FRENCH President Emmanuel Macron said Saturday he had approved the creation of a space command within the French air force to improve the country’s defense capabilities.

Addressing military personnel a day before the Bastille Day parade, Macron said the new military doctrine setting up a space command would strengthen protection of French satellites.

He said the investment involved had yet to be determined.

“To give substance to this doctrine and ensure the development and reinforcement of our space capabilities, a space command will be created next September in the air force,” Macron said.

French Defense Minister Florence Parly said last year she was committed to giving France strategic space autonomy in the face of growing threats from other powers amid a race in space militarization.

The North Atlantic Treaty Organization aims to recognize space as a domain of warfare this year, senior diplomats said in June.

U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration announced a plan last year to create a new “Space Force” as the sixth branch of the military by 2020.

The Air Force, Macron said, will eventually be renamed as Space and Air Force.

It appears as though this new command will replace France’s existing Joint Space Command, which is already responsible for France’s existing space assets, and coordinating with the militaries of other European nations.

While it has the third-oldest space agency, France has begun to focus more on space in recent years.

According to Breaking Defense, the country plans to spend 3.6 billion euros (US$4.06 billion) between now and 2025, and in December 2018, it launched a new military reconnaissance satellite, the CS0-1, with more to follow in the coming years.

In recent years, a number of countries have begun to recognize space as a distinct “domain” of warfare — a distinct location or concept where warfare can take place, such as on land, sea, air, or space, or within digital systems. This command appears to be France’s answer to addressing the problems that space-borne military infrastructure potentially brings.

(SD-Agencies)