.
The defense minster specifically called on Germany and Italy to join the space surveillance effort.
The moves come amid a growing push to militarize space. In March, India said it tested an anti-satellite missile. Last year, U.S. President Donald Trump said he wanted to create an American “Space Force” and Vice President Mike Pence called for “American dominance in space.”
And last September, officials in Paris said Russia sought to intercept secret communications when it flew a spy probe close to a European satellite.
To contact the reporter on this story: Helene Fouquet in Paris at hfouquet1@bloomberg.net
To contact the editors responsible for this story: Ben Sills at bsills@bloomberg.net, Caroline Alexander, Raymond Colitt
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