India–France space cooperation, rooted in strategic autonomy and decades of technological trust, is quietly evolving to shape a more contested and commercialised space order
For over six decades, India and France have collaborated in space, building a partnership rooted in scientific and strategic objectives. As French President Emmanuel Macron visits India later this month for the launch of the India–France Year of Innovation and the AI Impact Summit in New Delhi, another critical yet quieter domain of bilateral cooperation, space, merits closer attention.
During the Cold War, both New Delhi and Paris were strong advocates of strategic autonomy. Space, along with defence and nuclear energy, was seen as the third pillar in which the two countries’ interests aligned closely. In this regard, the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) and its French counterpart, the Centre national d'études spatiales (CNES), initiated cooperation in 1964, more than six decades ago.
Both space institutions—ISRO and CNES—had specific objectives in mind when they began this bilateral collaboration. The CNES faced acute manpower shortages and sought skilled technicians and engineers. It also aimed to use the Thumba Equatorial Rocket Launching Station (TERLS) in Kerala as a test site for its Centaur sounding rockets. ISRO, on the other hand, sought technical expertise to develop an indigenous sounding rocket and subsequently a liquid propulsion engine to venture into outer space.
Space, along with defence and nuclear energy, was seen as the third pillar in which the two countries’ interests aligned closely. In this regard, the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) and its French counterpart, the Centre national d'études spatiales (CNES), initiated cooperation in 1964, more than six decades ago.
By the mid-1960s, France agreed to manufacture 50 Centaur-type sounding rockets in India. The transfer of technology that accompanied this agreement enabled ISRO to launch its indigenous version of the Centaur, the Rohini rocket, in 1967, which has been used successfully to this day for meteorological and atmospheric studies. French Centaur and Indian Rohini were launched repeatedly and successfully side by side throughout the 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s, testifying to the fruitful cooperation between the two agencies.
After this initial thrust, the India–France space cooperation shifted to an even more critical component, the making of a liquid engine for ISRO’s orbital rocketry programme. A new agreement was signed in 1974 between ISRO and the Société Européenne de Propulsion (SEP), later incorporated into Safran, to gradually transfer the technology needed to develop liquid rocket engines to India, in exchange for the provision of 100 man-years of ISRO engineers and scientists for the Ariane programme. By the mid-1980s, the French Viking engine technology used for the Ariane rocket had been indigenously incorporated by ISRO under the name Vikas. This, in the following decade, went on to power India’s Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV), still considered the backbone of ISRO’s space launch vehicle.
The success of France’s Ariane and India’s PSLV and GSLV in breaking the US–USSR duopoly in space launches owed much to the sustained cooperation between ISRO and CNES. Reflecting this collaboration, India’s first geostationary communication satellite, APPLE, was launched aboard Ariane 1 at Kourou in French Guiana in 1981. Since then, more than a dozen Indian communication satellites of the GSAT facility have been launched by Ariane, while several of CNES’s SPOT Earth observation satellites have been launched successfully from ISRO’s Sriharikota launchpad through the PSLV launcher.
The transfer of technology that accompanied this agreement enabled ISRO to launch its indigenous version of the Centaur, the Rohini rocket.
A renewed impetus to enhance and diversify India–France space cooperation emerged in the 2000s, as both ISRO and CNES shared the common objective of jointly developing satellites for various Earth observation purposes. Building on a wide-ranging agreement signed in 2008, the two agencies successfully collaborated to launch the Megha-Tropiques tropical observation satellite in 2011, followed by Saral/AltiKa for oceanography in 2013. In the same year, CNES established a dedicated office in Bengaluru to work more closely with ISRO, which remains CNES’s second-largest partner after NASA.
Since then, the latest ISRO–CNES joint programme has further advanced cooperation, with the TRISHNA programme for infrared thermal Earth observation, scheduled for launch later this year. CNES is sharing its expertise in human spaceflight for ISRO’s Gaganyaan mission scheduled for 2027, enabled by various training agreements signed in 2021. This pathbreaking mission is also crucially supported by the European Space Agency (ESA).
While space is becoming increasingly diversified, with a host of new private actors emerging to cater to the New Space environment, France and India are exploring innovative ways to foster and develop a more flexible and decentralised approach to space collaboration.
This new approach has been reflected in the India–France Joint Vision for Space Cooperation, put forward in 2018, which introduced two intertwined dynamics in space cooperation.
The success of France’s Ariane and India’s PSLV and GSLV in breaking the US–USSR duopoly in space launches owed much to the sustained cooperation between ISRO and CNES.
First, an India–France strategic vision for space has been institutionalised through the Strategic Space Dialogue, held annually since 2023 and led by the two countries’ foreign secretaries. This allows for discussion of strategic and security issues and promotes the responsible use of space. This is further reinforced in the defence domain by a declaration of intent on collaboration in this field, enabling enhanced cooperation on Space Situational Awareness (SSA).
In addition, CNES and ISRO have been working since 2019 on a constellation of around a dozen maritime surveillance satellites, gradually being set up around India’s naval approaches. This is particularly critical as New Delhi is ramping up the satellite-based surveillance of its land and sea borders, an initiative made even more urgent following last year’s conflict with Pakistan.
Secondly, a more market-oriented approach has gained ground in Indo–French space cooperation, reflected in the hosting of the French Space Days India in 2023, which was attended by French astronaut Thomas Pesquet, and again in 2025, bringing together public and private stakeholders, including start-ups from both countries’ space ecosystems.
It is within this more ‘commercial’ vision that the two countries leading space actors—Arianespace and New Space India Limited (NSIL)—signed in 2024 a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to jointly meet the commercial use of space. The agreement aims to address growing demand for satellite launches, made possible through heavy launchers, as well as the possibility of a mutual backup in case of launch failures or delays, which occurred recently for the PSLV and Ariane 6 and is a particularly critical issue as both countries use these platforms for the launch of their intelligence and surveillance satellites. Lastly, CNES and ISRO are working together on the development of reusable launchers, as both are currently developing their respective modules—Callisto under CNES and the Reusable Launch Vehicle (RLV) under ISRO—to compete with actors such as SpaceX.
France and India are exploring innovative ways to foster and develop a more flexible and decentralised approach to space collaboration.
During President Macron’s visit, while the focus might be on defence, emerging technologies, and the follow-up to the bilateral AI roadmap signed in Paris last year, one of the most enduring and consequential aspects of France–India cooperation is likely to continue gaining momentum quietly behind the scenes.
As India and France navigate a more contested and commercialised space environment, their long-standing partnership—rooted in strategic autonomy and sustained by technological trust—remains well positioned to shape the next phase of bilateral cooperation, quietly reinforcing both countries’ ambitions in space.
Guillaume Gandelin is a Visiting Fellow with the Strategic Studies Programme, Observer Research Foundation.
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Guillaume Gandelin is a Visiting Fellow with the Strategic Studies Programme, Observer Research Foundation. His research focuses on the India-EU and India-France security and defence ...
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