The Air Force July 23-24 held discussions with a high-ranking Indian Air Force official to help the south Asian nation start its own space command, according to a top general.
Pacific Air Forces Commander Gen. Herbert “Hawk” Carlisle said in early August most of India’s rising space capabilities are on the civilian and commercial side. Carlisle said the United States talked with Indian Air Force Chief Marshal Browne about its experience setting up Air Force Space Command in 1982 and some lessons learned in 31 years. Air Force spokeswoman Lt. Col. Katherine Pallozzi said the discussions took place in Colorado Springs, Colo.
Carlisle said with the space realm becoming an increasingly competitive, congested and contested environment, India is simply looking to control its own space destiny.
“There’s not really a military component like there is in the United States,” Carlisle said as part of a Defense Writers Group breakfast in Washington. “What (Browne) is trying to do is create a military space program so he…has the ability to affect what happens in space.”
Carlisle said some space capabilities the Indian Air Force is looking at include position, navigation and timing (PNT); weather; reconnaissance and communications.
Representatives from the United States and India met last week to discuss military cooperation. U.S. Vice President Joe Biden said the two nations could significantly increase their defense cooperation without compromising each other’s sovereignty.
Heritage Foundation Research Fellow Dean Cheng, an expert on Chinese military and space capabilities, believes much of India’s space desires are a regional issue. Cheng yesterday told Defense Daily because both rivals Pakistan and China have nuclear weapons, India understandably wants ballistic missile capabilities. Cheng said India also wants to know what exact infrastructure improvements China has made on its side of the Himalayas. He added that the Chinese have built new railways, highways and airbases that India has only recently discovered.
Cheng said India wants to eventually develop its own regional navigation system so it can’t be cut off from a Global Positioning System (GPS) in the event of conflict. But all this isn’t possible, Cheng said, without a space command-like foundation.
“I think what we’re seeing here is a somewhat low key, but broad-based, push by the Indian military to improve their space capabilities, and to their credit, they recognize that part of that can only be done if there is an organizational aspect to it,” Cheng said.