French Military Space Situational Awareness Center
Born in 1980, lieutenant-colonel (Air) Vincent Lochet joined the French Air
Force Academy in 2001, from which he holds a Master’s Degree in
aeronautics. After completing his training as an Air Defense Controller, he is
assigned to the Regional Control Center of Lyon-Mont-Verdun AFB where he
assumed operational responsibilities.
In 2009, he is dispatched for a two-year study period in the Institut Supérieur
de l’Aéronautique et de l’Espace at Toulouse, where he attended the
Supaero engineering course. Concluding his studies with an internship at the
NASA’s Mission Design Center of Ames (Mountain View, California), he
graduated with a Master’s Degree in Space and Aeronautics engineering.
Following this period, Lcl Vincent Lochet joined the Regional Control Center
of Cinq-Mars-La-Pile where he completed the final part of his operational
training and acquired the qualification of Master Controller. He has been in
command of the 2nd Operational Squadron for two years.
In 2014, Lcl Vincent Lochet has been deployed in Afghanistan, on Kabul’s international airport, where he assumed Air Ops Room Chief duties, in charge of NATO’s apron.
In 2015, he joined the French Space Situational Awareness Center (Centre Opérationnel de Surveillance Militaire des Objets Spatiaux - COSMOS) where he consecutively assumed the responsibilities of ops room chief, analysis
and exploitation division chief, and space surveillance operations chief. While assigned at COSMOS, he attended numerous space educational courses (including the 2016 Space Summer Program from the International Space University in Haifa, Israel). He also supported the development of French Space C2 programs, and the French
participation in the Global Sentinel exercise series, hosted yearly in the US.
In 2019, Lcl Vincent Lochet has been the first foreign officer to attend the Schriever Space Scholar concentration course at the Air Command and Staff College in Maxwell AFB, Alabama. He graduated with a Master of Military Operational Art and Science. He followed on with a Master of Philosophy in Military Strategy delivered by the
School of Advanced Air and Space Studies, still in Maxwell AFB.
Back in Paris, at the French Space Command in 2021, he worked on international relations in the space domain, mainly focused on the USA, NATO and other English-speaking countries. Meanwhile, he actively supported the
establishment of the NATO Space Center of Excellence. In summer 2023, Lcl Vincent Lochet moved to Toulouse, where he assumed the position of deputy commander
of COSMOS for one year. In the meantime, he led the team in charge of creating the scenario for the space military exercise ASTERX 24. He also conducted and controlled its live animation. Since July 2024, he is commander of COSMOS 42.542.
Speaking
18September
15:15 / 15:45
Bibliothèque
Session
Anticipating threats: Learnings from the AsterX military exercise
