{"id":29736,"date":"2018-09-07T20:41:04","date_gmt":"2018-09-07T20:41:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/c4isrnet\/uncategorized\/2018\/09\/07\/espionage-french-defense-head-charges-russia-of-dangerous-games-in-space\/"},"modified":"2026-08-07T23:39:46","modified_gmt":"2026-08-07T23:39:46","slug":"espionage-french-defense-head-charges-russia-of-dangerous-games-in-space","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/c4isrnet\/c2-comms\/satellites\/2018\/09\/07\/espionage-french-defense-head-charges-russia-of-dangerous-games-in-space\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Espionage:&#8217; French defense head charges Russia of dangerous games in space"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">PARIS \u2014 A mysterious Russian satellite \u201cwith big ears\u201d cozied up to a French communications satellite last year in an <a href=\"https:\/\/www.defensenews.com\/space\/2018\/01\/26\/foreign-governments-are-approaching-french-satellites-in-orbit-says-space-commander\/\" target=\"_blank\">apparent effort to eavesdrop on secure military communications<\/a>, France\u2019s defense minister alleged Friday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In what she said amounted to a \u201cStar Wars\u201d above the Earth, Florence Parly named the Russian satellite as Luch-Olymp. She said it approached the Athena-Fidus, a French-Italian satellite launched in 2014 and used for secure military communications and the planning of operations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cTrying to listen to one\u2019s neighbor is not only unfriendly. It\u2019s called an act of espionage,\u201d Parly said in a speech in the southern city of Toulouse.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cIt got close. A bit too close. So close that one really could believe that it was trying to capture our communications.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">She added that \u201cthis little Stars Wars didn\u2019t happen a long time ago in a galaxy far away. It happened a year ago, 36,000 kilometers above our heads.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">She said the Russian satellite has \u201cbig ears\u201d and is \u201cwell-known but a bit indiscreet.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Without giving details, she said France had taken \u201cthe necessary measures\u201d and is watching the satellite attentively.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The Luch system has been a focus of space observers for several years. In the past, the family of Russian satellites has been tracked moving into position near several U.S. commercial systems. Experts described those maneuvers as unsafe and out of line with established norms, with some questioning whether the system could be used to spy on transmissions \u2013 or to strike at vital U.S. equipment in case of conflict.<\/p>\n\n\n\t<aside class=\"smg-interstitial-link wp-block-smg-interstitial-link\">\n\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/c4isrnet\/c2-comms\/satellites\/2018\/08\/14\/state-department-concerned-over-russian-satellites-behavior\/\" class=\"smg-interstitial-link__inner\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"smg-interstitial-link__media\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"300\" height=\"200\" src=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/un-building.jpg.jpg?w=300\" class=\"smg-interstitial-link__image wp-post-image\" alt=\"\" \/>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"smg-interstitial-link__content\">\n\t\t\t\t<span class=\"smg-interstitial-link__kicker\">Related<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t<h3 class=\"smg-interstitial-link__title\">State Department concerned over Russian satellite\u2019s behavior<\/h3>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p class=\"smg-interstitial-link__excerpt\">A Russian satellite made a series of maneuvers in October 2017 that was \u201cinconsistent&quot; with its expected behavior and marks \u201ca very troubling development,\u201d a top U.S. diplomat said during a speech Aug. 14.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/a>\n\t<\/aside>\n\t\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The public nature of Parly\u2019s comments are in contrast to the traditional silence from Western governments about operations and potential conflicts in space. But they come a month after a top U.S. diplomat raised eyebrows when discussing a Russian system that was \u201cinconsistent\u201d with its stated mission and said an October 2017 incident was a \u201cvery troubling development.&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">While she did not mention the satellite by name, observers speculated the satellite may be one of a series of Russian satellites launched June 23, 2017. In August 23, 2017, the Russian Ministry of Defense issued a press release that said \u201cToday, a small-sized spacecraft has separated from the space platform in order to inspect condition of the Russian satellite.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Speaking Friday at a Defense Writer\u2019s Group event in Washington, another diplomat, Andrea Thompson, Undersecretary of State for arms control and international security, echoed the French concerns.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cYeah, we\u2019re concerned, not only with Russia but with other countries on the use of\u201d such systems, Thompson said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cWe did a lot of work to get that tear-line, did a lot of work to get that information to a level we could share that publicly,\u201d she added. \u201cSo we\u2019ll continue to work not only with our own defense network and intel capacity capabilities, but with partners.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Earlier this year, the Secure World Foundation released a report that said the Luch series of satellites could have a mission to \u201cintercept broadcasts aimed at other GEO satellites, and possibly also to inspect other GEO satellites.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Parly was speaking at the Toulouse-based France space agency that developed the Athena-Fidus satellite jointly with the Italian space agency ASI.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">She said France must be able to counter new space threats, including spying and potential \u201chostile attitudes\u201d from other world powers. She will present France\u2019s new space defense strategy by the end of the year but insisted that the country will continue to coordinate with European allies.<\/p>\n\n\n\t<aside class=\"smg-interstitial-link wp-block-smg-interstitial-link\">\n\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/smr\/defense-news-conference\/2018\/09\/05\/the-top-air-force-official-is-now-onboard-with-trumps-space-force-plan\/\" class=\"smg-interstitial-link__inner\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"smg-interstitial-link__media\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"300\" height=\"220\" src=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/4635799.jpg.jpg?w=300\" class=\"smg-interstitial-link__image wp-post-image\" alt=\"\" \/>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"smg-interstitial-link__content\">\n\t\t\t\t<span class=\"smg-interstitial-link__kicker\">Related<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t<h3 class=\"smg-interstitial-link__title\">Top US Air Force official is now on board with Trump\u2019s Space Force plan<\/h3>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p class=\"smg-interstitial-link__excerpt\">One of the Air Force&#039;s biggest Space Force critics has reversed her stance.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/a>\n\t<\/aside>\n\t\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cFrance is and will be a space power\u201d, she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Parly said she sees U.S. plans for a Space Force as an \u201cextremely powerful signal: the signal of confrontations to come, the signal of the weight of the space sector, the signal of tomorrow\u2019s challenges.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Earlier this year, U.S. President Donald Trump laid out his ambition to create a new military service he says is needed to ensure American dominance in space.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><i>Mike Gruss of C4ISRNET contributed to this report.<\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A Russian satellite \u201cwith big ears\u201d cozied up to a French one last year in an apparent effort to eavesdrop on secure military communications, France\u2019s defense minister alleged Friday.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":83624,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-noindex":"","_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-nofollow":"","_yoast_wpseo_canonical":"","_acf":"","_yoast_wpseo_primary_category":39,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","_smg_distribution_targets":[]},"categories":[8,106,29,32,39],"tags":[],"coauthors":[4499,4500,3222],"class_list":["post-29736","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-c2-comms","category-daily-brief","category-home","category-newsletters","category-satellites"],"acf":{"subheadline":"","legacy_arc_id":"ORNILDRUKFBI3F4PLGVRMHJ4RU","arc_canonical_url":"\/space\/2018\/09\/07\/espionage-french-defense-head-charges-russia-of-dangerous-games-in-space\/","remove_feature_photo":false,"is_sponsored":false,"subtype":"","redirect_url":"","disable_inline_ads":false,"native_logo_pretext":"Presented 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