Dear All, This might be of interest to you in light of latest email train. Best, Theresa 4: US AND FRANCE AGREE THAT SPACE SURVEILLANCE IS A TOP PRIORITY US and French armed-forces officials agreed that a capacity to survey what is going on in Earth orbit is a high priority for their nations. "It's just as important as building space-based military assets". The June 29 debate at France's Ecole Militaire to celebrate the 70th anniversary of the French air force highlighted the different logics that guide France, which is Europe's biggest space power, and the United States, whose military space program is at least 10 times as big as Europe's. French air force Commander Christophe Morand said that France would continue to work through the United Nations to secure Antarctic-type protected status for space that would forbid weapons from being stationed. On a parallel track, France is urging its European partners to invest in a space-surveillance system to assure that no one is violating the expected UN treaty. The current French ground-based GRAVES radar is only the first element of a larger hoped-to-be European system. General Darnell, commander of the Space Warfare Center at Schriever Air Force Base in Colorado said that the US couldn't assume anymore that whenever there is a problem in orbit, it is a malfunction. "Space situation awareness is our first priority". France is concerned about falling too far behind the US in the development of military-space capabilities. "It is not healthy to have such a large gap in capabilities among allies. And of course, the French have always been concerned about preserving their strategic autonomy". [Space News 05/07/2004] Theresa Hitchens Vice President Center for Defense Information 1779 Massachusetts Ave., NW Washington, DC 20036 Tel: 202-797-5269; Fax: 202-462-4559 thitchens@cdi.org ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Subscribe/Unsubscribe info, Frequently Asked Questions, SeeSat-L archive: http://www.satobs.org/seesat/seesatindex.html
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