Tuesday, February 11, 2025

Space Warfare & Defence: Mission DefSpace

By Mayank Aggarwal

The history of war is as old as history of humans. It has been observed that the technologically superior party has had a significant advantage over the inferior party, even neutralising their numerical advantage. The Mongols conquered the largest consolidated land empire in history within a short span due to the innovation of the iron stirrup. The invention of the gunpowder and thence cannons, guns and artillery changed the course of land warfare. Later, the British were able to establish an empire where ‘the Sun never set’ due to their superiority at sea. The First World War saw the advent of the domain of warfare expanding into airspace. We entered the Nuclear Age under the mushroom clouds of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

Sputnik 1 ushered in the ‘Space Age’ in 1957 when the USSR became the first nation to successfully orbit a human-made object around the Earth. The 83kg spherical satellite broadcast radio pulses which could be easily detected by anyone on ground. More than the scientific achievement though, the Sputnik was intended as a message to the USSR’s Cold War rival – the USA – that the latter was falling behind technologically. This strategic competition between the two global superpowers to dominate Space is known as the First Space Age. According to studies, throughout the period of 1957 to 1990, the US and the USSR launched 93 percent of all satellites of which approximately 70 percent were military satellites. Parallelly, a ‘Space Race’ was ongoing between the two nations to demonstrate significant advancements and superiority in space technologies. With the Apollo 11 mission of landing humans on Moon in 1969, the United States effectively ‘won’ this race. 

The end of the Cold War also bought a revolution in space, ushering in the Second Space Age. After the fall of the Soviet Union, the advancement of commercial applications of space, the reduction in costs and the shift in balance of power gave rise to the ‘Second Space Age’. This is characterised as more ‘diverse, disruptive, disordered, and dangerous than the First Space Age’ according to a 2017 report of the CSIS Aerospace Security Project. The altering geopolitical realities of the post-Cold War world led to more nations investing in and developing indigenous space capabilities. Today, nations with major space capabilities other than USA and Russia are China, Japan, Europe, and India.

The First Gulf War began in January 1991, a watershed moment in space technology development. Operation Desert Storm, as it was known, is also famous as the world’s first ‘Space War’ due to the critical role played by the semi-deployed Global Positioning System (GPS) in aiding the US-led coalition forces. GPS technology was used to identify, prioritise, and destroy critical assets with precision strikes by guided missiles and ‘smart’ bombs. The lightening-fast strike took out most of the air-defence infrastructure of the Iraqis. GPS also aided the ground-based forces to navigate across inhospitable terrain and advance rapidly. Since then, Space as a domain has become an integral and ubiquitous part of modern warfare doctrines. 

Space is known as the ‘final frontier’ or the ‘fourth frontier’ of warfare. Space-based assets aid in all phases of defence, from Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance (ISR) for deterrence, to providing inputs on navigation and identification of enemy forces with pin-point accuracy during operations. Article IV of the Outer Space Treaty 1967, to which India is a signatory, states that “Parties shall not place in orbit around Earth any objects carrying nuclear weapons or any other kinds of weapons of mass destruction”. The Treaty is silent on placing non-nuclear non-mass destruction weapons in space. India has unequivocally stated that it has no intention of entering into an arms race in space. India’s ASAT test was conducted only to demonstrate its capability to safeguard critical assets in space. With this, it joins an exclusive club with three other nations – US, Russia, and China, with this capability.   

Beyond the diffusion into nations in the defence domain, the Second Space Age is also characterised by the rapid commercialisation of space applications, and the increasing democratisation of space. This domain is now accessible to even developing countries, large multinational corporations, universities and even schools. The AzaadiSat, launched on the maiden flight of the Small Satellite Launch Vehicle (SSLV) on 7th August 2022, was built by 750 girl students across 75 Indian schools. Writing for the RAND Corporation, William Welser IV brought out that technological advancements like lower-cost launch systems, additive manufacturing, faster computation, and miniaturisation of electronic payloads, have furthered this democratisation. SpaceX, Blue Origins, Virgin Galactic are some of the leading firms revolutionising and disrupting the space industry. 

Indian startups have also led the democratisation of space in India. Skyroot Aerospace, an iDEX startup, recently launched India’s first privately developed rocket, Vikram-S. This historic mission, appropriately entitled Prarambh (‘Beginning’), has kickstarted a new phase of government-private engagement in this new domain. On 26th November 2022, aboard the PSLV C54/EOS-06 mission, two Indian startups – Pixxel and Dhruva Space – successfully deployed their respective nanosatellites. AgniKul Cosmos has developed India’s first privately designed and operated rocket launchpad and mission control centre in India. The Second Space Age has also dawned in India.

Space is now ubiquitous in India’s development story. Multiple ministries utilise data derived from space for planning. Highways/roadways/water pipelines laying, land surveying, weather monitoring, crop production, climate change, all can and are being monitored from space. In June 2020, the Government of India created Indian National Space Promotion and Authorization Centre (IN-SPACe) and New Space India Limited (NSIL) to develop and boost private sector participation in space. Simultaneously, ISRO would focus on research and development activities, deep space exploration and the Gaganyaan Mission etc. 

