Defence Space Agency

Last updated

Defence Space Agency
Defence Space Agency India.png
Insignia of the Defence Space Agency
Active
  • Established: 28 September 2018;6 years ago (2018-09-28) [1] [2]
  • Operational: November 2019 (2019-11) [3]
CountryIndia
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 Pavan Kumar, VM [6]

The Defence Space Agency (DSA) is an integrated tri-services agency of the Indian Armed Forces headquartered in Bengaluru, Karnataka. The agency is tasked with operating the space warfare and satellite intelligence [7] assets of India. The DSA draws personnel from all three branches of the Armed Forces.

Contents

The agency is expected to be converted into a full sized tri-service military command in the future. [3]

Background

History

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. [8] [9] 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. [10] 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. [11] [12] 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]

On 7 April 2024, India’s Chief of Defence Staff (CDS), General Anil Chauhan, announced the forthcoming release of a dedicated military space doctrine within two to three months as well as the underway formulation of a national military space policy. [13] [14] The "Joint Military Space Doctrine" was released on 16 September 2025, the second day of Combined Commanders' Conference (CCC) 2025, at the headquarters Army Eastern Command, Fort William, Kolkata. [15]

Organisation

DSA, headquartered in Bangalore [5] and functioning under the Integrated Defence Staff [4] with military personnel from all the three branches of the Indian Armed Forces deputed to the agency, [4] became fully operational in 2019 [3] with the aim to protect Indian interests in outer space, develop a space warfare strategy, and deal with potential space wars [16] by leveraging the Signals Intelligence (SIGINT), Electronic Intelligence (ELINT), Communication Intelligence (COMINT), and space-based surveillance and tracking systems. [17] [18]

Defence Space Research Agency

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. [19] The DSRA is composed of scientists who undertake research and development in close coordination with the Integrated Defence Staff. [20] Various types of Anti-satellite weapon systems are currently under development. [21]

Indian Military's Space Command

In 2023, Indian Air Force (IAF) proposed to transition itself as the Indian Air and Space Force (IASF) with an enhanced focus on space-based capabilities India including plans to operate over 100 small and large military satellites within next 7 to 8 years by expanding the role of DSA to a full-fledged Space Command. [22]

In December 2024, with the aim of transitioning from IAF to IASC, the Department of Military Affairs presented a detailed transition plan to the key stakeholders, such as MoD (Ministry of Defence), ISRO and DRDO, which envisages strengthening DSA and other related organisations by increasing the manpower, ground-based infrastructure, space-based assets to enhance India's space-centric warfare and space asset protection and risk mitigation capabilities. Before this transition plan was presented, the Government of India had already approved DSA's SBS-III project which entails launching 52 military surveillance and communication satellites for the Indian Military between 2025 and 2029, [23]

Anti-satellite programme of India

Indian ASAT missile, taking off during test in March 2019. Launch of DRDO's Ballistic Missile Defence interceptor missile for an ASAT test on 27 March 2019.jpg
Indian ASAT missile, taking off during test in March 2019.

Origin: BMD (Ballistic Missile Defence) programme

The origin of 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. [24] In 2006 and 2007, India tested its first exo atmospheric interceptor and has developed many interceptors since then. [25] [26] On 18 March 2008, DRDO Chief V. K. Saraswat stated that India possessed technology required for an ASAT missile, reiterating it in February 2010. [27] India is known to have been developing an exo-atmospheric kill vehicle that can be integrated with the missile to engage satellites. [28] 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. [29] India had begun work on its ASAT soon after the 2007 Chinese anti-satellite missile test. [27]

ASAT: Anti-satellite weapons

India's Anti-satellite weapon (ASAT) program commenced in March 2019, months before the operationalisation of the Defence Space Agency, when India conducted an ASAT test aimed at demonstrating India's anti-satellite capability. [30] In 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. [21]

Military exercises

IndSpaceEx 2019

India conducted its first simulated space warfare exercise on 25 and 26 July 2019, called IndSpaceEx. The exercise was conducted under the supervision of the Integrated Defence Staff. The exercise was aimed at obtaining an assessment of threats and the creation of a joint space warfare doctrine. [31] [32]

Antariksha Abhyan (2024-present)

The first edition of the exercise was conducted from 11 to 13 November 2024 by Headquarters Integrated Defence Staff. The exercise simulated various scenarios of war-game the growing threats from and to Space Based Assets and Services. [33] [34]

Space Based Surveillance (SBS) project

The Space Based Surveillance is a series of projects taken up by the Government of India to launch a constellation of satellites for earth observation roles. Additionally, the Indian Armed Forces also operates communications satellites of the GSAT-7 series of which GSAT-7 and GSAT-7A are active while GSAT-7B, GSAT-7C and GSAT-7R are planned for launch. [35]

