New Delhi: Highlighting the intensifying race to militarize space, Chief of Defense Staff (CDS) General Anil Chouhan on Tuesday made a strong pitch for developing dual-use platforms with special focus on induction of cutting-edge technology in the space sector.
Inaugurating the three-day Indian Defense Space Symposium organized by the Indian Space Association (ISPA), General Chouhan said that the continuous movement towards weaponization of space has given rise to the possibility of warfare in space.
“Space is one such domain which is enhancing the capabilities of other domains of land, sea, air and even cyber. The military use of space is the dominant discourse that we cannot stay away from,” he said.
The CDS flagged off anti-satellite tests by Russia and China and stressed the need for India to build offensive and defensive capabilities in the space sector.
“As far as India is concerned, the present and future challenges are that India must transition from space support to space enhancement in the space sector. All of us should aim towards developing dual-use platforms with special focus on induction of cutting-edge technology,” said Gen Chauhan.
He said India should expand the NAVIC group, provide agile space-based intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) and ensure secure satellite-aided communications.
“We also need to explore the area of miniaturization of satellites and reusable launch platforms to mitigate the cost challenges and accelerate the pace of enhancing our space-based capabilities,” General Chauhan said.
The emergence of a dynamic threat environment to the space domain population and space assets also demanded that India enhance its space situational awareness capability, he said, adding that Project NETRA by ISRO was a step in that direction.
General Chauhan said the invasion of the space domain by commercial enterprises, as seen by SpaceX and Maxar during the Russia-Ukraine conflict, had revealed a new arena in the war on convergence.
The CDS said, “Combined with the rapid race for militarization of space, the battlefield has expanded and the nature of warfare is at a major cusp of change.”
This report is automatically generated from the PTI news service. ThePrint is not responsible for its content.