Timely Government encouragement can make India a front leader in the Second Space Age, as characterised by rapid privatisation of space. India’s development is highly dependent on space-based technologies like NavIC, remote sensing, and space-based internet. Most of these technologies are dual use, with multiple applications in the civilian domain as well as in the military domain. To promote development of advanced technologies and innovations for space which can be further inducted by the Services for enhancing India’s national security, Hon’ble Prime Minister, during DefExpo 2022, launched Mission DefSpace, a set of strategic challenges under Ministry of Defence. 

Image Credit: John Anthony Di Giovanni

Mission DefSpace is launched with the vision to make India Atmanirbhar and the Services self-reliant in next-generation space technologies. As a celebration of Azadi ka Amit Mahotsav, 75 Defence Space Challenges have been curated by the Defence Space Agency (DSA), Indian Army, Indian Air Force, and Indian Navy after multiple rounds of consultations with the private industry. The aim of Mission DefSpace is to develop technologies addressing every stage of a space mission – from mission planning to satellite data analytics. These challenges are classified into five technology buckets viz. launch systems, satellite systems, communication and payload systems, ground systems, and software systems.

‘Launch systems’ includes challenges related to development of small satellite launch vehicles, single-stage-to-orbit (SSTO), and advanced propulsion systems including for rockets and cubesats. All such challenges relating to development of the satellite itself are under ‘Satellite systems’. These relate to development of modular satellites for rapid integration, cubsats, and satellite swarms. Miniaturised payloads of EO/IR sensors, cameras, AI-based on-board image processing are some challenges in the ‘Communication and Payload systems’ bucket. All technologies from the ground, like mobile antennas, SatPhones for communications, form the ‘Ground Systems’. And ‘Software systems’ address innovations relating to cyber security, AI/ML based data processing, and data fusion. These 75 challenges have been categorised into various extant initiatives of the Department of Defence Production viz. iDEX-DISC (Defence India Startup Challenge), iDEX Prime, Make 1, and Make 2.

iDEX was launched by the Hon’ble Prime Minister during DefExpo 2018 with the aim to create an ecosystem which fosters innovation and encourages technology development in Defence by engaging R&D institutes, academia, industries, start- ups and even individual innovators. iDEX is funded and managed by ‘Defence Innovation Organization (DIO)’ which has been formed as a ‘not for profit’ company as per Section 8 of the Companies Act 2013. There are two mechanisms of grant disbursal under iDEX viz Defence India Startup Challenge (DISC) and Prime. Under DISC, the maximum grant amount disbursed is Rs 1.5 crore. Taking cognizance of the enthusiastic industry response, iDEX Prime was launched in April 2022 increasing the maximum grant to Rs 10 crore.

The ‘Make’ category of capital acquisition in Defence Acquisition Procedure is a vital pillar for realising the vision behind the ‘Make in India’ initiative of the Government, by fostering indigenous capabilities through design and development of required defence equipment/product/systems or upgrades/sub-systems/components/parts by both public and private sector industry/ organization in a faster timeframe. There are two sub-categories under ‘Make’: Make 1 and Make 2. Make 1 is Government-funded, i.e. the projects will involve Government funding of 70%, released in a phased manner. Make 2, on the other hand, is Industry-funded, involving prototype development, primarily for import substitution/innovative solutions, for which no Government funding is provided.  The Make scheme as articulated in the Defence Acquisition Procedure 2020, has been greatly simplified in so far as the procurement period is concerned.

These challenges are a critical requirement of the Indian Armed Forces to stay ahead of the developments in the space sector. Their realisation by the industry will lead to advanced technology developments in India, which can be leveraged under ‘defence and space diplomacy’. India is a net security provider in the Indian Ocean Region (IOR). Its technologies are for the upliftment of the lives of not just Indian citizens, but also of other States in the Indian subcontinent. India launched the South Asia Satellite (SAS) in 2017 to boost communication and improve disaster links among its six neighbours of Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, the Maldives, Nepal and Sri Lanka. There is an abundance of such untapped potential in Space, which India can utilise to open up new horizons of engagement under its ‘Neighbourhood First’ policy.

Since 2014, Ministry of Defence, Government of India, has focused on promoting self-reliance and innovation in the fields of defence and defence production. This approach towards Atmanirbharta is premised upon the belief that India has a unique set of challenges, which can be best resolved by Indian innovations from Indian industries. Also, India was one of the largest importers of defence equipment, spending a large amount of forex reserves. Prime Minister Modi made an astute observation that if both India and our adversary use the same weapons bought from the same nation, then how India has an advantage in the battlefield. At the same time, India has to be a ‘technology-leader’, rather than a follower. Innovation, rather than indigenisation, is the need of the hour. 

A recent report by E&Y and ISpA forecasts that space economy in India is set to grow to US$13B by 2025 at a CAGR of 6%. An all-of-government approach has to be followed to optimally utilise this domain and nurture this nascent industry. Ministry of Defence has launched Mission DefSpace to provide impetus to the Indian space industry in the defence domain. However, the technologies realised under this Mission will not be limited only to defence but will have multiple applications across various Ministries. To understand more on these challenges, and to apply, visit the iDEX website. 

Mayank Aggarwal is a Member-Secretary of the Mission DefSpace Advisory Team & Program Executive of iDEX-DIO





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