Making space the key to security and defence capabilities in Europe: What needs to be done

The utility of an increasing variety of space technologies to security and military operations is now well accepted and is encouraging the USA to pursue a policy of space dominance. While Europe's capabilities in this field-especially those of France and the UK-are not negligible, they are far from complete and are highly uneven at continent level. Such unevenness must now urgently be addressed and agreement reached on the core function of the space segment for security and defence if Europe is to have any hope of acting as senior partner in operations led in coalition. A recent French examination of the issues advocates that each country clarify those areas it will pursue nationally and those (e.g. environment/security data relay) where it will cooperate. Such cooperation must grow, as should the use of civilian (dual-use) assets. None of this will happen without strong political will and budgetary support. The latter will require innovative funding measures such as PFI.