Organizational chart
NATO SPACE COE is driven by a Steering Committee gathering one representative by member state and the NATO SPACE COE Director.
Patrick HEIM
COL (OF-5), FRA
NATO Space COE Director
directory’s
Biography
- Colonel Patrick Heim is a French Air and Space Force officer and the Director of the NATO Space Centre of Excellence, appointed in August 2026. An engineering graduate of the French Air Force Academy (1995) and SupAéro (2005), he also completed the French War College in 2012.
- Throughout his career, Colonel Heim has held pivotal leadership positions across aircraft maintenance, aerospace engineering teaching, and strategic operations. He served as Head of the Transformation Division at the French Space Command (2024–2026) and was previously the Deputy Defense Attaché and Air Attaché in Berlin, Germany (2021–2024), where he was promoted to Colonel. His staff experience includes serving as Head of the J7 ops training and lessons learned cell at the Center for Planning and Conduct of Operations (CPCO) and managing budget for military procurement within the Joint Staff. Internationally, he spent four years as a liaison officer and instructor at the US Air Force Academy.
- His operational record features deployments to Saudi Arabia (Operation Alysse), Qatar (Operation Hoopoe), and Tajikistan (Operation Pamir). Colonel Heim is a Knight of the Legion of Honor and the National Order of Merit. He is married with two children.