18 December 2000

INDIA'S PEACEFUL SPACE PROGRAMME MILITARISED

From Jal Khambata

NEW DELHI: At long last, in a major shift in its fundamental policies, India has decided to militarise its peaceful space programme in view of the emerging threat to its security from space. The bad news is that even though it is lagging behind by at least 10 years in this field compared to other countries, India seems to be still in no hurry to secure its space from attack by setting up an Aerospace Command, much to the concern of the Standing Committee on Defence which tabled its 7th report in the Lok Sabha on Monday.

While agreeing with the Defence Ministry that it had become "essential" to establish an Aerospace Command and extend its frontiers to space, the Committee refrained from disclosing the full details of Indian's plans to militarise its space programme. However, it does mention that the plan to "impart defence orientation to our successful space programme" includes "surveillance census communication and navigation satellites."

The Committee was informed by the Defence Ministry that the Air Headquarters are in the process of "conceptualisation the use of space and various doctrines for establishment of Aerospace Command in the Tenth Plan." (2004)

While agreeing that (a) "in the context of the militarisation of space, a defence orientation to our space programme is almost inevitable", and (b) it was in the fitness of things that the Air Force visualised its role as central to the space doctrine, as the Air Force is the "natural inheritor of the space medium", the Committee expressed its unhappiness over the casual approach of the Air Force to the urgency of securing India's space from attacks by hostile countries.

The Committee pointed out: "The concept of Aerospace Command was however, evolved in other parts of the world nearly a decade ago. But the Air Force proposes to undertake this study within the next five years. It is also said that the work during this phase would largely be exploratory, the purpose being to generate possible options and concepts.

"While appreciating the proposal to undertake an exercise to evolve options and concepts of Aerospace Command, the Committee desire that this exercise may be fast tracked, the Committee stressed highlighting the urgency of the matter.

To further underline the need for defence preparedness in the area of space, the Committee, in a longish observation emphasised: "We are living in a world where the contours of the frontiers of conflict are changing fast and there is greater interfacing between science and war technology.

"Whether in the matter of acquisition of new weapon systems or in the matter of developing the designs or adapting or internalising new concepts there is the usual delay here which often renders the projects outdated.

"Since this has been the experience, the Committee would like to know whether the Government are interested in quick result in this area. The Committee wanted to be apprised of the steps being taken and the time frame fixed in this regard. "

What was the Government's response to this appeal by the Committee? As Committee Chairman Laxminarayan Pandey's comments in the conclusion of the report suggest, the Government's response was not very encouraging because the defence policy remains "complacent" as it is based "on the perceived restraint of our adversaries" and ignores "the massive modernisation of the war machine taking place in its neighbourhood."

Readers of these columns will recall a couple of reports in the past few months which detailed how India was going about to build the hardware to secure its space and how certain capabilities in this regard would be available in the next couple of years. In view of the Committee's report it would appear that so far as space warfare is concerned India may well land itself in a funny position where it has "the gun", thanks to the space scientists, but none to fire it, thanks to Defence Ministry. END