PARIS -- French Defense Ministry officials say their government is determined to deploy an operational missile warning satellite system, coupled with a ground- based long-range radar, even if no other European government is willing to help pay for the effort.

 

In a Feb. 9 press briefing here to discuss missile defense strategy in advance of the scheduled Feb. 12 launch of the two small Spirale missile warning demonstrator satellites, defense officials acknowledged that, as of now, they are all alone in Europe in setting space-based missile defense as a national priority.

 

"We don't really have any clear indications" that other governments in Europe will be willing to invest, said Jean-Pierre Devaux, secretary-general for system architecture at the French arms procurement agency, DGA.

 

Asked whether France intends to proceed even if it means financing an entire system on its own, Devaux and Gen. Gerard Lapprend, head of the space division at the French Joint Defense Staff, said that is the current government policy.

 

Devaux said an operational missile defense system would require two satellites in geostationary orbit, plus ground-based radars to aid in tracking missile launches. The total cost of such a system, he said, could exceed 1 billion euros ($1.3 billion).

 

Lapprend said a radar capable of tracking missile trajectories once alerted by the satellite that a missile has been launched would be big, likely measuring 400 square meters. "We have never developed such a system, but our current thinking based on initial studies is that it could be operational in 2017-2018," Lapprend said.

 

In a defense procurement planning document released in November 2008, the French Defense Ministry said France intends to begin construction of an operational missile warning system in 2012 at the latest, with an operational satellite put in service in 2019.

 

France's current military space budget is around 400 million euros. French President Nicolas Sarkozy hopes to double the investment in the coming decade, but it remains unclear whether the French parliament will approve such funding.

 

Devaux said Germany, Sweden, Italy and Spain have all signaled initial interest in missile defense satellites, but that none of these governments has gone beyond vague expressions of interest despite French efforts to elicit support for the last five years.

 

The two 117-kilogram Spirale demonstrator satellites are based on the Myriade multimission satellite platform developed by the French space agency, CNES. The satellites were integrated and tested by Thales Alenia Space, with Astrium acting as overall system prime contractor.

 

The DGA budget for Spirale, including the construction and launch of the satellites, and 12-14 months of operation in orbit, is 124 million euros. Devaux said the program is well within that budget despite a launch delay of several months caused not by Spirale but by a schedule change among the large telecommunications satellites that are the principal passengers of the Ariane 5 ECA rocket that will carry Spirale.

 

That budget limited DGA to the Myriade platform, whose fuel tanks are not large enough to permit the two Spirale satellites to climb into circular geostationary orbit 36,000 kilometers over the equator — the optimal orbit for missile detection satellites.

 

Spirale program managers must content themselves with the orbit required by the two main satellite payloads — geostationary transfer orbit with a perigee of some 250 kilometers and an apogee of 36,000 kilometers.

 

The two main telecommunications satellites will then use their onboard fuel to power themselves to final geostationary position.

 

The Spirale spacecraft, however, will have enough fuel only to raise their perigee to 600 kilometers. Operating in an elliptical orbit of 600 kilometers by 36,000 kilometers, the two satellites will face daily exposure to the Van Allen radiation belts. DGA officials said some Spirale components were fitted with radiation hardening, but the constant bombardment by radiation is one reason the satellites are unlikely to operate for much longer than a year.

 

But DGA officials insist they are making the best of the orbit by using the Spirale infrared sensors to take images of the Earth from the close-up position of 600 kilometers as well as from the geostationary altitude of 36,000 kilometers.

 

Officials said Astrium is responsible for the operation of the satellites, and for the initial reception and treatment of the infrared images.

 

Devaux said the Spirale program does not include timing French missile tests while the satellites are flying overhead to permit ground managers to establish a clear reference point. Doing so would have been overly complicated and expensive, Devaux said.