The Indian Navy’s sea-going platforms are connected with the naval satellite, GSAT-7 (Rukmini), by the SATCOM terminals.

Recently, the Indian Ministry of Defence (MoD) green-lit a programme for developing satellite communication (SATCOM) terminals housed on naval planes, submarines and warships. The Indian Navy’s sea-going platforms are connected with the naval satellite, GSAT-7 (Rukmini), by the SATCOM terminals. The naval satellite is connected to ground stations and relays real-time data and information.

The field units have reported problems with the slow pace of data transfer, and product support as most of these SATCOMs are over a decade old. The navy is focusing on SATCOM terminals with Ku-band and C-band compatibility with greater speeds of communication and data.

The MoD has granted the principle approval to develop these indigenously under the ‘Make-II’ category of the Defence Acquisition Procedure. ‘Make-II’ implies the industry will fuel the acceleration of the project, including a prototype for which no government funding will be provided.

The Navy would examine the product after clearance to check if it withstands the vagaries and humidity of the sea. It would be followed by material testing, including checking downlink and uplink speeds. On the other hand, giving a boost to self-reliance in safeguarding India’s space assets, the country has developed the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) System for Safe and Sustainable Space Operation and Management (IS4OM).

ISRO says that the IS40M system is conceived with a holistic approach towards ensuring sustainability and safety of the space environment while reaping the benefits of sustainable utilisation of outer space for national development.

Utilisation Of Space Before The 21st Century

During the Cold War, access to space was majorly limited to the Soviet Union and the United States. However, the scenario has now changed as the counties in space have expanded beyond the big two. Nations including France, North Korea, Japan, India, Iran and Israel have also developed massively in this domain.

Each of these nations possesses unique abilities and characteristics. For instance, Japan’s post-World War II space activities stood limited until a recent constitution change, while India heavily invested in space capabilities and infrastructure. North Korea has been working on jamming radio frequency signals sent to or from a satellite, France on laser beams fired from the ground, which could dazzle a spy satellite, thereby preventing it from capturing photographs of classified targets, and Iran on cyberattacks that could interfere with a satellite’s systems. Meanwhile, according to the Secure World Foundation (SWF) report, the big three (Russia, China and US) already possess the above approaches.

The report further states that the big three have also mastered “rendezvous and proximity operations” that involve using satellites as weapons or surveillance devices. A country’s satellite could manoeuvre within miles of an adversary’s device, capture pictures of the equipment and transmit the photographs to Earth. Or, if a satellite tries to creep up to another, it can effectively spray the adversary’s lenses or cover its solar panels to cut off power and turn it useless. As per experts, Russia might have advanced with this technology as it has already launched a series of small satellites, which the Russian Ministry of Defense calls “inspector satellites”.

First Developments From The Cold War

During the Cold War, the United States and the Soviet Union spent vast amounts of their GDP developing defence technologies. The plan of placing objects in space stimulated space research and triggered the Space Race. The USSR launched the first artificial satellite, Sputnik 1, in 1957.

Both nations regularly deployed satellites by the end of the 1960s. The defence forces used reconnaissance satellites to click accurate photographs of their adversary’s military installations. With time, the accuracy and resolution of orbital reconnaissance raised alarms for both the giants. Soon, the Soviet Union and the US began to develop anti-satellite weapons to destroy or blind the opponent’s satellites.

Kamikaze-style satellites, directed-energy weapons and orbital nuclear explosives were also researched with different levels of success. Spy satellites were used to monitor the dismantling of military assets per the treaties signed between the two. Using spy satellites in this manner is often referred to as “national technical means of verification” in the treaties.

With the implosion of the Soviet Union, the Cold War ended, and so did the space race between the countries. The US was now left as the only superpower globally with a considerable concentration of technological advancement and the world’s wealth. Despite the new status gained by the US, countries such as Japan, China and India have commenced their space programmes, as mentioned earlier, while the European Union works collectively to develop satellite systems to contest those of the US.

Space-Warfare In A Nutshell

In layman’s terms, any combat in outer space, i.e. outside the Earth’s atmosphere, is Space warfare. Technically, this refers to battles where the targets are present in space. Therefore, such a battle involves ground-to-space warfare, such as attacking satellites from Earth, and space-to-space warfare, where satellites attack their adversary.

Only some incidents of space warfare have occurred in the past, though all were training missions; for example, in the mid-1980s, a United States Air Force pilot in an F-15 shot down the P78-1 communications satellite. However, in 2007, China used a missile system to eliminate one of its obsolete satellites, and in 2008, the US destroyed its malfunctioning satellite USA 193 similarly. Following the two countries, India destroyed a live satellite in 2019, and in 2021, the Russian military destroyed the Kosmos 1408, an old Soviet satellite, using a ground-based missile.

Space, Defence and Security Analyst Omkar Nikam opines that space is currently a strategic point of dominance instead of a conflict zone. There are conflicts between several nations, such as the two different human spaceflight programs to Moon – Artemis, which we initiated, and the International Lunar Research Station (ILRS) undertaken by China and Russia.

Such programs are segmenting and dividing the nations, but a lot more commercial innovation is pumped out at the same time. And in the near future, we might observe that commercial space might bridge the gap and potentially help develop healthy international cooperation between several nations.

