Defence Space Agency | |
---|---|
Active | |
Country | India |
Type | Integrated tri-services agency |
Role | Space Warfare Satellite Intelligence |
Part of | Integrated Defence Staff [4] |
Headquarters | Bengaluru [5] |
Commanders | |
Current commander | Air vice marshal-level officer |
The Defence Space Agency (DSA) is an integrated tri-services agency of the Indian Armed Forces headquartered in Bengaluru, Karnataka, India. The agency is tasked with operating the space-warfare and Satellite Intelligence [6] assets of India. The DSA draws personnel from all three branches of the Armed Forces.
The agency is expected to be converted into a full sized tri-service military command in the future. [3]
The Naresh Chandra Task Force was set up in July 2011 by National Security Advisor Shivshankar Menon to review the recommendations of the Kargil Review Committee, assess the implementation progress and further suggest new reforms related to national security. [7] [8] The task force was led by Naresh Chandra, retired Indian Administrative Service officer, and comprised 13 other members, including Gopalaswami Parthasarathy, Air Chief Marshal Srinivasapuram Krishnaswamy (Retd), Admiral Arun Prakash (Retd), Lt Gen V. R. Raghavan (Retd), Anil Kakodkar, K C Verma and V K Duggal. The committee conducted the first holistic review of national security since the Kargil Review Committee and submitted its classified report to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on 23 May 2012. [9] Among its recommendations, the Task Force recommended the creation of a cyber command, an aerospace command and a special operations command. All three units were proposed to be tri-service commands. [10] [11] The DSA is a downsized implementation of this proposal. [3]
The creation of the Defence Space Agency (DSA), the Defence Cyber Agency (DCA), and the Armed Forces Special Operations Division (AFSOD) was approved by Prime Minister Narendra Modi during the Combined Commanders' Conference at Jodhpur Air Force Station on 28 September 2018. [1] [2] The Defence Imagery Processing and Analysis Centre in Delhi and the Defence Satellite Control Centre in Bhopal were subsumed by the DSA. [3]
Months before the operationalisation of the Defence Space Agency, India conducted an Anti-satellite weapon (ASAT) test in March 2019. The test was aimed at demonstrating India's anti-satellite capability. [12]
The Indian ASAT programme can be traced back to its BMD program, which began in 1999 in response to threats posed by the Ballistic missiles of Pakistan and China. [13] In 2006 and 2007, India tested its first exo atmospheric interceptor and has developed many interceptors since then. [14] [15] On 18 March 2008, DRDO Chief V. K. Saraswat had hinted that India possessed technology required for an ASAT missile, reiterating it in February 2010. [16] India is known to have been developing an exo-atmospheric kill vehicle that can be integrated with the missile to engage satellites. [17] In April 2012, Saraswat again said that India possessed the critical technologies for an ASAT weapon from radars and interceptors developed for Indian Ballistic Missile Defence Programme. [18] India had begun work on its ASAT soon after the 2007 Chinese anti-satellite missile test. [16]
As of April 2019, India was working on directed energy ASAT weapons, co-orbital ASAT weapons, lasers and electromagnetic pulse (EMP) based ASAT weapons. The ability to protect space assets from hostile electronic and physical attacks was also being developed by India. [19]
India conducted its first simulated space warfare exercise on 25th and 26 July 2019, called IndSpaceEx. The exercise was conducted under the supervision of Integrated Defence Staff. The exercise was aimed at obtaining an assessment of threats and the creation of a joint space warfare doctrine. [20] [21]
The first edition of the exercise was conducted from 11 to 13 November 2024 by Headquarters Integrated Defence Staff. The exercise will simulate various scenarios of war-game the growing threats from and to Space Based Assets and Services. [22]
As of 2024, India operates 9 military satellites. [23]
The Space Based Surveillance Phase-I project was approved by the "Vajpeyee government" on 2001 as a part of which 4 satellites — Cartosat-2A, Cartosat-2B, EROS B and RISAT-2 — were launched. [24]
The Space Based Surveillance Phase-II project was approved by the government on 2013 as a part of which 6 satellites — Cartosat-2C, Cartosat-2D, Cartosat-3A, Cartosat-3B, Microsat-TD, RISAT-2A — were cleared. [24]
On 12 October 2024, India's Cabinet Committee on Security approved a proposal for the development, construction and launch of at least 52 spy satellites as a part of Space Based Surveillance Phase-III project intended to enhance the country's surveillance capabilities from space in both land and sea domains. The project, worth ₹ 26,968 crore (US$3.2 billion), will be supervised by National Security Council Secretariat along with the Defence Space Agency under the Integrated Defence Staff. Of these satellites 21 will be built by ISRO and the others by 31 private sector companies. They will enhance the SATCOM capabilities of UAVs like the MQ-9B Predator drones that are on order. The SBS system will provide round-the-clock monitoring, unaffected by weather, time of day, or atmospheric conditions and may have secondary civilian applications as well. All the satellites is to be launched within 5 years at Geosynchronous Equatorial Orbit (GEO) and Low Earth Orbit (LEO). The satellites will be equipped with artificial intelligence for inter-satellite communications. [25] [26] [27] [24]
While the Space-based Surveillance projects deal with earth observation satellites, the Indian Armed Forces also uses communications satellites of the GSAT-7 series of which GSAT-7 and GSAT-7A are operational while GSAT-7B, GSAT-7C and GSAT-7R are on order for launch.
