Embracing Strategic Clarity Towards Coherent

It’s imperative for India to formulate a military space doctrine commensurate to its increasing heft for preempting regional security challenges, and forging deeper cooperation with Indo-Pacific countries.

To a great extent, states decide their foreign policy posture and national development priorities based on where they are located, as is illustrated by the title of Tim Marshal book ‘Prisoners of Geography’.

For India, the context of South Asia – unresolved border disputes with China and Pakistan,

By Namrata Goswami

both nuclear states in its eastern and western flanks – renders geographic context extremely relevant and strategic in terms of to capacity building in civilian as well as military domain.

India’s ability to utilize space for both economic and national security has become critical since the development of Chinese space capabilities and ambitions, given that such capacities can be utilized for counter-space strikes to destroy India’s ability to utilize its own civilian and military space assets.

Sino Space Threat

Advanced space capabilities lend support to China’s movement of military forces at high altitudes through its more than 250 military satellites utilized for intelligence,

Surveillance, and Reconnaissance (ISR), Command, Control, Communication, and targeting (C3T), as well as precision missile deployment and tracking.

China has conducted more than hundred military exercises annually in the Tibetan plateau since 2023 where its disputed border with India is, that has included a joint effort by its Tibetan Military District (TMD), Western Theatre Command (WTC) and Xinjiang Military District (XMD).

Since 2015, China’s Military Strategic Guidance as well as its 2019 White Paper on National Defense have included the space domain as part of its multi-domain operations, with space capabilities forming an important component of China taking the strategic initiative in a conflict, be it in the South China Sea (SCS), East China Sea (ECS), or the China-India border areas.

In 2016, China became the first nation in the world to test a Quantum satellite, named Mecius, based on which more experiments have been conducted to develop an un-hackable Quantum communications capability. China declared certain assets in space like ‘satellite internet’ as critical infrastructure in 2020

China’s military space capabilities have witnessed the establishment of the People’s Liberation Army Strategic Support Force (PLASSF), and development of counter-space capabilities like Anti-Satellite (ASAT) weapons, robotic arms, spoofing, jamming, dazzling and blinding, cyber-attacks on satellites, in orbit platforms augmented by Artificial Intelligence that can target adversary capabilities, as the QUAD laser and power beaming capabilities and electronic warfare.

Given this clear strategic rationale for China’s development of space capabilities for augmenting its military space capabilities, one of the weaknesses of India’s own defense posture and capability is its military space capability.

India’s civilian space capabilities like rocket launch, satellite manufacturing, support to national development like agriculture, weather forecasting, tele-education, tele-medicine, and navigation like Global Positioning System (GPS) is well known.

However, the lack of a clear national security strategy vis-à-vis space capabilities has created strategic ambiguity, leading to a weakened global posture when it comes to deterrence in the upper Himalayas.

This also stands in the way of building a robust foundation for its naval posture in the Indian Ocean, and towards building strategic partnerships with countries like the United States, Australia, and Japan through a mechanism such as the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue (QUAD).

Due to a lack of strategic clarity, partner nations find it difficult to ensure strategic convergence on issues like Space Situational Awareness (SSA), space domain awareness, and towards building a joint strategic posture when it come to a free and democratic Indo-Pacific.

What is needed is a roadmap for a military space doctrine that enables India to take advantage of its space assets towards building a resilient deterrence architecture, augmenting its partner nation capability in forums such as the QUAD.

India’s Civilian Space Policy Posture

India established the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) in 1969. Since beginning, state funded and directed investments have been the thrust of India’s space program, geared towards national development.

Since the establishment of ISRO, India has earned a reputation as a reliable and cost-effective launch provider for a global market of satellite launches, sending hundreds of Indian origin and foreign satellites to space since 1975.

In 2014, India became the first Asian country to reach Mars orbit. Since 2019, India has taken some significant policy decisions to privatize its space sector, and with the official Indian space policy of 2023, this has been institutionalized into a clear authorization process.

As part of India’s space vision in the long term, the 2023 space policy states that “to augment space capabilities; enable, encourage and develop a flourishing commercial presence in space; use space as a driver of technology development and derived benefits in allied areas; pursue international relations, and create an ecosystem for effective implementation of space applications among all stakeholders.”

Subsequently, the vision is connected to India’s space goals of utilizing space for national development, national security, and economic development with a focus on peaceful development of space.

The 2023 space policy makes it clear that the strategy adopted by the government of India to develop India into a space power is via commercialization of space.

“Non-Governmental Entities (NGEs) will be encouraged to engage in the commercial recovery of an asteroid resource or a space resource. Any NGE engaged in such process shall be entitled to possess, own, transport, use, and sell any such asteroid resource or space resource obtained in accordance with applicable law, including the international obligations of India”, says the space policy document.

The Indian position on space resources is important to consider as it would imply the development of capacities to extract resources like in-space manufacturing and assembly, 3D printing, robotic capabilities, Artificial Intelligence, in space re-fueling, the development of Space Based Solar Power (SBSP), that would include power beaming, nuclear propulsion for shorter duration travel from one celestial body to another.

Such capacities require a high level of space-based communication, to include both lunar communications, specifically cislunar (Earth-Moon) space situational awareness, something that adds to military capabilities.

Maintaining Synergy

The Indian position on space based resources is similar to two other QUAD partner nations, to include the United States with its US Commercial Space Launch Competitiveness Act (2015), and the 2021 Japan space resources act.

India now joins them in encouraging its private sector to engage in the extraction of space resources by creating the enabling policy and regulatory structures.

The 2023 space policy directs ISRO to concentrate on Research & Development (R&D) and states that ISRO “undertake studies and missions on in-situ resource utilization, celestial prospecting and other aspects of extra-terrestrial habitability.”

The New Space India Ltd (NSIL) that was established in 2019 will be responsible for “commercialising space technologies and platforms created through public expenditure and procure/ manufacture space systems from either the public or the private sector.” The Indian National Space Promotion & Authorisation Centre (IN-SPACe) will function as the single-window authorization center for both public and private sector space activities.

It will include launch, operation, in orbit slots, re-entry of space objects, and the dissemination of Earth observation data. IN-SPACe has been tasked to proactively promote private industry in order to “establish India as a preferred service provider for global requirements of products/services in the space sector.” The main government entity that will implement the 2023 space policy is the Department of Space (DoS), which falls under the Prime Minister’s Office.

Harmonizing Spatial/ Space Capabilities

While India’s official 2023 space policy is clear regarding the urgent requirement to privatize space development to scale up India’s contribution to the global space economy, India needs to think seriously about its military space posture.

This is urgent because of two important strategic roles that India will be expected to play. The first role is India’s partner capabilities as a key contributor to the QUAD space capabilities to ensure a free Indo-Pacific which to be successful will require joint interoperability across multiple domains to include space.

Amongst the QUAD nations, the United States possess geospatial capabilities like electro-optical infrared imaging, earth imaging, synthetic aperture radar, electro-magnetic spectrum mapping, hyper spectral, specialized satellites for missile warning and weather, and large constellations in Low Earth Orbit.

US also has capabilities in shipping and aircraft tracking called identification tracking, and is developing space-based radar to track moving targets on land, air, and sea.

Additionally, the US is involved in wind and atmospheric tracking.