France Opens Country’s First Space Airbase

France has inaugurated the first space base in the country’s history in Toulouse.

This is reported by the official website of the French Ministry of the Armed Forces.

The new space airbase (BA 101) in Toulouse was opened as part of the expansion of the Commandement de l’Espace (CDE) program , which is responsible for French military operations in space.

The official opening of the base took place on July 2, 2025, at the Place du Capitole (Capitol Square) in the center of Toulouse, with the participation of the representatives of local authorities and the Ministry of Armed Forces.

The base will include nine units of the French Space Command, including the Space Operations Command and Control Center (C3OS), the Operational Center for Military Surveillance of Space Objects (COSMOS) and the Innovation Center. In total, by 2030, about 500 military personnel will be deployed at the base.

A new 11,000 m² administrative complex for the Space Command and 2,000 m² for the future NATO Space Operations Centre is also being built on the territory of the French National Centre for Space Studies. Total investments will amount to about €80 million, and the right to use the site is granted for 40 years.

As noted by the French Ministry of Armed Forces, this infrastructure in Toulouse is the first full-cycle space defense complex in France and Europe: from control and intelligence to targeted cooperation with alliances (including NATO) to protect strategic infrastructure in orbit.

Earlier, Militarnyi reported that France was investing €717 million in the satellite communications operator Eutelsat as an alternative to the American Starlink.