France hosts AsterX 2024 military-space conference
France opens the AsterX 2024 Military Space Exercise in Toulouse today.
The annual gathering is meant to encourage coordination among attendees to solve fictional geopolitical space warfare scenarios, such as attacks on communications satellites, to build capacity and understanding for possible future threats.
This will be the first iteration that includes countries outside of Europe and North America, with South Korea, Japan and the UAE joining the mix.
This conference comes amid new developments in the evolving global space race. China and India have both recently expanded their satellite networks, and Japan, South Korea and North Korea have all increased satellite surveillance in light of growing tensions on the Korean peninsula.
Expect this exercise to lead to more inclusion for Japan and Korea in European, NATO and American efforts to strengthen cyber defenses. Russia and China have become common adversaries in this new style of warfare, and leaders will likely seek to deepen cooperation with the Asian continent to continue to counter influence. In addition, South Korea and Japan are expected to seek further collaboration with the US to counter North Korean aggression. In the medium to long-term, the exercise will likely further deepen American cooperation with the UAE as a partner in the Middle East, especially as tensions continue to flare in various conflicts throughout the region.
