'India needs hundreds of satellites to intercept hypersonic missiles', warns..., says US planning to create 500...
(Representational image: AI generated)
New Delhi: There was a time when in the modern world when wars were fought between two or more militaries using conventional weapons for both attack and defence. Since the disintegration of the USSR and the end of the Cold War, technology became an integral part of warfare. If we say technology is the lifeline of modern warfare than not many will disagree.
The scenario in the 21st century has given way to new, much advanced, sophisticated, and cutting-edge systems. We can say it has become futuristic as we have observed evolution of fighter jets, missiles, artillery, submarines, and other modes.
In this process, space has emerged as the base or the command centre of many countries' militaries. Space has been flooded with satellites that play key role in modern war theatre.
In this regard, former Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) chairman Dr. Sreedhara Panicker Somanath has warned that without a massive satellite boost, India's armed forces risk blind spots in crisis. He described it an unacceptable vulnerability in an era where wars are being fought in the skies through networking and signals.
'The importance of space for defence has been understood very well now. It has been demonstrated very well in some of the recent conflicts. For example, the Ukraine conflict. It has shown it very well how it played a role, and recently in India also,' said Dr Somanath as he cited studies according to which more than 50% of the space-based applications will be in defence. He went on to say that state-funded military programmes will soon dominate the economics of space systems.
Referring to the limited role of human beings in the present day combat, Dr Somanath said, 'Many of the conflicts are not in occupation. You wage cyber warfare. Now, wars are fought to create problems and havoc in countries. There is no occupation of anything. In this context, satellites deliver critical frameworks of communication for secure command and frameworks for observation to track threats in real time.'
Citing example of hypersonic missiles, which are almost impermeable to ground defences, have hastened the need for orbital early warning. Dr Somanath said the USA is working on the idea of creating a 500 satellite constellation for an early warning system and a neutralising system, detecting launches, and guiding counter-measures long before impact.
Dr Somanath warned that India must balance this scale. 'You need hundreds of such satellites. Their period of observations is hardly 15 minutes and the next satellite should come immediately to cover that area,' he said.
Dr Somanath called for night-vision, beyond visible imaging, thermal, radar, multispectral and hyperspectral sensors, each feeding AI-driven analytics to distil massive data into battlefield decisions. Satellites themselves must evolve into both offensive platforms and hardened assets, as you have to protect your own satellites because the satellites are also a war occupant, he observed.
Dr. Somanath served as ISRO chairman from 2022 to 2025. Under his chairmanship, ISRO carried out the lunar exploration mission Chandrayaan-3, making India the first country to successfully land a spacecraft near the lunar south pole.
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