Space is no longer a distant frontier of science fiction but a contested domain where nations are preparing for conflict. The importance of high ground in warfare has always been recognised, and today that high ground is firmly established in orbit.
Satellites now provide communication, precision weapon guidance, persistent surveillance, and situational awareness, cutting through what has long been called the fog of war. India itself plans to deploy a constellation of 52 satellites by 2029, giving its armed forces continuous eyes in the sky, secure communications, and enhanced command awareness.
The dependence on space-based assets is growing rapidly. Precision weapons and autonomous systems rely heavily on satellites for Position, Navigation and Timing. Modern combat is increasingly network-centric, where sensors and shooters are automatically linked across vast distances.
Satellites act as invisible threads connecting hundreds of nodes in this massive web, ensuring all systems remain part of the same information network. Previously, militaries relied on rigid kill chains, where the destruction of a single element could collapse an entire operation. Today’s kill webs are more resilient, but satellites remain critical to their functioning.
Neutralising satellites is one way to degrade a kill web, though it is far from simple. Only four nations—the United States, Russia, China, and India—possess the capability to destroy hostile satellites.
This places them in an exclusive anti-satellite club. The militarisation of space has roots in the Cold War, when both NATO and the Warsaw Pact eyed orbit as a potential battlefield. To limit weaponisation, the United States and the Soviet Union signed the Outer Space Treaty in 1967, joined by 118 countries including India and China.
The treaty bans nuclear weapons in space, prohibits military bases or manoeuvres on celestial bodies, and reserves the Moon for peaceful use. However, it does not forbid conventional military activity in orbit or the establishment of military space forces.
The capability to destroy satellites is vital but fraught with consequences. Civil aviation, sea lanes, mobile communications, and countless critical networks depend on satellites. Shooting one down could disrupt these systems globally. Group Captain Ajay Ahlawat (Retd) emphasises that while the capability is important, it must not be used lightly.
Military doctrine defines satellite destruction in three stages: find, fix, and finish. Finding satellites is relatively easy, as their orbits are continuously tracked to prevent collisions. Fixing involves pinpointing their exact position and movement.
The final stage—finish—is the most difficult, requiring advanced weaponry. Only four nations have mastered this capability. Space is already contested, with anti-satellite tools tested in real conflicts.
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine began with a cyberattack on the Viasat satellite network, crippling Kyiv’s communications before ground combat began. Jamming and spoofing have since become routine, with China and Iran fielding jammers and low-cost GPS jammers available commercially.
Satellites in geosynchronous orbit are largely safe from ground-based weapons, but those in low Earth orbit remain vulnerable.
Kinetic anti-satellite weapons are the most destructive. China’s 2007 missile test created thousands of debris fragments that will linger for decades, prompting America’s Operation Burnt Frost in 2008.
Even nations with basic missile and tracking capabilities, such as Iran or North Korea, could theoretically strike satellites due to predictable orbital paths. Co-orbital satellites pose another threat, with Russia’s Luch-1 and Luch-2 making suspicious close approaches to other spacecraft.
The greatest fear is Kessler Syndrome, where cascading collisions generate so much debris that entire orbital regions become unusable, crippling the satellite-dependent global economy.
India has also demonstrated advanced manoeuvring capabilities. In 2025, it conducted a sophisticated satellite dogfight nearly 500 kilometres above Earth, with two satellites practising close-range manoeuvres at speeds of 28,800 kilometres per hour.
This extended ISRO’s SPADEX mission and mirrored China’s earlier tests. Such capabilities have clear strategic and societal applications. India began strengthening its space situational awareness in 2019, establishing a control centre in Bangalore under NETRA.
This network of radars and telescopes tracks debris and threats, reducing reliance on US-run NORAD. A 2022 data-sharing pact with the US further enhanced cooperation, reflecting India’s recognition that independent monitoring is essential as its orbital assets grow.
With space now the decisive high ground, India is preparing to safeguard its satellites and ensure its forces remain connected in future wars.
Agencies
