India is embarking on a new initiative to create “bodyguard satellites” designed to protect its space assets from potential adversarial actions. This development follows heightened concerns in 2024 after a foreign satellite maneuvered within just 1 kilometre of an Indian satellite in low Earth orbit.

Although no collision occurred, the incident was regarded as a demonstration of hostile capabilities, prompting New Delhi to strengthen space security measures.

India’s growing dependence on space assets for communications, navigation, reconnaissance, and intelligence makes them critical for both civilian and military operations. The close pass in 2024 underscored the vulnerabilities of these satellites, particularly in low Earth orbit (500–600 km altitude), which is increasingly crowded with satellites belonging to commercial constellations like Starlink as well as strategic assets of rival nations. The event heightened concerns that adversaries could deliberately interfere with or disable Indian satellites in a crisis.

The government’s plan involves developing dedicated satellites capable of monitoring, manoeuvring, and intervening to protect high-value Indian spacecraft. These escort or bodyguard satellites are expected to carry sensors for surveillance, propulsion systems for rapid repositioning, and possibly countermeasure technologies to deter or disable threats. The project aligns with India’s broader effort to integrate space situational awareness (SSA) with active defensive measures to secure its strategic assets.

This program ties into a ₹270 billion ($3 billion) initiative already approved to deploy about 50 new surveillance satellites. The first of these is scheduled for launch next year.

These platforms will enhance border security, track adversarial military movements, and contribute to intelligence gathering. Together with bodyguard satellites, they form a layered structure of surveillance and protection, crucial in a region marked by competition with China’s rapidly expanding satellite fleet and Pakistan’s growing but still limited capabilities.

Experts emphasize that in-orbit defense systems cannot function in isolation. Comprehensive ground-based infrastructure—such as radar systems, optical telescopes, and machine learning-enabled tracking networks—will be critical to provide early warning of close approaches or deliberate threats. India currently lacks an around-the-clock in-orbit monitoring capability, but several domestic start-ups are exploring solutions to strengthen this area, complementing ISRO’s existing Deep Space Network and mission control facilities.

India currently operates over 100 active satellites, significantly ahead of Pakistan’s 8 but dwarfed by China’s fleet of over 930 satellites, which include sophisticated military reconnaissance, communication, navigation, and anti-satellite (ASAT)-oriented systems. The imbalance highlights the urgency for India to not only expand the quantity of its space assets but also to protect high-value satellites against interference or attacks, an area where China has already demonstrated advanced capabilities.

ISRO’s satellite assets have been directly involved in supporting India’s security during past conflicts. During heightened tensions with Pakistan, more than 400 ISRO scientists worked continuously to manage Earth observation and communication systems, a public acknowledgment of how deeply integrated space operations are with national defense readiness. The creation of bodyguard satellites can be viewed as an extension of this defensive posture, ensuring India’s satellites remain secure in both peacetime competitions and wartime contingencies.

India’s initiative positions it among a small group of nations considering defensive satellite constellations as part of space warfare preparedness. While still in the conceptual stage, the bodyguard satellites could mark a decisive step in India’s progression from being a regional space power to a space security actor capable of countering both kinetic and non-kinetic threats in orbit. Future developments will likely involve cooperation between government agencies, ISRO, the Defence Space Agency (DSA), and private space start-ups to create a cohesive security ecosystem in space.

Agencies