NEW DELHI: Asserting India’s determination to use its advanced space research and defense assets to deter the enemy, Army chief Gen. Deepak Kapoor voiced the need yesterday for establishing the much-delayed tri-services space command for persistent surveillance and quick response to any threat to the country’s assets in orbit.
Kapoor drew attention to the rapid space at which China was expanding its space military program. “Chinese space program is expanding at an exponentially rapid pace in both offensive and defensive content.
There is an imperative requirement to develop joint structures in the Indian armed forces for synergizing employment of space assets,” Kapoor said.
China demonstrated its capabilities last year in January to shoot down satellites, which has prompted Indian defense establishment to give serious attention to ward off Anti-Satellite (ASAT) threats.
“There is an attempt to try and militarize space. There are also agreements that space militarization should be restricted,” Kapoor said on the sidelines of a seminar, organized by Army headquarters’ perspective planning directorate and Center for Land Warfare Studies (CLAWS).
Kapoor inaugurated a daylong training for army officers on “space applications for military use.”
Addressing the seminar, Kapoor stressed that the Indian Army recognized space as an emerging arena for important military applications.
The space was being increasingly identified as the “ultimate military high ground” for battle space dominance, Kapoor said.
Kapoor drew attention to space-based applications such as surveillance, intelligence, communications, navigation and precision guidance having played a dominant role in recent conflicts.
The military usage of space in the Indian context was, however, at a comparatively nascent stage, he said.
