General Kapoor suggests creation of Tri-Services Space Command

New Delhi, June 16 : Chief of Army Staff General Deepak Kapoor today emphasised on establish the much-delayed tri-services space command to respond quickly to any threat to India's assets in space.

He was speaking at a seminar organised by the Indian Army and the Centre for Land and Warfare Studies (CLAWS). General Kapoor pointed out there was an imperative requirement to develop joint structures for synergising employment of space assets.

"The establishment of a Tri-Services Space Command for persistent surveillance and rapid response is required in future and we need to continue with capability development through a synergistic approach between three Services," General Kapoor said.

"The Indian Army recognises space as an emerging arena for important military applications and is increasingly being identified as the ultimate military high ground for battle of space dominance," he added.

The Army Chief said that space based application like surveillance, intelligence, communications, navigation and precision guidance have played a dominant role in recent conflicts.

General Kapoor pointed out that though military usage of space in the Indian context was at a comparatively nascent stage, and said that the Army, which had larger user base, needed to expand its knowledge base about space applications.

He further said that the Army had taken certain space initiatives like formulation of Army Space Vision 2020and creation of Army Space Cell to conduct space related training and so on.

The Army Chief's remarks came in the wake of India's defence establishment initiating counter measures to ward off the anti-satellite (ASAT) threats from China.

"Chinese space programme is expanding at an exponentially rapid pace in both offensive and defensive content. There is an imperative requirement to develop joint structures in the Indian armed forces for synergising employment of space assets," General Kapoor said.

Earlier, Defence Minister A K Antony had announced the setting up of an Integrated Space Cell at the Integrated Defence Staff headquarters to act as a single window for military use and security of space resources, apart from performing the role of interface among Army, Navy and Air Force.

ANI