As of 2023, India has only 2 dedicated military satellites (GSAT-7 and GSAT-7A) with the rest being dual purpose military satellites. [28] [29]
The headquarter of the DSA is in Bangalore. [5] It functions under the Integrated Defence Staff. [4] Personnel from all the three branches of the Indian Armed Forces will be stationed in the agency. [4] The agency is expected to be fully operational by November 2019. [3]
The DSA will operate systems to protect Indian interests in outer space and will deal with potential space wars. The agency will have the responsibility of developing a space warfare strategy. [74] It works on Signals Intelligence (SIGINT), Electronic Intelligence (ELINT), Communication Intelligence (COMINT) and in areas like space-based tracking systems. [75] [76]
The Defence Space Research Agency (DSRA) is the scientific organisation responsible for developing space-warfare systems and technologies for the Defence Space Agency. The DSRA was approved by the Government of India in June 2019. [77] The DSRA is composed of scientists who undertake research and development in close coordination with the Integrated Defence Staff. [78] Various types of Anti-satellite weapon systems are currently under development. [19]
The Indian Space Research Organisation is India's national space agency. It serves as the principal research and development arm of the Department of Space (DoS), overseen by the Prime Minister of India, with the Chairman of ISRO also serving as the chief executive of the DoS. It is primarily responsible for space-based operations, space exploration, international space cooperation and the development of related technologies. The agency maintains a constellation of imaging, communication and remote sensing satellites. It operates the GAGAN and IRNSS satellite navigation systems. It has sent three missions to the Moon and one mission to Mars.
Cartosat-3 is an advanced Indian Earth observation satellite built and developed by Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), which replaces the Indian Remote Sensing Satellite (IRS) series. It has a panchromatic resolution of 0.25 metres making it one of the imaging satellite with highest resolution in the world at the time of launch and MX of 1 metre with a high quality resolution which is a major improvement from the previous payloads in the Cartosat series.
Cartosat-2A is an Earth observation satellite in a Sun-synchronous orbit and the third of the Cartosat series of satellites. The satellite is the thirteenth satellite in the Indian Remote Sensing (IRS) satellite series to be built, launched by the Indian Space Research Organisation.
The Integrated Space Cell was the nodal agency within the Government of India with oversight of the security of its space based military and civilian hardware systems. It was to be jointly operated by all the three services of the Indian Armed Forces, the civilian Defence Research and Development Organisation and the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO). This agency was superseded by Defence Space Agency in 2019.
RISAT (Radar Imaging Satellite) is a series of Indian radar imaging reconnaissance satellites built by the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO). They provide all-weather surveillance using synthetic aperture radars (SAR).
RISAT-2, or Radar Imaging Satellite-2 was an Indian radar imaging reconnaissance satellite that was part of India's RISAT programme. It was procured from Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI) and successfully launched aboard a PSLV-CA launch vehicle at 01:15:00 UTC on 20 April 2009 from the Second Launch Pad at the Satish Dhawan Space Centre.
Radar Imaging Satellite 1 or RISAT-1, was an Indian remote sensing satellite built and operated by the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO). The second RISAT satellite to be launched, it used a C-band 5.35 GHz synthetic-aperture radar (SAR) for Earth observation.
Communication-Centric Intelligence Satellite is an Indian advanced reconnaissance satellite, being developed by the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO). It will be India's first officially declared dedicated spy satellite and is expected to be in orbit, tentatively, by 2014. This satellite will help Indian intelligence agencies to significantly boost surveillance of terror camps in neighbouring countries.
The Cartosat is a series of Indian optical Earth observation satellites built and operated by the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO). The Cartosat series is a part of the Indian Remote Sensing Program. They are used for Earth's resource management, defence services and monitoring.
GSAT-7A is an advanced military communications satellite meant primarily for the Indian Air Force with Indian Army using 30% of capacity.
EOS-04 or Earth Observation Satellite - 04 is an Indian Space Research Organisation Radar Imaging Satellite designed to provide high-quality images under all weather conditions for applications such as Agriculture, Forestry & Plantations, Soil Moisture & Hydrology and Flood mapping. It is a follow on to RISAT-1 satellite with similar configuration. The satellite is developed by the ISRO and it is the sixth in a series of RISAT satellites.
Cartosat-2F is the eighth satellite in the Cartosat-2 Series. It is an Earth observation satellite launched on the PSLV-C40 mission by the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO).
RISAT-2B, or Radar Imaging Satellite-2B is an Indian radar reconnaissance satellite that is part of India's RISAT programme and the third satellite in the series. It is built by Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) to replace RISAT-2.
RISAT-2BR1 is a synthetic-aperture radar (SAR) imaging satellite built by Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO). It is part of India's RISAT series of SAR imaging satellite and fourth satellite in the series. RISAT-2BR1 was launched on 11 December 2019 at 09:55 UTC aboard Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle PSLV-C48 from First Launch Pad (FLP) of Satish Dhawan Space Centre. It was the 50th launch of Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle and 75th launch from Satish Dhawan Space Centre.
PSLV-C46 was a mission of the Indian Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) rocket, launched on Thursday, May 22, 2019, at 05:30 Hrs (IST) by the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) from the first launch pad of the Satish Dhawan Space Centre at Sriharikota, Andhra Pradesh. In this mission, the 'Core-Alone' configuration of PSLV was flown.
PSLV-C47 was a mission of the Indian Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) rocket, launched on Thursday, November 27, 2019, at 09:27 Hrs (IST) by the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) from the second launch pad of the Satish Dhawan Space Centre at Sriharikota, Andhra Pradesh.
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