By Sarah Cope | 2025-09-11

Working in close collaboration, France and the United States have built a broad-ranging space partnership that spans the civil, commercial and security domains.

The two nations formalized their cooperation through the US-France Comprehensive Dialogue on Space, launched in 2021, convening the first session in Paris in late 2022, and a second in Washington in March 2024.

Representatives from more than 50 key aerospace, defense and space technology firms, including Amazon Kuiper, Blue Origin, SpaceX, Airbus, Lockheed Martin and Northrop Grumman, joined regulators at the 2024 session.

Meeting with government officials, participants discussed market access, licensing standards, space situational awareness, and the safe growth of new applications, which calls for collaboration on issues such as debris mitigation.

The ongoing dialogue, along with other bilateral events focused on various aspects of the space sector, serves as a channel for governments and industries to align policy and practice, creating a cornerstone for long-term cooperation.

Science and technology

French-US civil and scientific collaboration includes the Surface Water and Ocean Topography mission, a joint US–French platform to track global surface water launched in December 2022.

France and the United States have both participated in the Space for Climate Observatory, which leverages satellite imagery and space-based monitoring systems to map climate-related events, including coastal erosion and flooding.

France was a key member of the consortium that created the Mid-Infrared Instrument (MIRI), an instrument on the James Webb Telescope that provides imaging and spectroscopy capabilities in the mid-infrared range.

The James Webb Telescope is a joint venture of NASA, the European Space Agency, and the Canadian Space Agency.

Launched with the support of the French National Centre for Space Studies in December 2021, the MIRI has enabled regular discoveries that have led to a deeper understanding of galaxy evolution, star formation and exoplanet science.

The MIRI studies cooler objects, such as debris disks, that naturally emit energy in the mid-infrared range. It also observes extremely distant galaxies, whose light has been shifted into the mid-infrared by the expansion of the universe.

France’s contributions to space science and technology are indicative of how bilateral cooperation extends beyond politics into data, research and technical exchange.

Security coordination

Military integration has advanced in parallel with scientific exploration, with France joining the multinational Operation Olympic Defender in October 2024 to deepen coordination with the United States on space defense.

The seven-nation coalition shares practices for deterrence, resilience and operational planning.

US Space Command has framed allied participation as an asymmetric advantage, while French officials describe the move as a revival of historic solidarity.

Olympic Defender ties France’s national space command directly into US and allied military frameworks.

Institutional breadth sustains the partnership, as Washington and Paris also coordinate on new energy ventures, nuclear technology and cyber policy.

In June 2024, the two governments pledged to expand space cooperation across Artemis lunar exploration, International Space Station operations, and climate monitoring pursuits.

Together, these initiatives reflect the significance of the French-US strategic partnership in setting the tone for international cooperation.

Joint efforts between France, one of the key leaders of the European Space Agency, and the United States, one of the most advanced spacefaring nations, provide the institutional foundation.

At the same time, scientific missions supply tangible achievements and military integration anchors shared security.

As the space domain becomes contested and commercialized, the US–France relationship operates under a framework designed to endure.