U.S., France Jointly Demonstrate Rendezvous And Proximity Ops

COLORADO SPRINGS—The U.S. and French militaries recently conducted a “first-ever” bilateral rendezvous and proximity operation in space, U.S. Space Command’s commander, Gen. Stephen Whiting, said April 8.

The operation demonstrated the allies’ “combined capabilities in space, in the vicinity of a strategic competitor spacecraft,” Whiting said at the Space Foundation’s annual Space Symposium here.

The operation was separate from the recent French-led ASTERx exercise, the French Air and Space Force’s commander, Maj. Gen. Philippe Adam, told Aviation Week. He declined to share additional details about the bilateral operation.

In-space maneuvering technologies are “essential to the missions we have” in the French military, Adam said. The service is looking at off-the-shelf commercial products that would require minimal modifications for military use, he said.

U.S. Space Command has spent the past year “working to operationalize our relationships in space with our most capable allies,” Whiting said. The command’s multinational force Operation Olympic Defender (OOD) has reached initial operating capability, he noted. That initiative was stood up in 2013 to optimize space operations, improve mission assurance, enhance resilience and synchronize U.S. efforts with close allies.

OOD now counts the U.S. and six partner-nations, with the recent addition of France, Germany and New Zealand, Whiting said during his keynote address. Australia, Canada and the UK are also members. All six partner nations now have a liaison officer sitting at U.S. Space Command headquarters at Peterson SFB, Colorado, Whiting said.

Together, the partners are conceptualizing requirements and have created a space domain-awareness concept of operations, he said. The collective plans to publish its “first-ever” campaign plan this week, Whiting said.