www.mailtoday.in Feburary 15, page 18
Is India planning to weaponise space? By Max Martin in Bangalore Departing from established Indian policy, minister of state for defence M.M. Pallam Raju on Thursday called for weapons capability in outer space. On the same day, chief of air staff Air Chief Marshal F.H. Major sought enhanced and integrated aerospace might for the Indian Air Force. Their statements came two days after Russia and China proposed a new international treaty to ban the use of weapons in outer space at the 65-nation Conference on Disarmament in Geneva — an idea the US is opposed to. The treaty aimed at prohibiting the deployment of weapons in space and the use or threat of force against satellites or other craft. "We should develop the capability of exploring space for military applications also," Major said in his address to the International Flight Test Seminar hosted by the Aircraft & Systems Testing Establishment here. He said the IAF has plans to integrate space systems as part of its modernisation plans. "Space is the next frontier," he said. The air chief also said the IAF has plans in this regard, but declined to elaborate whether they involved weapons, spy satellites or command systems. "We are evolving a process, it will take some time," Raju said while meeting the media together with Major. "India has already expressed its opposition to the weaponisation of space," the minister said. "But the way the geopolitical situation is evolving, I think it would be foolish if we do not develop a capability. Not that we will use it, but it's important that the country builds a capability about using weapons in space." Asked whether the move was in response to China's destruction of one of its defunct weather satellites with a missile last year, the minister said: "What China does is not important, but it is in the same geographical neighbourhood and it has demonstrated its capabilities. We have to take note of that." The minister spent a considerable section of his speech stressing on the need for advancements in aerospace technology including the need for manned space and moon missions. Raju and Major said the manned mission is an Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) initiative. ISRO maintained that it is still in the study phase. However, an ISRO spokesperson here said the organisation does not have a military mandate. "ISRO continues to be for civilian applications only," said S. Satish, director of public relations. But ISRO satellites do have the capability to spy. The organisation's Technology Experiment Satellite (TES), with its one-metre resolution camera, launched in 2001, can be used as a spy satellite. ISRO has several centres across the world that can send and receive signals from its satellites and ISRO officials maintain that satellite data can be accessible to multiple users, including the military. Asked whether the USA had used TES during the Afghan invasion, Satish said although India can take pictures from any part of the globe, they can be disseminated to other nations only with the written permission of the country that has been imaged. Antrix Corporation, the trade wing of ISRO, launched Israeli spy satellite Tecsar on January 21. Some of the leading space powers also have military ambitions. The US air force has a space command with the mission: 'To deliver space and missile capabilities to America and its warfighting commands'. ** [EMAIL PROTECTED] --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Green Youth Movement" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/greenyouth?hl=en-GB -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