Potential Risks of Space-Warfare

Open sources suggest that the top players in space have advanced their space military capabilities, including technologies that merely disrupt spacecraft by blocking data collection and transmission and such anti-satellite weapons. According to experts, if these advanced technologies are deployed, they could ratchet up an arms race or even trigger a war in space. Destroying a single satellite would scatter debris throughout the atmosphere, and such an explosion could severely affect projectiles in the pathway of other spacecraft that would threaten the accessibility of space for all.

There could be collateral damage to the several everyday satellites that already circle the Low-Earth orbit. About half are from the United States and provide services like long-distance communications, internet access, GPS signals, and weather information. When a missile hits a satellite, its debris could take out another spacecraft and create more debris.

In 2007, when China conducted an anti-satellite missile test, a massive cloud of space junk drew international condemnation. On the other hand, India tried to limit the debris by conducting their test at a low altitude to enable the Earth’s gravity to pull the pieces down where they would burn up on the descent.

China’s space approach can be described as RAPID, ACTIONABLE, and STRATEGIC. Looking back at history, China has single-handedly developed complex space capabilities, and within a decade (China privatised its space industry in 2015), the country has rapidly expanded the reach of its commercial space technologies.

Though there are still several hurdles to cross, China has established a strong presence in the space domain by launching its navigation system, BeiDou. The Chinese space industry is evolving rapidly as compared to others, and in the coming years, we might observe China’s Belt Road Initiative (BRI) member nations also joining or contributing to the Chinese space sector, says Omkar

Policies For Space Militaries?

So far, no international policies or norms exist to educate the militaries on what’s allowed in modern-day space and what’s not. The SWF report argues that a misunderstanding or an incident could raise tensions if it’s perceived as an armed attack.

Other media reports state that smaller space powers have few satellites and less to lose, unlike the United States. A tense regional relationship could stand unpredictable. For instance, in a standoff between the US and South Korea, North Korea might decide to fire and detonate a nuclear weapon in space that would propel radiation, disabling most satellites.

The only international law that exists offers some guidance regarding modern weapons in space. While they prohibit weapons of mass destruction in space, they don’t limit the use of other kinds of space weapons, military space forces or weapon tests. These laws include the UN’s Outer Space Treaty, passed in 1967 and the Partial Nuclear Test Ban Treaty, passed in 1963.

As A Next-Gen Battlefield

Omkar Nikam explains that it will potentially become more of a strategic point of dominance as opposed to a conflict zone. Moreover, as an industry expert, I believe we should neutralise threats without creating a destabilised zone. Therefore, it is imperative to understand that creating or looking toward space as a battlefield will only cast a wide net of regulations across the commercial sector, which will ultimately degrade international cooperation and create more harm to the scientific and educational community in the process.

Because space is not only a resource for commercial and defence purposes, it is a much more valuable resource for scientific communities. Astrophysics, Astrobiology, Cosmochemistry, Radio Astrophysics, etc., are some of the crucial branches of space sciences that not only contribute toward technology innovation but also help advance our planet’s chemical and biological knowledge base.

What Is The Present Utilisation Of Space By India?

Air Vice-Marshal M Ranade, Assistant Chief of Air Staff-Space, Indian Air Force, noted in the June issue of Indian Aerospace & Defence magazine that “The role of the IAF is closely linked to the space domain. Activities through the medium of air and space can never be separated and conducted in isolation. It has always aligned its operational priorities keeping the space domain in focus, with due attention to the rapid advancements in that field. Currently, IAF is utilising the space domain for Satellite Communications (SATCOM), Position Navigation Timing (PNT) and Intelligence Surveillance and Reconnaissance (ISR).“

SATCOM: The official said the Indian Air Force had set up SATCOM networks in the 2000s as a backup to its Optical Fiber Communication (OFC) networks. The satellites’ hired bandwidth is used for these networks’ operations. However, for Beyond Line of Sight (BLoS) operations, airborne sensors like Airborne Early Warning and Control (AEW&C) and Airborne Warning And Control System (AWACS) have also been exploiting space during the past decade.

A dedicated IAF satellite, GSAT-7A, became operational in 2019, considering the growing bandwidth demand and the need to transfer information by airborne sensors with forces on the ground. The AoN for another satellite enabling BLoS communication with airborne elements was accorded by the Government the previous year.

The IAF also uses GLONASS and GPS-based PNT services for ground and air operations. The AVM opined that “Satellite-based images for planning air operations by IAF and to enhance situational awareness has been in vogue for a while. Operational requirements for space-based intelligence are being conveyed to the coordinating agency.” Here Omkar is of the view that the world is looking toward the Indian space program because there is a strategic approach to developing space resources. As opposed to investing heavily in diverse fields, India has taken a bottom-to-top approach, where we first saw the launch segment strengthening the country’s global position.

With the recent developments in the privatisation of the Indian space sector, there will be more rapid developments in civil, commercial, and defence programs. Though everything is progressing very well, in the coming years, India needs to strengthen its position in space applications for defence, as it is one of the verticals that require more attention from a strategic point of view.

https://www.financialexpress.com/defence/space-emerges-as-indias-next-national-security-frontier/2590242/