Militarisation of Outer Space and India

Militarisation of outer space and india

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INTRODUCTION

'If you know the enemy and know yourself, you need not fear the result of a hundred battles. If you know yourself but not the enemy, for every victory gained you will also suffer a defeat. If you know neither the enemy nor yourself, you will succumb in every battle'. - Sun Tzu 1. Outer space surrounds our planet, the 'heavens' above us, wherever we happen to be on Earth. It is visible to all but, at present, accessible to only a few. Internationally, for many years, it has been agreed that space should be used for peaceful purposes, and for the benefit of all humankind. Examples of uses and benefits include weather monitoring, help in search and rescue, help in potential natural disaster detection, coordinating efforts on detecting and dealing with issues of space debris and minimizing harmful impacts on Earth, research in sciences, health, etc. We will have to decide early in the twenty-first century whether to cooperate internationally to protect outer space as a sanctuary and shared resource for the benefit of billions or whether to allow the 'ultimate high ground' of space control to be captured on behalf of the military. Use of 'outer space' (also referred as 'space') to fight wars is not a new idea. Rockets reaching high into the atmosphere were talked about since World War II. The investments made by the Nazi's towards development of such rockets are well known. There is an urgent need for a discussion on the future military uses of space for several reasons. First, the technology for developing and deploying weapons systems in space is already available in major space faring nations. Second, conflicts are beginning to arise over space-based assets, both for economic and security reasons. Thirdly, there are few legal restrictions on the use of space weapons. Finally, a number of political and military leaders in some major...