A French space-surveillance radar has detected 20-30 satellites in low Earth orbit that do not figure in the U.S. Defense Department's published catalogue, a discovery that French officials say they will use to pressure U.S. authorities to stop publishing the whereabouts of French reconnaissance and military communications satellites.
French Engineers are preparing to launch a new generation of their Spot satellite that will be able to "take images which are up to five times clearer than those currently available."
France and Germany have announced that they are forming a joint military satellite system to share intelligence assets.