France today began the first-ever military training drills conducted in space. Begun, the star wars era has.
Working with US Space Force and German space command, the French training drills were designed in response to the shifting global attitude towards space.
According to French news outlet AFP, via Phys.Org, France’s Space Command was announced in 2019. Defense minister Florence Parly told reporters at the time that France needed to act because its “allies and adversaries” were “militarizing space.”
Background: The creation of the US’ Space Force amped up world tension – or, more aptly, it amped up off-world tensions. But it’s likely that alleged attempts by Russian agents to engage in satellite-vs-satellite espionage played a large role as well.
As for the current training program, details are scarce but reports indicate the intent of the drills will be to simulate a crisis situation involving French satellites and ensure Space Command is ready to respond.
While it’s unclear, we’re going to go ahead and assume there won’t be any French soldiers floating above the Earth with space rifles. That might make this a bit anticlimactic for science fiction fans, but the reality is that humanity’s penchant for warfare is no longer constrained to the rock from which we spawned.
Here’s hoping the rest of the universe is ready for us.