India needs to develop both offensive and defensive space capabilities: IAF chief

INTERNATIONAL DESK: India needs to develop “both offensive and defensive space capabilities to safeguard our assets”, Air Chief Marshal V R Chaudhari said on Tuesday, in the backdrop of China furiously building and deploying anti-satellite weapons from direct ascent missiles and co-orbital killers to directed-energy laser weapons and electronic jammers.

“The race to weaponize space has already started and the day is not far when our next war would spread across all domains of land, sea, air, cyber and space. We need to capitalize on our initial successes in space and prepare ourselves for the future,” the IAF chief said.

India did successfully test an anti-satellite (A-Sat) interceptor missile to destroy the 740-kg Microsat-R satellite, at an altitude of 283-km in the low earth orbit (LEO), under “Mission Shakti” in March 2019.

After the creation of a small tri-service Defence Space Agency (DSA) the same year, instead of a full-fledged Space Command that the armed forces were demanding, India has also been taking some initial steps to develop other counter-space capabilities as well as the ability to protect its own satellites from electronic or physical attacks.

But the huge strides made by China have even the US worried, with the final frontier of space becoming increasingly contested as well as congested. Half of the around 700 operational satellites of China, for instance, are that of its People’s Liberation Army.

In contrast, while India does have several dual-use civilian satellites, the IAF and Navy has only one dedicated military satellite each as of now. The Army’s first dedicated satellite GSAT-7B will be launched for Rs 4,635 crore towards end-2025.

Speaking at a seminar, ACM Chaudhari said defence minister Rajnath Singh has “categorically stated” it was now time for the IAF to become an “aerospace force” and be ready to protect the country from the “ever-evolving threats”.
With “on-demand launch” of satellites and spacecraft becoming the new normal, and growing exploitation of it by private and military stakeholders, space has definitely become the “ultimate high ground”, the IAF chief said.

“The Indian aerospace industry along with other players like ISRO and the DSA need to collaborate and chalk out the path for the future. We have already demonstrated our nano-satellite technology by deploying 104 satellites using PSLV-C37 last year,” he said.

ACM Chaudhari said the Indian defence industries also “need to further the development” of directed energy weapons (DEWs), especially lasers, and hypersonic weapons and also integrate them onto airborne platforms to get desired ranges and accuracy. Such weapons provide significant advantages over traditional ones in terms of precision engagement, low-cost per shot, logistical benefits and low detectability, he said.

India should also be looking at “adopting, absorbing and more importantly indigenously-developing” advanced technologies in unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) or drones. “The use of such evolving technology in terms of swarms etc. in the military context will lead to a much higher demand of UAVs and UCAVs (combat UAVs) in the future,” the IAF chief said.

“Research is already progressing in drone-related technologies, including Quantum drones (QD). Quantum computing itself has the ability to impact the aerospace ecosystem in enabling efficient and accurate simulation, optimization of complex systems and improved data processing capabilities,” he said.

“Development of UAV technology within the quantum realm shall enhance concepts like Manned Unmanned Teaming (MUM-T) to much higher levels offering a new level of interoperability which could make a huge difference in the wars of tomorrow,” he added. (TIMES OF INDIA)