India to hold first ever simulated space warfare exercise in July
India is all set to conduct its first-ever simulated space warfare exercise next month.
The space warfare exercise has been named as IndSpaceEx. All military stakeholders, including those from the scientific community, will participate in it, reported the Times of India.
The purpose of the exercise is to understand the possible challenges in space warfare and to counter China’s growing influence in this domain, which poses a major threat to India’s national security interest.
“The main aim of the exercise, to be held in the last week of July under the aegis of the Integrated Defence Staff of the defence ministry, is to assess the requisite space and counter-space capabilities that are needed by India to ensure we can protect our national security interests in this final frontier of warfare,” the Daily quoted a senior official as saying.
India took the first step towards developing a counter-space capability under ‘Mission Shakti’ when it launched a 19-tonne interceptor missile to destroy the 740-kg Microsat-R satellite, at an altitude of 283 km in the low earth orbit (LEO), in a ‘hit-to-kill mode’ on March 27.
“Space is getting militarised, as also contested and competitive. The main aim of the exercise, to be held in the last week of July under the aegis of the Integrated Defence Staff of the defence ministry, is to assess the requisite space and counter-space capabilities that are needed by India to ensure we can protect our national security interests in this final frontier of warfare,” a senior official said.
“India needs credible deterrence in the space domain to prevent our adversaries from blinding and deafening our armed forces by taking out our satellites vital for surveillance, communication, missile early-warning, precision-targeting and the like. IndSpaceEx will help us better grasp the strategic challenges in space that need to be handled,” another officer said.