The Phase-I project was approved by the PM Atal Bihari Vajpeyee in 2001. In this phase, 4 satellites — Cartosat-2A, Cartosat-2B, EROS B and RISAT-2 — were launched. [36]

The 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 approved for development and launch. [36]

SBS Phase-III

On 12 October 2024, India's Cabinet Committee on Security approved a proposal for the development, construction and launch of a constellation of 52 spy satellites as a part of the 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. The constellation will also enhance the SATCOM capabilities of long range UAVs of the Armed Forces like the MQ-9B Predator drones that are on order. The SBS system will provide round-the-clock monitoring, irrespective of 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. [37] [38] [39]

As part of the project, 21 satellites will be co-developed by ISRO and France (under the Loi agreement for “defence space cooperation”) while the rest of 31 satellites are to be developed by three private sector companies. The role of these satellites would be surveillance, reconnaissance, communication and other strategic purposes. The CCS has also, reportedly, approved two agencies to develop multiple types of defensive and offensive capabilities from space. Under the same project, few experiments would be conducted for an integrated LEO and MEO satellite-based communication system which is a requirement for the Air Force and the Navy. The first batch of satellites will be launched in 2027-28. [35] [23]

Following Operation Sindoor, the project was expedited, according to reports dated 30 June 2025. The first batch of satellites is now anticipated to launch in April 2026, with the full fleet of satellites to be deployed by the end of 2029. While private companies have been instructed to increase the pace of satellite production, additional efforts are apparently being made "to launch the satellites faster" into space. The goal of SBS Phase-III is to cover far broader areas of China, Pakistan, and the Indian Ocean region with superior resolution and shorter "revisit times"—the period between two consecutive surveillance sweeps of the same area. India intends to shrink its OODA loop as well. [40] [41] [42]

Kepler Aero ISR swarm constellation

As part of the MoD's Innovations for Defence Excellence (iDEX) program, the Indian startup Kepler Aerospace was awarded a defense contract in July 2025 to develop an autonomous intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance satellite swarm constellation. Kepler Aerospace will have access to launch facilities and ₹ 34 crore (US$4.0 million) in government support. Six satellites will be developed for the Defense Space Agency, Integrated Defence Staff and MoD, and its launch is scheduled for 2027. Kepler’s ISR satellites will include AI/ML-based target detection and threat identification, multi-sensor data fusion covering the entire electromagnetic spectrum, real-time swarm coordination, autonomous decision-making, real-time adaptability, multi-domain awareness, and man-independent self-tasking capability, which eliminates the need for constant human oversight at ground control. It is the foundation of Advanced Distributed Warfighter Data network, which provides battlefield awareness. Autonomous threat mitigation and resistance against rendezvous proximity operations will be integrated into the ISR satellites. The constellation will strengthen space-based intelligence and defense capabilities. [43] [44]

With the ability to independently task one another without human interference, these satellites will be able to identify signals and follow heat signatures or optical imagery in real time, allowing for surveillance in challenging terrain such as mountains or dense forests. By concentrating on motion tracking and actions as opposed to static surveillance, the system seeks to cut down the amount of time needed to acquire intelligence from days to less than 90 minutes. [45]

List of Indian military satellites

As of 2024, India operates 9 military satellites. [46] Of these, three strategic satellites including two communication satellites (GSAT-7 and GSAT-7A) [47] [48] are for dedicated military use, while the rest are dual-purpose satellites with military and civilian applications. [35]

Operational

  1. RISAT-2B: Launched on 22 May 2019 has replaced the retired RISAT-2. The primary requirement of the satellite is military surveillance along with secondary civilian purposes like disaster management, agriculture and forestry. [49] [50]
  2. RISAT-2BR1: Launched on 11 December 2019 as a part of RISAT series. It can distinguish between objects which are 35 cm apart. [51]
  1. CARTOSAT-2B carries a panchromatic (PAN) camera capable of taking black-and-white pictures in the visible region of electromagnetic spectrum which has a resolution of 80 centimetres. [52] The highly agile CARTOSAT-2B can be steered up to 45 deg along as well as across the direction of its movement to facilitate imaging of any area more frequently and offers multiple spot scene imagery. [53] [54]
  2. Cartosat-2C: Launched in June 2016, the satellite was used in reconnaissance purposes before and during 2016 Indian Line of Control strike. [55]
  3. Cartosat-2E: Launched on 23 June 2017, the Cartosat-2E satellite was designed to collect high-resolution (0.6 m×0.6 m), large scale imagery. The satellite provides an edge in warfare with clearer images. The satellite is also used for urban planning, infrastructure development and traffic management. [51]
  1. EOS-01 (previously RISAT-2BR2)
  1. GSAT-7 was launched in 2013 for the exclusive use of the Indian Navy to monitor the Indian Ocean Region (IOR) with the satellite's 2,000 nautical mile ‘footprint’ and real-time input capabilities to Indian warships, submarines and maritime aircraft. [56] To boost its network-centric operations, the IAF is also likely to get another satellite GSAT-7C within a few years. [56]
  2. GSAT-7A: Launched in December 2018 for the exclusive military use for the Indian Air Force. [56] [57] GSAT-7A allows IAF to interlink different ground radar stations, ground airbase, aircraft to aircraft Real-time Control System, AEW&C aircraft such as Beriev A-50-based Phalcon and DRDO Netra. The satellite enhances network-centric warfare capabilities of the Indian Air Force and its global operations. [58] [56] The satellite is also used by Indian Army's Aviation Corps for real-time control and communication of its aviation operations. [59] [60]
  1. HySIS, a dual use satellite, was also launched in November 2013, which is used by the navy. [61] HySIS carries two payloads, the first in the Visible Near Infrared (VNIR) spectral range of 0.4 to 0.95 micrometres with 60 contiguous spectral bands and the second in the Shortwave Infrared Range (SWIR) spectral range of 0.85 to 2.4 micrometres with a 10 nanometre bandwidth and 256 contiguous spectral bands. The satellite will have a spatial resolution of 30 meters and a swath of 30 km from its 630 km sun-synchronous orbit. [62] [57] [63] [64] [65]
  1. EMISAT: Launched on 1 April 2019, is a reconnaissance satellite [66] under DRDO's project Kautilya [67] which will provide space-based electronic intelligence or ELINT, especially to improve the situational awareness of the Indian Armed Forces by providing information and location of enemy radars. [68]

