Defense Minister Hervé Morin of France has stated Poland has now joined Belgium, Germany, Greece, Italy, the Netherlands and Spain for a collaborative optical spy satellite launch. Known as the Musis (Multinational Space-based Imaging System) satellite network, formal support for the launch was given during a November 10th meeting in Brussels, Belgium.

The current military observation system, Helios 2, would remain in service until replacement by Musis sometime in 2015. Musis would be smaller in size than Helios 2 would also costs less, meaning more than one satellite could be ordered. The Defense Minister also indicated France is reviewing a proposal from EADS (who owns and operates the British Skynet 5 system) for an outright purchase of another milcomsat, Syracuse 3, with a capacity lease-back option. Astrium is currently jamming with the assembly of a demo series named Elisa that is comprised of four microsats (Myriade) and optical imaging sats (Pléides from Astrium). These should be the first launch in 2009 from Kourou in French Guiana aboard a Soyuz launch vehicle. The former's capabilities include the ability to image a world map that ID's military and civil ground radar positions and their linkage to weapons' systems. The long view finds Elisa eliciting this data from its surveillance and then forwarding same to the Sparta electronic countermeasures suite that are fitted onto the Rafael fighter. Such would enable the fighter to engage and suppress enemy air defense missions and systems.