Space for Defense and a Sovereign Europe. Macron’s “Dual” Plan

The French president outlines a strategy for a France less dependent on non-EU services: new funds, a push toward the use of Made-in-Europe launchers, and the abandonment of geographic return within Esa.

BY EMILIO COZZI

“Today’s war is already being fought in space, and tomorrow’s war will begin in space. Let us prepare.”
These are forceful words spoken a few days ago by President Emmanuel Macron during the inauguration of the Space Command Operations Center in Toulouse. They summarize all the points on which French space policy will focus in the coming years. And without any panegyrics, they evoke a “fragile” European space, “attacked by those who would like to fragment it to prevent us from being stronger together.” It is a significant speech also because it was delivered just days before the European Space Agency (ESA) Ministerial Council, with a call to prioritize Made-in-Europe technologies and to abandon the so-called “geographical return” mechanism.

A “Brutalized” Space

In just over half an hour, Macron used the adjective “dual” no fewer than nine times: space technologies and infrastructures are, today in particular, crucial assets for both civilian and military services (just think of the Galileo positioning and navigation system).

The boundary is more blurred than ever; the environment itself, space, is no longer “a sanctuary, it has become a battlefield”, where every structure can be a fortress, every channel a trench.

To address the situation, as part of the update to the military programming law, Macron announced additional funding for space: €4.2 billion for the period 2026 to 2030, on top of what was already planned; as well as “funds for dual-use activities totaling over €16 billion by 2030, excluding purely military activities”.

Investments will be divided between a portion reserved for national sovereignty, European cooperation programs through Esa, and those led by the Union. “I have asked CNES [the French National Centre for Space Studies, i.e., the French space agency] to come closer to its German and Italian counterparts to build a shared vision of Europe’s place on the world space powers map by 2035,” Macron said, later announcing a summit in April 2026 with astronaut Thomas Pesquet and entrepreneur and founder of The Exploration Company, Hélène Huby, as keynote witnesses.

The French president openly mentioned a “brutalization” of space: “Some powers,” he said, “have multiplied up there irresponsible, illegal, even hostile actions: espionage, for example by Russia, against our satellites by patrol ships; massive GPS signal interference; cyberattacks on our space infrastructures; anti-satellite missile tests; the development of anti-satellite weapons with area effects against constellations; and even the particularly shocking Russian threat of nuclear weapons in space”.

Macron referred to directed energy weapons and all those attacks that threaten France’s sovereign independence. “Today, our ability to act […] in the space sector […] is essential if we want to maintain our autonomy to communicate, to observe, to preserve control over climate monitoring, to continue being able to act and defend ourselves. It is indispensable to make structural decisions today or implement those we have made in the past”.

Nevertheless, Macron upheld the principle enshrined in the 1967 Outer Space Treaty, advocating for the peaceful use of outer space; he also cited the 2022 moratorium on anti-satellite missile launches.

France does not ignore the urgency of concrete actions: by 2030, the Aurora radar is expected to be operational, while from 2027 new satellites, Orbit Guard and Toutatis, will monitor, inspect, and, if necessary, counter threats in orbit. The country also aims to develop offensive space capabilities through lasers and jammers, with advanced warning systems in collaboration with Germany through the Jewel program, tasked with detecting missiles launched toward European territory from space.

Autonomous Access to Orbit

Macron has outlined five pillars on which to build France’s immediate future space strategy.
The first is access to space: “Ensure the maintenance and development of our launch base, the Guiana Space Center, and mastery of our launchers, with Ariane today and our future vehicles tomorrow […] the main levers of our autonomous access.” The objective implies increasing the competitiveness and launch cadence of Ariane 6, to counter those who have captured a large part of the market. While not explicitly named, the reference is to SpaceX, which continues to provide Europe with space transport services even for strategic assets. Just recently, Elon Musk’s company launched Sentinel 6B into orbit, part of the European Copernicus constellation.

“If some private actors may seem appealing […] it is because they have been massively supported by public action programs, military or commercial, and had exclusivity in institutional launches,” Macron simplifies, referring to SpaceX without naming it. “If Europeans act differently, there is no chance that their actors will be competitive in the commercial market. So, everyone behind Ariane 6 and future programs. This means developing future vehicles around reusability, low-cost propulsion, high-thrust engines […] It also means modernizing the Kourou base to make it an agile site, open to small launchers and foreign partners.”

