Macron plots EU space army to take on China and Russia in new defence strategy

Macron tries to make the party seem more palatable says professor

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It comes after France took over the presidency of the EU Council on January 1. High on Mr Macron’s agenda appears to be both China and Russia’s influence in space. He announced last night that he would host a meeting on Europe’s space strategy next month with EU ministers.

He told Le Parisien: “I will make announcements about our strategy.”

It comes three years after the US former US President Donald Trump officially launched the US Space Force.

Since then, many other countries – including France, Russia, China and the UK – have launched similar entities.

They aim to protect nation’s assets in space, conduct military operations and, if necessary, engage in space warfare.

Mr Macron’s call for an EU-wide strategy on space comes as Beijing and Moscow have ramped up activities in space.

They have both recently conducted military drills, including the launching of missiles, which have put the lives of astronauts in danger.

More concerning, Vladimir Putin and Xi Jinping have stuck an anti-NATO agreement to cooperate in space for five years.

The pair will sign the new space ‘Cooperation Program’ next year and it will run from 2023 to 2027.

It will reportedly include a plan to create an International Lunar Research Station (ILRS) by 2035.

It will also include plans to support the development of the ground segment of the two countries’ national satellite systems.

This will come through Russia’s GLONASS and China’s BeiDou Navigation Satellite System (BDS, the Global Times reported.

It will see Russia’s Roscosmos and the China National Space Agency (CNSA) work together for years to come.

Meanwhile, the US Space Force has installed a new radar system that it says will be able to detect objects the size of baseballs in orbit.

The huge system, dubbed the Long Range Discrimination Radar (LRDR), has reportedly been installed at the Clear Space Force Base near Fairbanks, Alaska.

It will support the US missile defence system and provide precise data on its adversaries.

The decision marks a significant milestone for the work of the US Space Command and the developing arms race in space.

It comes after Russia’ deputy foreign minister compared the tensions on the Ukraine border to the Cuban Missile Crisis – a time where the world came the closest to nuclear war.

But it also comes after Russia caught the US off-guard with an anti-satellite (ASAT) test.

The Russian military destroyed a defunct satellite on November 15.

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It was blasted into more than 1,500 pieces and caused astronauts on board the ISS to have to shelter.

The test drew widespread condemnation from U.S. officials, which Russian officials responded by calling “hypocritical” given past American military tests in space.

To date, four countries – the US, Russia, China, and India – have previously destroyed their own satellites in ASAT tests.

The Pentagon has now called for a global halt to ASAT weapon tests.

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