Military Technology 05/2021

few weeks and not pose any risk to other satellites. A satellite in orbit is travelling at approximately 8km/s, at a height of a few hundred kilometres. To successfully engage and destroy the satellite, the ASAT missile must be travelling at speeds greater than 3km/s, making for a relative velocity of 11km/s between target and missile. The DRDO’s ground-launched ASAT interceptor missile is an 18t, 13m tall three-stage interceptor missile, using solid propellant rocket motors for its first two stages. The third stage uses liquid fuel and the kill vehicle sitting atop it, used an imaging infrared seeker to identify its target. Formal approval for the Mission Shakti programme was obtained to- wards the end of 2016, and work commenced in earnest starting in early 2017. More than 150 DRDO scientists were involved in the programme, and high levels of secrecy were maintained over the project due to its sen- sitive nature. To maintain the ruse, the DRDO disguised the programme as another routine long-range ballistic missile target mission. ISRO was asked to provide a satellite in orbit for the ASAT test, and proceeded to place its 740kg Microsatellite-R in orbit in January 2019. ISRO disguised this as a regular customer launch, with only a very few individuals within the space agency itself aware of the specific military purpose of the mis- sion. Interestingly, according to the DRDO, the dimension of the target satellite was chosen to replicate a typical adversary’s defence satellite. Coordinated Defence To enable more efficient allocation of space-based assets, and greater coordination in their use across the three services, the apex Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS), headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, cleared establishment of the new Defence Space Agency (DSA) in June 2019. Based in Bengaluru, the DSA will assist the three ser- vices to energise their own space-based capabilities. The tri-service Headquarters Integrated Defence Staff (HQ IDS) is currently progressing making the DSA operational, along with the Defence Cyber Agency and Armed Forces Special Operations Division as joint organisations. In December 2020, ISRO Chairman, Dr K Sivan, inaugurated the Space Situational Awareness (SSA) Control Centre, which is mainly focused on safeguarding India’s space assets. The new control centre is now the hub of all SSA activities within India. ISRO has also set up the Directorate of Space Situational Awareness and Management (DSSAM), to tackle the emerging chal- lenges of operating in an exceedingly crowded and contested space domain. DSSAM will look to estab- lishing improved operation- al mechanisms to protect Indian space assets, through effective coordination amongst ISRO/DOS Centres, other space agencies and international bodies. It will undertake the establishment of required infrastructure, such as additional observa- tion facilities for space object monitoring. DRDO’s ground-launched ASAT interceptor is an 18t, 13m three-stage missile. The kill vehicle uses an IIR seeker to identify the target. (Photo courtesy DRDO) Space for Defence India’s space assets consist of more than 100 satellites, which are used for communication, weather forecasting, earth observation, navigation, scientific research, and defence. At the present moment, there does not appear to be any publicly-announced thrust towards any space-based offensive capability, with India content to move ahead with its ground- based anti-satellite missile capability. Showcasing India’s ability to defend its space-based military assets is thought by its defence planners to pro- vide the necessary deterrent value against an adversary’s space-based assets. India first demonstrated its ability to defend its assets in outer space with the March 2019, ‘Mission Shakti’ anti-satellite (ASAT) missile test, un- dertaken by the Defence Research & Development Organisation (DRDO). According to DRDO officials, Mission Shakti was primarily aimed at demonstrating Indian capability to intercept and kill satellites, thus acting as a deterrent against potential space-based threats. The successful neu- tralisation of a fast-moving Indian orbiting target satellite in Low Earth Orbit (LEO), allowed the nation to stake its claim, along with the USA, Russia and China, to join the league of nations able to defend their assets in outer space. Completing the complex chain of events, and mastering the complex- ity of an ASAT test, requires a high level of skill and technological so- phistication. To meet the tight timelines associated with the project, the DRDO decided to build on its experience, technology and systems that were developed as part of the Indian BMD programme for Mission Shakti. The ASAT missile used during the test had the capability to hit satellites up to an altitude of 1,000km, but the test was intentionally done at a lower level, with the satellite flying in a 283km LEO. This was done to ensure that space debris from the test would fall back to Earth within a The GSAT-7A is a dedicated military communications satellite for the IAF, and is the 35 th Indian communication satellite built by ISRO. (Photo courtesy ISRO) High resolution panchromatic and multi-spectral images of the Khalifa Stadium area in Qatar as observed from CARTOSAT-3. (Photo courtesy ISRO) 78 · MT 5/2021 Special Feature f