# Red Team Defense

**Type:** Military strategic foresight program  
**Status:** Concluded  
**Duration:** 2019-2023 (4 years, 3 seasons)  
**Administrator:** Université PSL (Paris Sciences et Lettres)  
**Sponsor:** France's Defense Innovation Agency (Agence de l'Innovation de Défense)  
**Participants:** 50+ experts and scientists; 9 core members including sci-fi authors, illustrators, designers

## Overview

Red Team Defense was a French military strategic foresight program that commissioned science fiction scenarios to stress-test defense assumptions and explore future conflict scenarios. Unlike traditional red-teaming or scenario planning, the program explicitly used narrative generation as a strategic planning tool.

## Core Members

- Jeanne Bregeon (Designer)
- François Schuiten (Illustrator, famous Belgian comic artist)
- Hermès (Scriptwriter)
- Saran Diakité Kaba (Designer)
- Laurent Genefort
- Romain Lucazeau
- Capitaine Numericus
- Virginie Tournay
- DOA
- Xavier Maumejean
- Xavier Dorison

## Key Scenarios Produced

- Bioterrorism attacks
- Warfare based on mass disinformation
- "Pirate nation" scenario
- **Space Rush:** Escalating conflict as multiple actors compete for space resources
- **Facing the Hydra:** Implant technology enabling instant skill acquisition for military purposes, fighting adaptable civilian-sourced forces
- "After the Carbon Night"
- "Ecosystem War"

## Mechanism

The program COMMISSIONED new science fiction specifically designed for strategic planning rather than scanning existing fiction for predictions. This represents narrative as strategic INPUT rather than narrative as historical record or cultural artifact.

## Validation

President Emmanuel Macron personally read the Red Team Defense reports (France24, June 2023), demonstrating presidential-level validation and consumption of the program's outputs.

## Timeline

- **2019-Summer** — Program established by France's Defense Innovation Agency, administered by Université PSL
- **2023-06-29** — Final season scenarios presented at Banque de France; program concluded after planned four-year scope