Washington: India’s anti-satellite missile test carried out last month wasclearly targeted towards China and could exacerbate New Delhi’s rivalrywith Beijing, a top US expert has said, underlining that India now mustbrace itself for a long-term space competition.
On March 27, India achieved a historic feat by shooting down its ownlow-orbit satellite with a ground-to-space missile, making the country aspace power. The test made India the fourth country in the world after theUS, Russia and China to have the ASAT capabilities.
Ashley J Tellis, Tata Chair for Strategic Affairs and senior fellow at theCarnegie Endowment for International Peace on Tuesday said, “The IndianASAT test was in actuality a shot across the bow to China. As such, it willonly exacerbate the rivalry with Beijing, even if only silently.”
“India, therefore, must brace itself for a long-term space competition. Ifit fails to do so, it will have to contend with the worst of both worlds:heightened threats from China in the face of increasing Indianvulnerability,” he said.
“And that would be an unenviable position for New Delhi as it seeks to playa larger role on the global stage,” the top American expert on India said,asserting that India now must brace itself for a long-term spacecompetition.
China is developing its counter-space capabilities in response to the US,and New Delhi is now threatened by this Chinese programme, he said. Indiamust improve its capacity to use space despite rising Chinese threats,while sustaining its commitment to protecting space for civilian use, headded.
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“What India accordingly needs more than ever is effective antidotes toChinese counter-space capabilities that are not debris-causing,” Tellissaid.
Only such capabilities will enable New Delhi to credibly deter Beijing’sspace denial programmes below the levels of ultimate physical violencedirected at various space systems – the gray zone in which morecounterspace activities are likely to materialise in the future, given thegrowing international antipathy to any actions that make space unusable forhuman endeavors, he said.
“In this context, the best deterrent for New Delhi is to improve itscapacity to use space despite the inevitable Chinese interference. Therewill always be a need for some offensive capabilities,” Tellis said.
“India has recognised this reality and as such has begun to developembryonic counterspace systems of the sort exemplified by its ASATinterceptor,” he noted, adding that New Delhi has also begun to plan moreactively for military space operations, for now focusing mainly on ways topreserve India’s freedom to use space for both developmental and strategicreasons without undue interference by others.
