Major General (R) Michel Friedling is graduated from the French Air Force Academy as a fighter pilot and holds a Master degree in aeronautics and space engineering. He exercised different levels of command and responsibilities in operational units, flying Mirage F1 and Mirage 2000, to include several deployments in Africa, Balkans and Middle East. He has also exercised various responsibilities within the staff of the Air Force, the Armed Forces, mainly on politicy, strategy or capability issues.

Graduated from the War College and from the CHEM [High Military Studies Center] and the IHEDN [Defense and National Security Institute], Michel Friedling served from 2012 to 2018 in the Joint Military Staff, where his areas of responsibilities included successively nuclear deterrence and military strategy. Among his staff responsibilities, he actively contributed to the French Defense and Security White Papers 2008 and 2013 as well as the Military Expenditure Laws 2009-2014 and 2014-2019.

On September 2018, Brigadier General Friedling was appointed as the head of the French Space Directorate and, as such, was one of the main actors in the definition of the French Space Defense Strategy. Promoted Major General on September 2019, he became the first French Space Commander where he headed military space operations and military space policy implementation. His leadership has been key in the rise of the French space defense capabilities, the result of joint work with French Space Agency, the General Directorate for Armaments (DGA) as well as industrial and foreign partners.

After four years at the head of French space capabilities and defense space policy, he is now founder and CEO of Look Up Space, which aims at being a global leader in space surveillance and safety for in orbit activities. He is also founder and Chairman of Dragonfly Space Partners, a consulting firm specialized in space applications and capabilities for civil and defense uses.

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