Planned

  1. Cartosat-3A (EOS-8): Planned to be launched on PSLV-XL. Will have a panchromatic resolution of 0.25 metres and a high quality resolution of 1 metre. To be launched in 2024. [69] [36]
  2. Cartosat-3B: Planned to be launched on PSLV-XL. Will have a panchromatic resolution of 0.25 metres and a high quality resolution of 1 metre. To be launched in 2025. [69] [36] [70]
  1. GSAT-7R, planned to replace GSAT-7 for the Indian Navy. [71] [72]
  2. GSAT-7B, planned to be first dedicated military satellite for the Indian Army. The approval was granted by Defence Acquisition Council (DAC) on 21 March 2023. The multiband military satellite, featuring integrated communication for network-centric operations, will be launched in 2–3 years. [73] Contract for a 5-tonne satellite signed with NewSpace India Limited (NSIL), worth ₹ 2,963 crore (US$350 million) on 29 March 2023. The satellite would provide beyond line of sight communication to troops and formations as well as weapon and airborne platforms. [74] [47]
  3. GSAT-7C, replace GSAT-7A for the Indian Air Force. [75]

Decommissioned

  1. Technology Experiment Satellite or (TES) is an experimental satellite to demonstrate and validate, in orbit, technologies that could be used in the future satellites of Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO). [76] The Technology Experiment Satellite (TES) has a panchromatic camera capable of producing images of 1 meter resolution for remote sensing. [77] The launch of TES made India the second country in the world after the United States that can commercially offer images with one meter resolution. [77] It is used for remote sensing of civilian areas, mapping industry and geographical information services.
  2. RISAT-2, or Radar Imaging Satellite 2 has a primary sensor, the synthetic aperture radar from Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI). [78] RISAT-2 is India's first satellite with a synthetic aperture radar. It has a day-night, all-weather monitoring capability and has a resolution of one metre. [79] Potential applications include tracking hostile ships at sea. [80] Though the Indian Space Research Organisation sought to underplay the satellite's defence capabilities in its website and in its announcements, a majority of the media preferred to classify it as a spy satellite. [81] ISRO claims that the satellite will enhance ISRO's capability for earth observation, especially during floods, cyclones, landslides and in disaster management in a more effective way. [82]
  3. CARTOSAT-2 carries a state-of-the-art panchromatic (PAN) camera that take black and white pictures of the Earth in the visible region of the electromagnetic spectrum. The swath covered by these high resolution PAN cameras is 9.6 km and their spatial resolution is 80 centimetres. [83] The satellite can be steered up to 45 degrees along as well as across the track. CARTOSAT-2 is an advanced remote sensing satellite capable of providing scene-specific spot imagery. The data from the satellite will be used for detailed mapping and other cartographic applications at cadastral level, urban and rural infrastructure development and management, as well as applications in Land Information System (LIS) and Geographical Information System (GIS). [52] Cartosat was decommissioned and the perigee lowered by controlled burns between March and Sep 2020 as debris mitigation activities. This will result in the orbit naturally decaying and re-entry within 10 years.
  4. GSAT-6A is a dedicated satellite for army as a replacement for GSAT-6 which lost communication after its launch. [56]
  5. Microsat-R, a dedicated military satellite for the Indian Armed Forces, was launched on 24 January 2019. The 760 kg imaging satellite was launched using PSLV C-44 rocket. [84]

See also

Integrated entities
Assets
Other nations
General concepts

References

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