Chief of the Defence Staff, General Anil Chauhan on Tuesday emphasised the need for building dual-use platforms with special focus on incorporating cutting-edge technology in boosting India’s military space capability and plans. He also put the spotlight on the possibility of war and the militarization of space and the development of weapons by different nations.
Chauhan was speaking at the Indian DefSpace Symposium 2023 which was organised by the Indian Space Association (ISpA) in collaboration with Defence R&D Organisation (DRDO). He spoke about the need of expanding the NAVIC constellation, provide agile space-based ISR and ensure secure satellite-assisted communications.
He further drew attention to explore the field of miniaturization of satellites and reusable launch platforms to mitigate cost, and challenges and accelerate the pace of augmenting India’s space-based capabilities. The need for creating a dual-use platform could be used in future both by the military and by the private sector. Chauhan stressed that there is a need to enhance India’s space situational awareness capability with the emergence of dynamic space threats to our space assets. There’s also a requirement to safeguard the assets with counter space capabilities with resilient space-based infrastructures, he asserted.
Dr. Samir V Kamat, Chairman of the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO), informed that the organisation has been focussing on space-based surveillance, space situational awareness, and protecting the country’s space-based assets. He informed that the DRDO has started industry-academia centres of excellence in about 15 institutions mostly within the country. He also requested academia, MSMEs and other companies to work with DRDO closely so that the country is able to achieve these capabilities faster.
Other than the CDS and DRDO chief, the event saw the attendance of Air Vice Marshal DV Khot, DG DSA, HQ IDS; Air Marshal BR Krishna (Retd.) Former CISC, HQ IDS of the Indian Armed Forces; and various other dignitaries from across the ministries, defence and space industry were also present at the event.
Lt. Gen. AK Bhatt (Retd.) Director General of the Indian Space Association, who was also present at the event said, “The symposium will pave the way forward of how we leverage international space cooperation and also the policy and strategy for building an overall comprehensive difference space strategy.”