More Competitiveness, No to Geographical Return

Improving competitiveness, according to Macron, means rethinking a sector “from start to finish,” without opposing established paradigms and historical actors to the new space sector. This is the second pillar of the strategy, consisting of industry and expertise. Areas in which French difficulties are evident, particularly Thales and Airbus. For this reason, Macron said, “The industrial and commercial model must be rethought from start to finish, from the construction of launchers and satellites to connectivity, up to the digital services of the future. It must be rethought to fit into the global market, both commercially and technologically. The ecosystem must form a national team even more, learning to associate what we have called the new space actors with historical actors, without opposing them in any way.”

The third pillar is Defense, followed by science and exploration. “To understand global warming – the framework for many programs initiated by CNES, in collaboration with other agencies and operators, at a time when some are stepping back – to understand the origin of the universe and many other key elements, space research programs are essential […] at a time when reason, science, and the rules of democratic debate are being attacked,” and while “some cut programs when research topics do not suit them.”

According to Macron, it is necessary to become more “proactive”; “in terms of exploration, we must also take a more offensive approach, assume that we are searching for new critical resources for the future of humanity, develop cargo ships, or even orbital manufacturing. This too is a theater of innovation, a production theater with enormous industrial opportunities in a much shorter term than commonly thought.”

In the industrial field, Macron emphasized a point that will very likely be addressed in the next Ministerial: geographical return, that is, the Esa obligation to invest in the industrial ecosystems of individual member states an amount equal to each country’s contribution. “We must abandon the mechanism of geographical return in competitive markets; it had its justification and usefulness at one time, but now we must turn the page. There is no possibility of building competitive European actors if, through our regulations and program structure, we prevent them from being efficient; or if a launcher has to cross the border five or six times to be produced, while its American competitors do everything in one place.” This is the same hope Mario Draghi expressed a year ago in his report on European competitiveness.

The Fifth Pillar is Cooperation: primarily with other European states, but without forgetting “India, Japan, the United States, or the United Arab Emirates, which will continue to play a key role alongside us.” There are no longer three or four major government actors, Macron said, “competition is now much broader, involving emerging powers as well as private companies that accelerate and create dependencies.”

European Champions for Sovereignty

The occupant of the Élysée Palace also mentioned “the merger of our three European satellite companies: Thales Alenia Space, ADS, and Telespazio” (simplifying, he is talking about the creation of Bromo, involving Thales, Airbus, and Leonardo), to create “a new champion in the space field.” “We will commit,” he promised, “to ensure that, at the European level, this decisive movement is encouraged. Because it allows the creation of critical mass, reduces internal competition, and moves forward.”

Among European “champions,” he did not forget to mention Eutelsat, “which must serve Europe” – to challenge the competition from SpaceX and Amazon in communications – as well as the public constellation Iris2, “a necessary program for our citizens, our armies, and our European nations. We must make this project a success, and for this, we must simplify it, accelerate it to provide connectivity services needed for all of Europe before the end of the decade, and imagine intermediate phases to reach this goal.”

A program to be implemented according to the “European preference” paradigm, which he assured, “is not protectionism.” “Would we be so naive as to think that while the Chinese may have exclusive access to Chinese products, and the Americans a clear and deliberate preference for American products, Europe should ultimately be the only actor in play so simple as to sometimes favor others? […] If we want an efficient and developing industrial ecosystem, we must start by dedicating […] the entire institutional market to it, without exceptions.”

For this reason, it is necessary to grow industry with European means and public procurement even when others have more advanced technologies. Independence is at stake: “If these investments were to translate into purchases of ready-made American solutions, I am not sure that we would collectively advance toward a more sovereign European space sector.”

Ambitions are to be realized together with privileged partners. Macron mentioned those with whom collaboration is closest: Germany (with Airbus), Italy (with Thales Alenia Space), the European Commissioner (Andrius Kubilius), and Esa.
To realize the overall vision, “the European Union must assume its role and lead space policy by drawing on existing resources and technical expertise. Without ambitious, clear, and demanding political leadership, this path will be impossible.” Unfortunately, Europe is historically most fragile on this last point.