Citing China, Army chief raises pitch for space command

New Delhi, June 17 (PTI) Citing China's rapid
militarisation of space, Army chief Deepak Kapoor today raised
the pitch for establishing the much-delayed tri-services
space command for persistent surveillance and quick response
to any threat to India's assets in orbit.

Kapoor's remarks came in the wake of India's defence
establishment, shaken up after China demonstrated its
capabilities to shoot down satellites in January last year,
initiating counter measures to ward off the anti-satellite
(ASAT) threats.

Only last fortnight, Defence Minister A. K. Antony had
announced the setting up of an integrated space cell at the
Integrated Defence Staff headquarters to act as a single
window for military use and security of space resources, apart
from performing the role of interface among army, navy and air
force, besides Department of Space and Indian Space Research
Organisation (ISRO).

"Chinese space programme is expanding at an
exponentially rapid pace in both offencive and defensive
content. There is an imperative requirement to develop joint
structures in the Indian armed forces for synergising
employment of space assets," Kapoor said, inaugurating a
day-long training for army officers on 'space applications for
military use' here.

"There is an attempt to try and militarise space. There
are also agreements that space militarisation should be
restricted," Kapoor told reporters on the sidelines of the
seminar organised by the Army Headquarters' Perspective
Planning Directorate and Centre for Land Warfare Studies
(CLAWS).

Stating that the Indian army recognised space as an
emerging arena for important military applications, he told
the seminar that space was being increasingly identified as
"the ultimate military high ground" for battle space
dominance.

He said space-based applications such as surveillance,
intelligence, communications, navigation and precision
guidance played a dominant role in recent conflicts. However,
the military usage of space in the Indian context was at a
comparatively nascent stage, he pointed out.

"Indian army, which has a large user base, needs to
expand its knowledge base about space applications and
optimise space-based capabilities to the maximum," he
stressed.

Noting that Indian Army had already taken certain space
initiatives, Kapoor said the formulation of Army Space Vision
2020 and the creation of an army space cell in the Perspective
Planning Directorate were measures in the direction of
space-related training for its officers and personnel.

"The Indian Army's agenda for exploitation of space will
have to evolve dynamically. It should be our endeavour to
optimise space applications for military purposes," Kapoor
said.

He also called for a capability development through a
synergistic approach between the three services in the
interim, before the tri-services space command became
operational in the future.

Referring to the U.S. experience of 50 years in military
use of space applications, the Army chief said they (US) had
established five space commands, including two for US Army.

"The recent conflicts have shown that the use of
space-based resources for military operations provided an
asymmetric advantage over adversaries.

Integrated Defence Staff chief Lt. Gen. H. S. Lidder told
the seminar that future warfare will see increased dependence
on space applications.

"We may get sucked into the inevitable military race of
space-based applications in warfare and protection of space
assets. In a life-and-death situation, only space resources
would provide advantage to any military force in the future,"
Lidder predicted.

Noting that the Integrated Space Cell was a good way to
go forward, he said it was not aimed at alarming anybody but
to be used as means for building capabilities of the Indian
armed forces.

C.L.A.W.S. director Brig Gurmeet Kanwal said the training
programme aimed at creating awareness among the officers on
the potential of space-based resources for military use. PTI