The Indian Air Force must seriously consider using the vast amount of unexploited air space at its disposal to gain a distinct operational advantage in its quest to become a credible aerospace force

by Air Marshal GS Bedi

The launch of 36 OneWeb satellites into a 450-kilometre polar orbit on 26 March, 2023 is being celebrated as a significant achievement in India. The feat was accomplished by New Space India Limited (NSIL), an ISRO commercial arm, using the Launch Vehicle Mark-3 (LVM3). ISRO’s strides in space can boost India’s defence potential tremendously.

Speaking at the DefTech event on 21 March, 2023 in Manekshaw Centre, New Delhi, Chief of the Air Staff, Indian Air Force (CAS) Air Chief Marshal VR Chaudhari emphasised the importance of developing offensive and defensive capabilities, as the next war could spread to all domains of land, sea, air, cyber, and space. “The race to weaponize space has already begun,” he said, “and the day is not far away when our next war will spread across all domains of land, sea, air, cyber, and space.”

The Indian Air Force has worked hard to acquire modern capabilities in all domains, broadly speaking, aircraft, weapons and networking, to maintain conventional deterrence against any adversary. The CAS has never wasted any opportunity to highlight the need to build the fighter squadron strength to 42, the established number. Rightfully, his attention turns to space now.

War in space would essentially mean using space for military-related activities and defending one’s own assets in space. India demonstrated its Anti-satellite (ASAT) Capability in March 2019, becoming the fourth nation in the world to do so after US, Russia and China. It must develop the same capability from sea and air.

The use of Space for defence would be in terms of enhancing ISR) (Intelligence Surveillance and Reconnaissance), communications to shorten OODA (Observe Orient Decide and Act) loop, PNT (Position Navigation and Timing) and Electronic Warfare.

The immediate need is for many more imaging satellites equipped with high-resolution cameras in order to achieve the desired accuracy and revisit time. This critical requirement is still heavily reliant on foreign satellites. To coordinate national efforts in this direction, the Defence Space Agency was established, with the potential to become Space Command in the future.

While the CAS is correct in stating that future wars could take place in any domain, including space, for which relevant agencies must develop niche capabilities, the Indian Air Force has a large chunk of unexplored territory at its disposal where it must develop its own offensive and defensive capabilities.

The IAF is responsible for safeguarding Indian skies at all times within its geographical boundaries up to a height of 100 kilometres, known as the Karman Line. Above 100 kilometres, it is free space, while below that, an intrusion is considered an act of aggression and therefore, logically no country should fly its assets there. However, as the Chinese balloon transgression has demonstrated, it is not a sacred space after all. It created a lot of uproar in the US, caused a lot of concern, and eventually required an advanced aircraft to fire a $400,000 missile to shoot down an insignificantly low-cost balloon. Of course, there is no cost comparison when national security is at stake.

The US also reported that the same balloon was engaged in intelligence-gathering activity over India. Is India capable of dealing with a threat that emerges in near space, or, conversely, of utilising near space to its advantage?

It is not possible to operate a satellite in this zone due to the incredible orbital speeds required to make it go around the earth below 100 kilometres altitude, and even if it were made possible by some technological marvel, the satellite would have to trespass another country’s sovereign space to do so, which is clearly not an option.

The influence zone of conventional aircraft remains limited to about 20 kilometres altitude, above which the rarefied atmosphere cannot produce sufficient aerodynamic forces at the speeds at which the aircraft can normally fly. Even High Altitude Long Endurance (HALE) unmanned platforms such as the Global Hawk and Reaper are limited to that altitude.

The air force pays little attention there because aircraft do not fly there, and because satellites do not operate there, it falls outside the purview of Space Forces. So, whose space is it anyways?

The US exploited the upper space above 20 kilometres when it developed the SR-71 Blackbird after the Gary Powers-piloted U-2 was shot down over the USSR. According to the NASA fact sheet, the SR-71 could fly at an altitude of 85,000 feet (25.9 kilometres), but an aircraft at that altitude would have to fly very fast to develop the necessary aerodynamic forces to sustain itself in the air.

The SR-71 was designed to travel at speeds of Mach 3+, or three times the speed of sound. An aircraft at those speeds, like the SR-71, is best suited for strategic ISR (Intelligence Surveillance and Reconnaissance) roles but would have very little manoeuvrability to perform conventional fighter aircraft roles. Furthermore, such an aircraft would be very difficult to maintain and operate.

According to aviation historian Peter Merlin, getting an SR-71 into the air took a lot of work. “It took a small army to prepare the aircraft.” As a matter of interest, no SR-71 was lost to enemy action while 12 out of 32 were lost to accidents. The programme was cancelled by the United States in 2001.

Space between 20 and 100 kilometres is not free but belongs to the nation, and in India, the IAF is in charge of air defence. This space, however, remains largely unexplored from a defence standpoint, despite having enormous potential to achieve credible deterrence capability. But, if no aircraft can stay in that area and no satellite can be placed there, what is the alternative?

Steered balloons are now a reality. At those high altitudes, aerodynamic drag is negligible, less than 7 per cent that of the atmosphere, so steering a balloon or keeping it stationary is not a problem. The balloons have been used for surveillance, tourism and there are attempts being made to launch satellites in Low Earth Orbit by firing rockets from balloons.

Combining cutting-edge technologies in HABs (High Altitude Balloons), space launch capability, space communications, and long-range weapon systems opens up a world of possibilities. A platform of this type is unique in that it can sustain itself in near space and dominate the skies over a large area, providing the nation with effective A2AD (Anti Access Area Denial) capability comparable to that produced by several air superiority fighters.

All parts of space are not equal, clearly some are more equal than the others. Near space is one such part. The Indian Air Force must seriously consider using the vast amount of unexploited air space at its disposal to gain a distinct operational advantage in its quest to become a credible aerospace force.

The author is a retired fighter pilot, former Air Advisor at High Commission of India, London and Director General (Inspection & Safety), Indian Air Force